Chapter KPIs (with sources)

These one-pagers close each chapter with visceral, people-centered indicators. Links point to primary or trusted data/archives.

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Part I — The German “Miracle” That Wasn’t (1933–1939)

Chapter 1 — The Depths of Despair (1932)

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Registered unemployed (Feb 15, 1932)	6.13 million jobless	LeMO / DHM
Households with a radio (1932)	~23.7% (≈4.36m sets)	GHDI “Radio Use in Germany, 1929–1941”
Weekly real earnings (index, 1932=100)	100 (baseline); 1929 was 118	Bry, Wages in Germany, Table 68
Average workweek (index, 1913=100)	75 (short workweeks in the slump)	Bry, Table 69

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Chapter 2 — The First 100 Days of Hope (1933–1934)

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Households with a radio (1934)	~28.6% (≈5.28m sets)	GHDI radio series
Weekly real earnings (index, 1932=100)	109 (1934, after tax & COL adj.)	Bry, Table 68
Cost-of-living index (1934, official, 1932=100)	100.4	Bry, Table 68, col. 4

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Chapter 3 — The Factory Whistles Return (1935)

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Households with a radio (1935)	~32.3% (≈5.95m sets)	GHDI radio series
Weekly real earnings (index, 1932=100)	110 (1935, adj.)	Bry, Table 68
Cost-of-living index (1935, official)	102.0 (1932=100)	Bry, Table 68, col. 4

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Chapter 4 — The Volkswagen Dream (1938 focus)

KPI	Value & Context	Source
KdF car savings plan	5 RM/week toward 990 RM car; ≈330,000 participants by 1941 (no cars delivered pre-war)	GHDI: “Poster advertising the KdF car”
Households with a radio (1938)	~51.7% (≈9.63m sets)	GHDI radio series
Weekly real earnings (index, 1932=100)	114 (1938, adj.)	Bry, Table 68
Cost-of-living (1938, adjusted index)	109.0 (vs. official 104.1)	Bry, Table 68, cols. 4–5

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Chapter 5 — Butter or Guns (1936–1937 turning point)

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Weekly real earnings (index, 1932=100)	112 (1936, adj.)	Bry, Table 68
Cost-of-living (1936, official index)	103.2 (1932=100)	Bry, Table 68, col. 4
Households with a radio (1936)	~40.0% (≈7.45m sets)	GHDI radio series

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Chapter 6 — The Golden Cage Closes (1938–1939)

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Average workweek (index, 1913=100)	88 (1939) — longer hours returning	Bry, Table 69
Weekly real earnings (index, 1932=100)	118 (1939, adj.)	Bry, Table 68
Kristallnacht “atonement” levy	1.0–1.13 bn RM extracted from German Jews (1938–40)	Wikipedia summary w/ refs
Households with a radio (1939)	~58.3% (≈10.8m sets)	GHDI radio series
Synthetic fuel output (1939)	≈1.28 Mt (coal-to-liquid)	Stranges, “Germany’s Synthetic Fuel Industry” (AIChE)

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Part II — The American Arsenal (1940–1945)

Chapter 7 — The Sleeping Giant Stirs (1940)

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Unemployment rate (Mar 1940, CPS)	15.4% (monthly peak year-start)	BLS/MLR historical overview (Fig. 1)

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Chapter 8 — From Plowshares to Swords (1941–1942)

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Gasoline ration “A” sticker	~3–4 gallons/week (from late 1942)	U.S. Capitol Visitor Center
OPA created / price control authority	Aug 28, 1941; wartime price ceilings and rationing	Office of Price Administration

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Chapter 9 — Rosie’s Revolution (1942–1944)

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Women’s share of civilian labor force	“More than one-third”; ~35% by July 1944	U.S. Women’s Bureau (FRASER)

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Chapter 10 — The Home Front Economy (Rationing & Prosperity)

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Sugar ration (typical 1942–45)	1 lb per person / 2 weeks	National WWII Museum
Coffee ration (1942–43)	1 lb per person / 5 weeks	National WWII Museum
Food under price ceilings (1943)	~90% of retail food covered after Stabilization Act	“The Big ‘L’—American Logistics” (US Army history)
Example ration points (1943)	Bacon 7 points per lb (illustrative)	WWII Museum (ration points)

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Chapter 11 — The Production Miracle (Shipyards & Scale)

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Record Liberty ship build (SS Robert E. Peary)	4 days 15 hours (November 1942)	Oregon Encyclopedia (Kaiser Shipyards)
Liberty ship standard build time (by 1943–44 bests)	Days to weeks (mass-production breakthrough)	American Merchant Marine Veterans

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Chapter 12 — The Boom’s Shadows (1944–1945)

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Unemployment (Q4 1944, quarterly series)	~1.06%	FRED/NBER historical series
Average weekly hours, manufacturing (1944)	~45.2 hours	BLS Bulletin 852 (1946)

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Part III — The Reckoning (Comparative Wrap)

Chapter 13 — Parallel Lives, Different Fates

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Germany: real weekly earnings vs. 1932	+14% by 1944 (after tax & COL adj.)	Bry, Table 68
U.S.: unemployment from 1940→1944	~15% → ~1% (CPS monthly to Q4)	BLS/MLR overview & FRED
Germany: share of households with radio	~24% (1932) → ~58% (1939)	GHDI radio series
Germany: Kristallnacht levy	≈1.13 bn RM confiscated 1938–40	Wikipedia summary w/ sources

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Chapter 14 — The Numbers and the Souls

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Germany: workweek intensity	Index 88 (1939) vs 75 (1932) — longer hours	Bry, Table 69
U.S.: women’s LF share (peak war)	~35% (July 1944)	Women’s Bureau (FRASER)
Price control reach (U.S. food retail)	≈90% covered after Oct 1942	US Army “Big L” (ch. on stabilization)

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Chapter 15 — Lessons for Tomorrow

KPI	Value & Context	Source
Germany: synthetic fuels (pre-war)	~1.28 Mt (1939) — strategic autarky push	AIChE paper: Stranges
U.S.: mobilization employment effect	From mass unemployment to ~1% by 1944	BLS/MLR; FRED · FRED series

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Notes on comparability

• German wage/price data use Bry’s adjustments for taxes & cost-of-living; even those likely overstate real gains given acknowledged CPI biases. See Bry, pp. 263–266 & Table 68.
• U.S. unemployment mixes monthly CPS (BLS) for 1940 context and NBER/FRED quarterly for wartime lows; series definitions differ but show the same collapse.

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