>>/32181/
> It was poverty and famine and then super successful Hitler's economic policies that raised the living standard
It was hardship immediately after the war, recovery to mediocre living standards in the mid-Weimar period, hardship under the Great Depression and then recovery and modest (not fantastic) growth beyond pre-Depression levels in the 30s. Then by the late 30s living standards were still far from the world's highest.
In early Weimar there was a gap between Germany and America.
In mid Weimar there was a gap between Germany and America.
In late Weimar there was a gap between Germany and America.
Under the Reich there was a gap between Germany and America.
The primary source of this gap was structural, in the different economies of scale, different land/population ratio, different rural productivity and technology level, different productivity in small crafts and retailers and so on. There was also the conjunctural problem of the balance of payments, which affected both late Weimar and the Reich. The former wasn't even related to the evil machinations of anti-German cabals in Washington and London. The latter was geopolitical, but only partially as some of the problem was inherent to Germany's condition, such as high imports.
Unlike you, the Reich's leadership had a good grasp of reality, understood this and had a long-term strategy to overcome those deeper problems through militarization. They weren't trying to maximize living standards on the short term, that would only come after the issues were faced.
> Discredited
Speer's ministry compiled valuable data on the war economy and the data isn't false. Speer wrote a lot and pushed a narrative on how things went. Tooze is very critical of his narrative and his book can even be called a deconstruction of the "Speer myth". Nonetheless his work, both during and after the war, is invaluable to historical research, just like many other biased sources.
But go on, try to understand history without reading a word Speer wrote and a number the Speer ministry registered.
> One can scrap "valuable data" even from known fraudster like Wiesental, so no reason for praise for Tooze.
Much of the data is German records ranging from those of powerful organizations like the Reichsbank and Armaments Ministry to minutiae of small areas and economic operations. Or it's otherwise obscure data that you can't call forged or even politicized, such as the Ford/ILO study. If you're going to discard all of Tooze's sources because they don't fit your preconceived notions you'll have to conclude Germany in the first half of the 20th century is a Dark Age with almost no documentary evidence to study.
Despite being so eager to disregard sources you seem poorly informed. Conscription of foreign laborers involved millions of people and a large fraction of the war economy's workforce, and you were completely oblivious to its existence. You were also oblivious to the Polish decrees, though they aren't as important. That you didn't know betrays either very superficial reading or that you yourself have been the target of someone's misinformation.
You probably don't know what was the popular mood in 1934 and can't explain how the balance of payments was handled and its importance. Or even what it was.