Aspects Of Life In Germany And West Germany Weimar Flashcards
What was the situation of workers before 1918?
- Over half the workers worked in mines, factories, workshops by 1914, as Germany industries were booming with more production of iron and steel compared to any other country
- Wages were low
- Bad working conditions
- Many joined trade unions and supported socialist parties
How was culture portrayed in the years of the Weimar Republic?
- Vibrant
- Experimental
Give the names of two influential movements and what they were:
- Bauhaus –> Movement that involved bringing together all the arts, featuring simple designs
- Neue Sachlichkeit –> Grew out of expressionist and modern movements, representing the harsh realities of life in Germany
What is expressionism and modernism and give an example of each
- Expressionism = Stressed thoughts and feelings were more important than accurate representation (many were Jewish) eg. Nosferatu 1922 based on horror movie Dracula
- Modernism = Embraced the future and rejected representational art eg. Woman in the Moon (1929) by Fritz Lang –> first trip to moon, technology
Why were films based on traditional themes said to be popular and give one example of a type of entertainment that had this?
- Provided reassurance and escapism at a time of economic crisis + political rev
- Mountain movies (looked back on beauty of Germany’s landscape ) eg. The Holy Mountain (1926)
Give examples of a movie, novel, artwork that reflected the problems of the 1920s and how they did this
- Nosferatu (1922) by Friedrich Murnau –> increase in interest in undead spirits in 1920s after thousands of corpses left in mass graves w/out proper funeral after WW1
- All Quiet on the Western Front (1929) by Erich Maria Remarque –> bleak depiction of WW1 and its aftermath
- Stroomtroopers Advancing Under Gas (1924) by Otto Dix –> monstrous German soldiers in war (part of New Objectivity + Expressionism)
Give one example of an expressionist artist/musician and his works
- Arnold Schonberg devised a system of atonal music and developed a different system of musical notation
- Painted expressionist paintings
What did the government subsidise, but what was the problem with this?
- Subsidised theatres, orchestras, museums and libraries
- Subsidies were small
- Social welfare projects were more of a priority
What was UFA and what was the subject of their films usually like?
- Gov organised film consortium of biggest film studios that made most German movies eg. Metropolis, a silent science-fiction film about the future
- They were usually dark eg. Nosferatu, the first vampire movie
How did the number of cinemas in Germany change between 1919 and 1929?
- 1919 –> 2800 cinemas
- 1929 –> 5200
How free was Germany in terms of sexuality?
- Weimar Constitution said free speech was a right of its citizens
- Clubs all over Berlin like Monokel (lesbian bar) and El Dorado (queer + trans people met with other LGBTQ+ people)
What did the Weimar Constitution censor and not censor?
- Para 184 in Criminal Code, banning obscene films + publications
- Under 16s protected from porn
- People could paint, sing + write more freely
How did Weimar culture worry right-wingers?
- Increasing number of Jewish writers/musicians
- Decadence
- Increasing Americanisation of culture
- Way ‘new women’ behaved
What was education like for upper-class children before WW1?
- Upper-class children attend fee-paying schools
- Education system supported the social status quo
What was education like for lower-class children before WW1?
- Working class children attended Volkesschule (schools w/ classes over 50 teaching basic literacy + numeracy)
- Any education past 14 was expensive
- Most of them had to work from 14 onwards anyway, if not before
- Social mobility was difficult
Between what ages was education compulsory before WW1 and what were most schools like?
- Between 6 and 14 (after this it was paid)
- Elementary between 6 and 9 + Secondary between 9 and 14
- Confessional schools (faith-based –> mainly Protestant, Jewish and Catholic)
Between what ages was Grundschule compulsory after WW1?
- Grundschule (primary) was compulsory between 6 and 10 (paid after this age)
In what ways was religion removed from schools after WW1 and what was the reaction to this from people?
- Parents could remove children from religious education
- Clerical inspections stopped
- Those who approved were usually from towns and cities in northern Länder
- Those who disapproved were from villages in southern Länder
Whilst the gov was devising a federal education law that gave the Länder rough guidelines, what schools were set up?
- Länder had to provide a variety of education
- Simultaneous schools (children of various faiths w/ separate religious education for each of them) were set up
When and what was the final education bill proposed and what were the failed attempts to compromise before this?
1927 –> Confessional, simultaneous + secular schools to be set up equally as long as they are requested by parents of at least 40 kids
As a result of the bill not being passed, the education system of Germany stayed diverse. Give stats to show how diverse schools were:
- 29,000 Protestant schools
- 15,000 Catholic schools
- 9,000simultaneous schools
- 300 secular schools
What were the 4 types of state-funded secondary schools and what was similar between these and the pre-war ones?
3 continued the pre-war approach to education
- Gymnasium: most prestigious, often private, taught Latin, Greek + History, focused on student discipline, preferred by German unis, 9 yrs of school for uni
- Realgymnasium –> curriculum w/ integrated aspects of Gymnasium curriculum + needs of modern world, taught Latin, modern languages, sciences, maths but no Greek
- Oberrealschule –> focus on sciences, maths and modern languages
Also:
- Realschule –> 6 yrs of school for business/technical training
- Hauptschule –> 5 yrs of school for apprenticeships/trade
How did the gov try to create a system that served all students?
- Aufbauschule –> New school that provided Gymnasium style education to gifted children who could not afford to pay these fees
- Inspection system for all schools
- Churches no longer had right to run state schools
What did you have to pass to get into uni?
Abitur exam
What percentage of a 1928 survey were the fathers of university students civil servants and working class?
- 45% were civil servants (21.2% of these were university educated)
- 2.3% were working class
Why was social mobility difficult?
- Freedom of choice meant universities continued as they did
- The better universities had duelling corporations, which were popular w/ sons of wealthy landowners
- This meant some corporations eg. German-Aryan Chambers excluded people by race/class
- Without support of corporation, it was hard to progress in a career (56% of students were in a corporation
What did the German Civil Code of 1900 say about women?
- No vote
- Single women could study for professions but could not take exams and qualify
- Married women had no legal status –> any legal business was done by husbands on their behalf
What was a woman’s role before WW1?
- Kinder, Küche, Kirche
- Children, Kitchen, Church
Compare the number of women working in armament manufacturer Krupp before and during the war.
- 1913 –> 0 women employees
- 1918 –> Over 28,000 employees
By the end of the war, what percentage of working age women were employed?
75%
Give an example of the most influential feminist group between 1918 and 1932, how many members they had, who they were and what they promoted.
- BDF
- 900,000 members by 1929
- Maj were middle class
- Not radical
- Promoted women to play leading roles in ‘nurturing professions’
What 4 equal rights did the Weimar Constitution (Article 109) offer women?
- Equal political rights
- Equal educational rights
- Equal opportunity in civil service appointments
- Equal pay in professions
When were women given the vote and how did this happen?
12 Nov 1918 under an emergency gov (even before the new constitution)
What was the turnout of women at the first elections and how many women were elected to the Reichstag between 1919 and 1932?
- 90%
- 112 women elected to Reichstag
What matter was the Reichstag split on and who was a supporter of this?
- Changing the legal status of women
- SPD supported equality and women’s rights
What stance did the left-wing political parties take on women’s rights?
- SPD + KPD wanted to improve women’s rights
- However, both assumed they would play a domestic role
- KPD in favour however they had a very macho ethos as a fighting organisation + women made up a tiny minority of it
What stance did nationalist parties like DVP + DNVP take on the role of women and what is their relevance?
- Supported role of women in politics
- Rejected feminism as they supported women in nurturing roles instead
( Won more than 1/3 women’s vote in 1924)
Give an example of one right-wing group who campaigned against ‘cultural decadence’, what this was and what they supported instead
- KDK
Cultural decadence: - Americanisation of German culture
- Female emancipation
- Birth control
- Homosexuality
Rather emphasised traditional German values
What prevented the role of women progressing in the late 1920s?
- Dominance of right-wing groups especially after Wall Street Crash of 1929
- Cultural developments only really occurred in large towns/cities not rural areas
What 3 things were concerning for the government?
- Falling birth rate from 128 births per 1000 women in 1911, to 80 in 1925, to 59 in 1933
- Rising divorce rate from 27 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1913, to 59 in 1920, to 65 in 1932
- Campaign for free contraception and right to abortion under certain circumstances
What was one of the reasons for the falling birth rate?
1.6 mil men were killed so surplus women (women w/out husbands) were now significant proportion of the population
What was Weimar government policy and what impact did this gave in the percentage of the workforce that was female?
- Women should give up jobs to returning soldiers
- First post-war census in 1925 showed percentage of workforce that was female return to almost pre-war levels (36% in 1925, 34% pre-war)
Even though the percentage of workforce was similar, what did rise and why was this?
- Numbers of working women
- Many more ‘white blouse’ jobs (clerical + shop work traditionally done by women) available
How differently were men paid compared to women?
For exactly the same job, men were paid 33% more than women
Why were single working women much more accepted than married working women (doppelverdiener)?
Seen as a temporary activity before they married
What was used as a reason to oppose women entering the professions?
- Single women would only work until they married (not a career!)
- Long-term training was needed for a profession and it was a career, so it was used as an excuse to disallow women from entering professions
How many female lawyers were there by 1933?
36
How many females were working in lower levels of the legal profession and as doctors, comparing 1925 and 1933?
- 54 in 1925, 251 in 1933 (lower legal professions)
- Over 2500 female doctors to double in 1933
How was working hard for women in professions?
- Women (especially doppelverdieners) faced hostility and discrimination from male colleagues
- TUs were male dominated –> women faced a lot of opposition from these
- Married women faced practical hurdles –> school day ended at lunchtime so they had to work part-time/from home/find childcare (250,000 doing poorly paid work from home for this reason in 1925, double this in 1935 census)
What did young and educated women want and which of them usually chose to abandon traditional female behaviour?
- Independence
- Those who worked (especially in ‘white blouse’ jobs) were the ones abandoning this behaviour
In what ways did ‘new women’ abandon traditional female behaviour?
- Wore more revealing clothes
- Cut hair short (Bubikopf = bobbed hair)
- Smoked and drank
- Behaved with freedom of man
Where were these new women mainly based and what was the view of them from 2 different perspectives?
- Based on racy city culture
- Criticised by media as immoral
- Loved by film industries who produced glorified images of these women
What problems did ‘new women’ face and what happened to the majority of them?
- Wage discrimination
- Sexual discrimination
- Many did as expected and married, hoping they would be in a more equal one
Give examples of radical organisations that advocated for ‘sexual reform’ and what this term means
- World League of Sexual Reform
- League for the Protection of Motherhood
Sexual reform:
- Sexual freedom
- Female sexual pleasure
- Marriage reform
- Easy access to contraception
- Moral reform –> rejection/acceptance of motherhood on their own terms
What was the law on prostitution prior to WW1 and how was this enforced
- Legal but highly regulated
- Special Morals Police force in each state forced women convicted of prostitution to obey curfews and work in licensed brothels (as many chose to work illegally for greater freedom)
Give numbers of registered prostitutes in different regions of Germany in 1918
- 3000 in Leipzig
- 1501 in Hamburg
After the enfranchisement of women, what did they demand and what change did this cause in Hamburg?
- End state-licensed prostitution
- Female social workers rather than male police officers to deal with female sex workers
- Hamburg –> City gov ordered closure of 114 legal brothels in 1920
What organisation was created in 1920, what were its features and the attitudes towards it and how had this developed by 1924?
- Care Office
- Designed to educate and provide financial support for women leaving prostitution
- By 1924 –> Care Offices established all across GER
What tensions were the right-wing press worried about?
- Tensions between Care Offices + Morals Police as there was now less need for latter
- Press worried this would lead to growth of unregulated prostitution
What scandal led to national change in laws of prostitution and what was it ?
- Bremen morality scandal
- Killed by Life (1926) book described how women suspected of sex work were humiliated by police
- Led to public outcry about handling of prostitution
What legal changes were made as a result?
- 1927 –> Prostitution decriminalised
In general, how were ethnic minorities treated under the Weimar Republic, which group was discriminated specifically and in what way?
- Mostly accepted
- Low-level discrimination faced by women
- Lower wages
- Less likely to be hired compared to a ‘German’ man
Give one law that was meant to protect ethnic minorities and explain how this failed:
- Article 113 of Weimar Constitution
- Gaps that spoke a diff language cannot legally be stopped from using it or preserving their national identity in their daily lives
- Liberals law so was not implemented seriously and didn’t control laws made by Länder against minorities
What theories led to racist thinking in Weimar and what was the scientific justification for this?
- Racial laws introduced in colonies to protect white settler-colonists
- Theories of eugenics
- Concentration on hereditary nature of disease
Why did some Germans not want to integrate Jews?
- Saw them as a religious group
- Accepting them would mean abandoning the Jewish religion and embracing Christian and German traditions, which the jews evidently would not do
- Feared Aryan race would be undermined
- Feared Jewish culture
What was the judiciary system’s view on the rights of Jews and why?
- Unwilling to uphold Jewish rights
- Many were traditional nationalists and anti-Semites
- Jews had almost entirely been excluded from judiciary
Around what percentage of Jewish men had professional jobs (how did this compare to rest of pop), owned department store businesses, were senior bankers and impoverished?
- Professional jobs –> 75% compared to the 25% of the rest of pop
- Department store businesses –> 80%
- Senior bankers –> 1% senior but exaggerated by media to seem there were more
- Poverty –> 20% (mainly Jews who moved from Eastern Europe to avoid persecution)
What percentage of German pop was Jewish, how did this change between 1918 and 1933 and why?
- 1918 –> About 1%
- 1933 –> 0.76% (about 500,000)
- Falling birth rates
What influence did Jews have in Germany?
Huge influence on culture and soon became politicians
How many Jews held a Cabinet position, give an example of one of these people, what happened to him and what did this lead to?
- 5
- Walther Rathenau
- Gov was criticised for appointing Jews
- Assassinated shortly after leading to ban on some anti-Semitic organisations
What was the most aggressive anti-Semitic organisation, what did their pamphlets include and give stats to show members between 1919 and 1923?
- League of German Defence and Defiance
- Pamphlets had widespread stereotypes of Jews that stressed the danger they posed
- 1919 –> 25,000
- 1923 (year of disbandment for Rathenau’s murder) –> 170,000
What was this organisation’s justification for hating on the Jews and what did many of them do once it was disbanded?
- Jews had conspired w/ Allies and lost them the war
- Joined NSDAP
Why was the Protestant Church also suspicious of a Jewish people and what about the Catholics?
- They argued they were selfish
- Because they put their personal wealth ahead of the nation
- Which went against the selflessness of Christianity
- Catholics were more concerned however the vast majority didn’t care
What event led to more hatred towards Jews and communists and why?
- Depression
- People needed someone to blame
What organisation was set up to fight anti-semitism and what was the name emphasising?
- Reich Federation of Jewish Soldiers
- 85,000 Jewish soldiers had fought in war and 12,000 had died
Why were Gypsies discriminated against?
Moved around so did not contribute to country by working, paying taxes or involvement in community
What laws were there controlling Gypsies and give examples of one state’s actions
- No federal law
- Several Länder like Prussia and Bavaria passed laws controlling them
- 1926 –> Bavaria passed a series of laws controlling their movement and aiming to get their children into schools + adults into work
- 1927 –> All Gypsies should carry identity cards
Why did many Poles move to Germany in 1925, how were they treated, why and what happened as a result of this?
- Poland and Germany border redrawn, which left people from each gap on wrong side of border
- 1925 –> Over 200,000 Polish speakers in Germany & 500,000 who spoke both Polish and German
- Significant hostility as they fought against Germany in war
- Between 1925 and 1933 –> About 30,000 left country
Why did hostility against black people rise after 1923 and which black groups, on the contrary, were accepted?
- French army occupation of Ruhr had black units from their colonies
- About 500 mixed race children born as a result
- Musicians and writers were accepted in cities
For what other reasons did the Germans treat black people badly and what showed this?
- Believed they had no right to make homes in Germany as they had nothing of value to bring to nation
What rights did the African people from former colonies not have?
- Not granted German citizenship
- No right to vote
- No right to state aid in times of economic crisis
