Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers’ Party or the Nazi Party was one we think of as the most notorious political party ever established on earth. We all know from our history books that Hitler and the Nazi members were responsible for World War 2 and Jews’ holocaust. They did one of the most inhuman and cruel policies just to make the Nazi government successful in its world visions.
However, whatever bad things they did in the past, there were also good things they ever produced that contributed to the world and that these were still appreciated and used until now.
1. Anti-tobacco (anti-smoking) Campaign
The poster says, “He does not devour it, it [the cigarette] devours him!” This was the campaign by the Nazi’s when they came into power. Adolf Hitler was opposed to smoking and he did not want his staff to smoke with him in the same room. He regarded smoking as the waste of money. In other countries, anti-tobacco movement failed, but not in Germany. The Nazis banned smoking in public transportations, restaurants, and citing public health, they regulated cigarette advertising. And to do this, they imposed high tobacco tax. Several health organizations in Germany seriously campaigned about the bad effects of smoking especially to pregnant women as cigarettes were associated to miscarriages.
2. Welfare Programs
Nazi Germany maintained public welfare programs based on the philosophy that all Germans should share a standard of living.
One famous for this was the Winter Relief Program, wherein both the high ranking Nazis and the common people collected anything for charity through the streets to give to the unfortunate people. Posters were made urging people to donate rather than give directly to beggars. Joseph Goebbels, himself a high ranking Nazi in control of Radio, Television and Propaganda, often participated in these events.
However, due to his massive campaign, the Nazi government stole large amounts of money from the population and used it to fund the welfare program that benefited only the selected members of the society.
3. Animal Conservation
When the Nazi’s came to power in 1933, their concerns were not to humans only but to native animals also. A law called Das Reichsjagdgesetz, the Reich Hunting Law, was passed in 1934 to regulate the number of animals that can be hunted for the year.
In 1935, another law was passed, the Reichsnaturschutzgesetz (Reich Nature Protection Act). In this law, several native species were included in the protection list which also included wolf and Eurasian lynx. Additions were added later as to afforestation and the humane slaughter of living fish. This helped pave the way for several governments today to adopt animal welfare laws.
When the Nazi’s came to power in 1933, their concerns were not to humans only but to native animals also. A law called Das Reichsjagdgesetz, the Reich Hunting Law, was passed in 1934 to regulate the number of animals that can be hunted for the year.
In 1935, another law was passed, the Reichsnaturschutzgesetz (Reich Nature Protection Act). In this law, several native species were included in the protection list which also included wolf and Eurasian lynx. Additions were added later as to afforestation and the humane slaughter of living fish. This helped pave the way for several governments today to adopt animal welfare laws.
4. Animal Conservation
When the Nazi’s came to power in 1933, their concerns were not to humans only but to native animals also. A law called Das Reichsjagdgesetz, the Reich Hunting Law, was passed in 1934 to regulate the number of animals that can be hunted for the year.
In 1935, another law was passed, the Reichsnaturschutzgesetz (Reich Nature Protection Act). In this law, several native species were included in the protection list which also included wolf and Eurasian lynx. Additions were added later as to afforestation and the humane slaughter of living fish. This helped pave the way for several governments today to adopt animal welfare laws.
5. Banning of Vivisection
High ranking Nazis such as Hermann Goring, Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Hitler were very much concerned about the welfare of the animals in Germany, therefore, alongside with this, they banned vivisection to animals, and so, Germany was the first country to totally ban vivisection in the world, 1933.
Hermann Goring, who was appointed as the Prime Minister of Prussia, said:“An absolute and permanent ban on vivisection is not only a necessary law to protect animals and to show sympathy with their pain, but it is also a law for humanity itself…. I have therefore announced the immediate prohibition of vivisection and have made the practice a punishable offense in Prussia. Until such time as punishment is pronounced the culprit shall be lodged in a concentration camp.”
The worst part of this was, vivisection was done on human, especially to jews and children as part of their experimentation and discovery.
The above picture is a cartoon showing animals saved from vivisection saluting Hermann Goring. The sign in the window says “Vivisection Forbidden”.
6. Contributions to Fashion
The Nazi’s also contributed something for fashion that until now, are being used.
The founder of the popular shoe brand today, the Adidas, was a nazi named Adolf Dassler (whose nickname was Adi). During the war, he produced shoes for the Wehrmacht as well as providing American and Nazi athletes with his footwear during the Berlin Olympics. Jesse Owens won the sprinting event wearing Adolf Dasslers shoes. Rudol Dassler Adolf Dassler’s brother, on the other hand, founded another shoe company called Puma.
Hugo Boss was a Nazi who, from 1934 was an official supplier of uniforms to the SA, SS, Hitler Youth, NSKK and other party organizations.
Thick-soled leather boots, slouch hats, cowhide coats, and peak hats were some of the staples in Nazi fashion, as well as muted color tones often in gray, tan and black. The SS Panzer military organization struck fear into the hearts of their adversaries, with black forage caps and leather coats These were later adopted by American rockers.
Doc Martens closely resemble the jump boots that many Schutzstaffel officers wore. Nazi fashion sense can be traced at any rock, industrial or otherwise ‘edgy’ group The American novelist Kurt Vonnegut once described the style as ‘mildly theatrical’.
6. The Volkswagen
One of the most popular vehicles in the world, the volkswagen started in Nazi Germany. Literally means ‘People’s Car’, this was presented as a car that every German citizen could afford to buy. The design was based on Hitler’s advise, saying that it should resemble a beetle. It was made available to the Nazi citizens through 990 Reichsmark savings, about the price of a small motorcyle. But the volkswagen later used as a military vehicle toward the end of the Third Reich due to the low resources.
7. Autobahn
Although it was not originally the idea of Hitler, he however pushed for the largest network of roads to be built across Germany. Thousands of countries followed what Hitler started, including America and Britain. Established as the first freeway system in the world, the autobahn was a revolutionary feat of engineering that forever changed the way humans travel. It was the goal of the Nazi Party to unify the country through a roadway system, and it was successful.
8. Innovations in Film
The Nazi’s were very much interested in films and music and they used them in their propaganda techniques. The first known magnetic tape recording was of a speech made by Hitler, and Joseph Goebbels pushed for more complicated methods of filming.
The propaganda films ‘Triumph of the Will’ and its prequel ‘Triumph of the Faith’, were regarded as included on the most important pieces of cinematographic history. The director, Leini Riefenstahl (pictured above) used an astounding thirty film cameras and over one hundred technicians to produce the two hour film. The latest technologies were used for the Triumph of the will because of its unlimited budget. Today, television is widely used for different propagandas, marketing, and political ads.
9. Father of Modern Rocketry
Wernher Von Braun was a member of the Nazi party and commissioned Schutzstaffel Officer. He was the man who invented rockets. After aiding both Germany and the U.S. in the use of rockets during and after world war 2, he eventually became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He pioneered in may areas and it included the installation of liquid-fueled rockets in aircraft and orbit to ground missiles. The development of the Saturn V booster rocket was his greatest achievement because it finally helped the man to touch the moon in 1969. He then officially opened the gate for space travel.
10. Medical Advances
Through the use of volunteer soldiers of Nazi Germany and the prisoners in the camp, they were able to establish how a human body reacts with torture, hypothermia. The Nazis immersed victims in vats of freezing water or left them out in the winter cold, all the while monitoring changes in body temperature, heart rate, muscle responses and urine. Then then formulated methods to bring the bodies back to a safe temperature, including the ‘Rapid Active Rewarming’, a technique that seemed to be the most effective method of revival – and is now used in the west. This research could potentially fill a gap in other researchers studying hypothermia.
These information with regard to the contributions of the Nazi Germany to the world do not, however, let us forget the horrible misdeeds of Nazism to humanities during World War II.
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