1.4 Changes in society, 1924-29 Flashcards
How did unemployment rates change between 1926 and 28?
Dropped from 2 million to 1.3 million
What did the Unemployment Insurance Act of 1927 do?
Charged 16.4 million workers 3% of their wage to provide average 60 marks/week in unemployment/sickness benefits if they fell out of work
What happened to real wages (the value of goods that wages bought) between 1925 and 1928?
Rose by 25%
What was introduced to help with the housing shortage? What year was this?
15% rent tax
1925
What did the 1925 Reich Pension Law do?
Paid pensions to 750,000 veterans, 400,000 widows and 200,000 parents of dead servicemen
How much did the number of people in higher education increase by between 1918-1928?
40,000 (70,000 - 110,000)
How did Weimar strengthen womens’ rights?
woman = men
marriage is equal partnership, with equal rights
women could enter all professions on equal basis to men
How many women had been elected into the Reichstag by 1932?
112
How did Weimar help working women?
Booming retail and service industry provided many part-time jobs in shops/offices
Liberal professions saw an increase in female representation e.g. number of female doctors rose from 2,500 - 5,000 (1925-1932)
Who were ‘new women’?
Bought more revealing clothes and jewellery, went out more,
Smoked, drank, went out alone
Less interested in marriage and family
What evidence did some Germans supply as repercussions of ‘new women’?
birth rate falling, many felt that women needed to be mothers
divorce rate rising, many felt that women needed to be wives
What factors contributed to the surge of artistic/cultural energy in the 1920s?
Restrictions of imperial regime thrown off
Weimar constitution enshrined freedoms e.g. freedom of speech, in law
economic recovery created money to fund it
What new ways of looking at the Arts developed?
New Objectivism - Arts shouldn’t show romanticised view of reality
Modernism - shouldn’t look back to past but embace future, see beauty in technology/industry
Expressionsism - reflect feelings and thoughts over physical experiences
What helped ideas spread?
Bauhaus design college developed style - influenced all areas of Art
Stressed beauty in technology, simple lines and careful craftmanship
Government support e.g. grants to galleries, orchestras, libraries
Name 3 German artists
Otto Dix - expressionist painter
George Grosz - painted critical scenes of German life
Erich Mendelsohn -arhcitect influenced by Bauhaus, designed Einstein tower futuristically in shape of a rocket
Fritz Lang - director of science fiction films
