Motorway Germany 1937

Germany 1937. Everyday life under the Nazi regime. Newly built motorway. Photo; Licensed article; Original: 5740×4315; Photographer: Unknown; subject to licence; Rights: © Historiathek/Bleek/zb Media. After coming to power in 1933, the National Socialists took up the plans from the Weimar Republic era for the construction of motorways and expanded them considerably. They saw motorway construction as an opportunity to spread their ideology and present themselves as modernisers. The state-financed expansion of the transport infrastructure helped to reduce the high level of unemployment in 1933 through the widespread use of labour, organised by the paramilitary Reich Labour Service. In addition, the motorways were ideal routes for the rapid movement of troops and thus also served to prepare for war. In the post-war period, the motorway remained the symbol of a good achievement by the Nazi regime.