In this strict counterfactual sense, Nazi economic policy cannot claim to have ‘caused’ the German economic recovery.86 However, what is unarguable is that the recovery as it actually occurred bore the clear imprint of Hitler’s government. In 1935 private consumption was still 7 per cent below its pre-Depression levels and private investment was 22 per cent down. By contrast, state spending was 70 per cent higher than it had been in 1928 and that increase was almost entirely due to military spending.
