Aspects Of Life In Germany And West Germany Weimar Flashcards

1
Q

What was the situation of workers before 1918?

A
  • 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
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2
Q

How was culture portrayed in the years of the Weimar Republic?

A
  • Vibrant
  • Experimental
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3
Q

Give the names of two influential movements and what they were:

A
  • 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
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4
Q

What is expressionism and modernism and give an example of each

A
  • 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
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5
Q

Why were films based on traditional themes said to be popular and give one example of a type of entertainment that had this?

A
  • 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)
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6
Q

Give examples of a movie, novel, artwork that reflected the problems of the 1920s and how they did this

A
  • 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)
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7
Q

Give one example of an expressionist artist/musician and his works

A
  • Arnold Schonberg devised a system of atonal music and developed a different system of musical notation
  • Painted expressionist paintings
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8
Q

What did the government subsidise, but what was the problem with this?

A
  • Subsidised theatres, orchestras, museums and libraries
  • Subsidies were small
  • Social welfare projects were more of a priority
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9
Q

What was UFA and what was the subject of their films usually like?

A
  • 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
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10
Q

How did the number of cinemas in Germany change between 1919 and 1929?

A
  • 1919 –> 2800 cinemas
  • 1929 –> 5200
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11
Q

How free was Germany in terms of sexuality?

A
  • 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)
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12
Q

What did the Weimar Constitution censor and not censor?

A
  • Para 184 in Criminal Code, banning obscene films + publications
  • Under 16s protected from porn
  • People could paint, sing + write more freely
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13
Q

How did Weimar culture worry right-wingers?

A
  • Increasing number of Jewish writers/musicians
  • Decadence
  • Increasing Americanisation of culture
  • Way ‘new women’ behaved
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14
Q

What was education like for upper-class children before WW1?

A
  • Upper-class children attend fee-paying schools
  • Education system supported the social status quo
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15
Q

What was education like for lower-class children before WW1?

A
  • 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
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16
Q

Between what ages was education compulsory before WW1 and what were most schools like?

A
  • 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)
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17
Q

Between what ages was Grundschule compulsory after WW1?

A
  • Grundschule (primary) was compulsory between 6 and 10 (paid after this age)
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18
Q

In what ways was religion removed from schools after WW1 and what was the reaction to this from people?

A
  • 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
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19
Q

Whilst the gov was devising a federal education law that gave the Länder rough guidelines, what schools were set up?

A
  • 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
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20
Q

When and what was the final education bill proposed and what were the failed attempts to compromise before this?

A

1927 –> Confessional, simultaneous + secular schools to be set up equally as long as they are requested by parents of at least 40 kids

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21
Q

As a result of the bill not being passed, the education system of Germany stayed diverse. Give stats to show how diverse schools were:

A
  • 29,000 Protestant schools
  • 15,000 Catholic schools
  • 9,000simultaneous schools
  • 300 secular schools
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22
Q

What were the 4 types of state-funded secondary schools and what was similar between these and the pre-war ones?

A

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

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23
Q

How did the gov try to create a system that served all students?

A
  • 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
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24
Q

What did you have to pass to get into uni?

A

Abitur exam

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25
Q

What percentage of a 1928 survey were the fathers of university students civil servants and working class?

A
  • 45% were civil servants (21.2% of these were university educated)
  • 2.3% were working class
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26
Q

Why was social mobility difficult?

A
  • 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
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27
Q

What did the German Civil Code of 1900 say about women?

A
  • 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
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28
Q

What was a woman’s role before WW1?

A
  • Kinder, Küche, Kirche
  • Children, Kitchen, Church
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29
Q

Compare the number of women working in armament manufacturer Krupp before and during the war.

A
  • 1913 –> 0 women employees
  • 1918 –> Over 28,000 employees
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30
Q

By the end of the war, what percentage of working age women were employed?

A

75%

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31
Q

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.

A
  • BDF
  • 900,000 members by 1929
  • Maj were middle class
  • Not radical
  • Promoted women to play leading roles in ‘nurturing professions’
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32
Q

What 4 equal rights did the Weimar Constitution (Article 109) offer women?

A
  • Equal political rights
  • Equal educational rights
  • Equal opportunity in civil service appointments
  • Equal pay in professions
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33
Q

When were women given the vote and how did this happen?

A

12 Nov 1918 under an emergency gov (even before the new constitution)

34
Q

What was the turnout of women at the first elections and how many women were elected to the Reichstag between 1919 and 1932?

A
  • 90%
  • 112 women elected to Reichstag
35
Q

What matter was the Reichstag split on and who was a supporter of this?

A
  • Changing the legal status of women
  • SPD supported equality and women’s rights
36
Q

What stance did the left-wing political parties take on women’s rights?

A
  • 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
37
Q

What stance did nationalist parties like DVP + DNVP take on the role of women and what is their relevance?

A
  • 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)
38
Q

Give an example of one right-wing group who campaigned against ‘cultural decadence’, what this was and what they supported instead

A
  • KDK
    Cultural decadence:
  • Americanisation of German culture
  • Female emancipation
  • Birth control
  • Homosexuality
    Rather emphasised traditional German values
39
Q

What prevented the role of women progressing in the late 1920s?

A
  • Dominance of right-wing groups especially after Wall Street Crash of 1929
  • Cultural developments only really occurred in large towns/cities not rural areas
40
Q

What 3 things were concerning for the government?

A
  • 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
41
Q

What was one of the reasons for the falling birth rate?

A

1.6 mil men were killed so surplus women (women w/out husbands) were now significant proportion of the population

42
Q

What was Weimar government policy and what impact did this gave in the percentage of the workforce that was female?

A
  • 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)
43
Q

Even though the percentage of workforce was similar, what did rise and why was this?

A
  • Numbers of working women
  • Many more ‘white blouse’ jobs (clerical + shop work traditionally done by women) available
44
Q

How differently were men paid compared to women?

A

For exactly the same job, men were paid 33% more than women

45
Q

Why were single working women much more accepted than married working women (doppelverdiener)?

A

Seen as a temporary activity before they married

46
Q

What was used as a reason to oppose women entering the professions?

A
  • 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
47
Q

How many female lawyers were there by 1933?

A

36

48
Q

How many females were working in lower levels of the legal profession and as doctors, comparing 1925 and 1933?

A
  • 54 in 1925, 251 in 1933 (lower legal professions)
  • Over 2500 female doctors to double in 1933
49
Q

How was working hard for women in professions?

A
  • 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)
50
Q

What did young and educated women want and which of them usually chose to abandon traditional female behaviour?

A
  • Independence
  • Those who worked (especially in ‘white blouse’ jobs) were the ones abandoning this behaviour
51
Q

In what ways did ‘new women’ abandon traditional female behaviour?

A
  • Wore more revealing clothes
  • Cut hair short (Bubikopf = bobbed hair)
  • Smoked and drank
  • Behaved with freedom of man
52
Q

Where were these new women mainly based and what was the view of them from 2 different perspectives?

A
  • Based on racy city culture
  • Criticised by media as immoral
  • Loved by film industries who produced glorified images of these women
53
Q

What problems did ‘new women’ face and what happened to the majority of them?

A
  • Wage discrimination
  • Sexual discrimination
  • Many did as expected and married, hoping they would be in a more equal one
54
Q

Give examples of radical organisations that advocated for ‘sexual reform’ and what this term means

A
  • 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

55
Q

What was the law on prostitution prior to WW1 and how was this enforced

A
  • 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)
56
Q

Give numbers of registered prostitutes in different regions of Germany in 1918

A
  • 3000 in Leipzig
  • 1501 in Hamburg
57
Q

After the enfranchisement of women, what did they demand and what change did this cause in Hamburg?

A
  • 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
58
Q

What organisation was created in 1920, what were its features and the attitudes towards it and how had this developed by 1924?

A
  • Care Office
  • Designed to educate and provide financial support for women leaving prostitution
  • By 1924 –> Care Offices established all across GER
59
Q

What tensions were the right-wing press worried about?

A
  • Tensions between Care Offices + Morals Police as there was now less need for latter
  • Press worried this would lead to growth of unregulated prostitution
60
Q

What scandal led to national change in laws of prostitution and what was it ?

A
  • 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
61
Q

What legal changes were made as a result?

A
  • 1927 –> Prostitution decriminalised
62
Q

In general, how were ethnic minorities treated under the Weimar Republic, which group was discriminated specifically and in what way?

A
  • Mostly accepted
  • Low-level discrimination faced by women
  • Lower wages
  • Less likely to be hired compared to a ‘German’ man
63
Q

Give one law that was meant to protect ethnic minorities and explain how this failed:

A
  • 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
64
Q

What theories led to racist thinking in Weimar and what was the scientific justification for this?

A
  • Racial laws introduced in colonies to protect white settler-colonists
  • Theories of eugenics
  • Concentration on hereditary nature of disease
65
Q

Why did some Germans not want to integrate Jews?

A
  • 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
66
Q

What was the judiciary system’s view on the rights of Jews and why?

A
  • Unwilling to uphold Jewish rights
  • Many were traditional nationalists and anti-Semites
  • Jews had almost entirely been excluded from judiciary
67
Q

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?

A
  • 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)
68
Q

What percentage of German pop was Jewish, how did this change between 1918 and 1933 and why?

A
  • 1918 –> About 1%
  • 1933 –> 0.76% (about 500,000)
  • Falling birth rates
69
Q

What influence did Jews have in Germany?

A

Huge influence on culture and soon became politicians

70
Q

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?

A
  • 5
  • Walther Rathenau
  • Gov was criticised for appointing Jews
  • Assassinated shortly after leading to ban on some anti-Semitic organisations
71
Q

What was the most aggressive anti-Semitic organisation, what did their pamphlets include and give stats to show members between 1919 and 1923?

A
  • 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
72
Q

What was this organisation’s justification for hating on the Jews and what did many of them do once it was disbanded?

A
  • Jews had conspired w/ Allies and lost them the war
  • Joined NSDAP
73
Q

Why was the Protestant Church also suspicious of a Jewish people and what about the Catholics?

A
  • 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
74
Q

What event led to more hatred towards Jews and communists and why?

A
  • Depression
  • People needed someone to blame
75
Q

What organisation was set up to fight anti-semitism and what was the name emphasising?

A
  • Reich Federation of Jewish Soldiers
  • 85,000 Jewish soldiers had fought in war and 12,000 had died
76
Q

Why were Gypsies discriminated against?

A

Moved around so did not contribute to country by working, paying taxes or involvement in community

77
Q

What laws were there controlling Gypsies and give examples of one state’s actions

A
  • 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
78
Q

Why did many Poles move to Germany in 1925, how were they treated, why and what happened as a result of this?

A
  • 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
79
Q

Why did hostility against black people rise after 1923 and which black groups, on the contrary, were accepted?

A
  • 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
80
Q

For what other reasons did the Germans treat black people badly and what showed this?

A
  • Believed they had no right to make homes in Germany as they had nothing of value to bring to nation
81
Q

What rights did the African people from former colonies not have?

A
  • Not granted German citizenship
  • No right to vote
  • No right to state aid in times of economic crisis