6 - Social and Cultural Development 1924-28 Flashcards
What were the social welfare reforms of 1924?
The Public Assistance System
- help to poor and destitute was modernised
What were the social welfare reforms of 1925?
State Accident Insurance
- introduced under Bismarck, helped those injured at work, extended to cover occupational diseases
What were the social welfare reforms of 1927?
National Unemployed Insurance System
- provide benefits for the unemployed, from contributions from workers and employees
How many war veterans, widows and orphans was the state supporting by 1926?
- 800,000 veterans
- 360,000 widows
- 90,000 orphans
How did living standards change over 1924-28?
- those in trade unions negotiated wage rises
- those who lost savings in hyperinflation didn’t recover
- farmers suffered from low prices and low wages
What was the ‘new woman’?
Sexually liberated, free and independent. Women had equal access to voting and education
Art in the Weimar Republic
- expressionism = meaning or emotion rather than reality
- Otto Dix and George Grosz
- should comment on society and be understood by the ordinary
Literature in the Weimar Republic
- themes of utilitarianism
- All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque 1928
- sold 500,000 copies
- political writing was more popular
Music in the Weimar Republic
- Schoenberg used atonality
- Gebrauchsmusik, music with a purpose
- sound films, radio, gramaphones
Architecture in the Weimar Republic
- Bauhaus style
- Gropius developed this
- buildings became functional
Theatre in the Weimar Republic
- Zeittheater ‘theatre of the time’
- Bertolt Brecht, leftist playwright
- critical messages of Bourgeois society
Film in the Weimar Republic
- Metropolis 1927, Fritz Lang
- Marlene Dietrich flaunted her sexuality
- 500 cinemas in Germany by the late 1920s
- cinema mass entertainment
Cabaret in the Weimar Republic
- Charleston became more popular
- naked dancing and homosexuality
- encompassed sexual liberation
- charleston = democratisation, many were against
What was the myth of the ‘new woman’ in Employment?
- constitution gave women more rights
- 1925, 36% of workers were women
- 1933, 100,000 teachers and 3000 doctors
What was the reality for women in Employment?
- ‘demobilisation’ laws post war, required women to leave jobs for soldiers
- many jobs required women to give up jobs once married
- women paid less than men
- married women called ‘double earners’, blamed for male unemployment
What was the myth of the ‘new woman’ in Sexual Freedom?
- birth rate declined and birth control access increased
- divorce rates increased
- rise in abortions, 1 million by 1930
What was the myth of the ‘new woman’ in Sexual Freedom?
- birth rate declined and birth control access increased
- divorce rates increased
- rise in abortions, 1 million by 1930
What was the reality for women in Sexual Freedom?
- abortions a criminal offence, 10-12,000 estimated deaths a year
- decline in birth rate attacked by Conservatives as ‘birth strike’
What was the myth of the ‘new woman’ in Politics and Public Life?
- equal voting rights and able to become Reichstag deputies from 1919
- from 1924-28, 27-33 female deputies
- women active in local government
What was the reality for women in Politics and Public Life ?
- no women became members of the cabinet
- only KPD made gender equality a key element
- Centre Party, DNVP and DDP got the most female votes, but they didnt prioritise feminist issues
Who was Clara Zetkin?
- KPD member of Reichstag from 1920-33
- active in SPD before 1914
- campaigned for women’s rights
- organised first IWD in 1911
Wandervogel
- 1896 by Berlin school teacher
- highly nationalistic and romanticised Germany’s past
- hated industrialisation and cities
- sought freedom of wild spaces
Social Democratic Youth Movement
- 1925
- 60,000 members
- focused on political education rather than using them for political gains
Young Communist League (KPD)
- 1925
- voted on youth members
Hitler Youth
- only 13,000 members by 1929
Education
- Gynmasiums for those aiming for uni
- Realschule, 6 years of school for those looking for apprenticeship
- class divisions came from this
Young people and unemployment
- 1925-26, 17% of unemplyed were 14-21
- baby boom in 1900s
- many joined gangs to find support
Jewish Life
- 500,000 in Germany
- 80% of jews lived in cities and were well educated
- Jews dominated their industries
Jews - politics and press
Theodor Wolff, editor of Berliner Tageblatt, driving force behind Walter Rathenau
Jews - industry
- Rothschilds etc owned 50% of banking
- 16% of lawyers and 11% of doctors
- 24% of nobel prizes awarded to Jews
