The first wave had come in the first half of 1933. The second, the Reinhardt programme, was a vigorous holding action aimed to consolidate the gains of the previous year. Nineteen thirty-four would see the third wave in the battle for work. But, as the Gauleiter were to discover twelve months after the Nazis took power, civilian work creation for its own sake was no longer the top priority of Hitler’s regime. Rearmament, the central objective of nationalist politics, now dominated the agenda.
