As the country neared collapse, some discouraged workers became, in their fear and helplessness, more dependent on authority—that of the factory boss as well as the local Nazi hierarchy. This was, after all, a society that prized obedience and discipline, character traits that helped prevent dissatisfaction from escalating into public dissent and absenteeism from rising to levels where it would have had a severe impact on war production. When crisis and character failed to sustain work discipline, the state stepped in. The SS and the Gestapo infiltrated stool pigeons into factories, and Hitler
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