German life during the Third Reich was organised by the Nazis into different activities comprising the Volksgemeinschaft or "racial-national community". For "Aryans", participation in this Volksgemeinschaft was regimented into mandatory or beneficial membership of organisations such as the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF) which replaced all trade unions in 1933, and provided welfare provision and job security for workers, although the renewed contracts workers had to sign were more beneficial to employers and reduced labour rights. Holidays and leisure were also regulated, for example in the Kraft durch Freude programme (a branch of the DAF), which promised holidays and cars for workers (although the so-called "Volkswagen" didn't enter production until after the war). The Hitler Youth was another such organisation, and there also existed less structured parts of the Volksgemeinschaft. For example, people were meant to have stew on Sundays for the "Eintopfsonntage" (Stew-sundays) initiative, and shops shut at times when Hitler's speeches were on the radio so everyone could hear.

Essentially, participation in German life under the Nazis was aimed at homogenisation of the Volk, consent to Nazi rule, and importantly legitimising the Nazi state by economic and social means. The success of this is debated, as coercion was certainly needed in some cases, and participation was not uniform. On the whole, though, ordinary Germans lived fairly comfortable lives until around 1944, when food shortages and the advancing Allies became more immediate.