Aspects of Life in Germany and West Germany FRG

Question 1

Give 1 stat showing surplus women in FRG and as a result what did many have to do:

Answer 1

• 1948 –> 7.3 mil more women than men
• Do all sorts of work

Question 2

For many people and political groups, what was the image of an ideal woman and what policies support this?

Answer 2

• Wife and mother
• Tax breaks and benefits to encourage mothers to stay at home at least for first 3 years of child’s life

Question 3

What article of Basic Law stated there should be equality for all citizens?

Answer 3

Article 3

Question 4

When was the Civil Code revised to give women legal freedom and what was it like for them before this?

Answer 4

• 1958
• Husband’s permission needed to work
• Husband got full control of woman’s property

Question 5

What law made in what year gave women equal rights in marriage and what else did it overturn?

Answer 5

• Marriage and Family Law
• 1977
• The fact that women could only work if it didn’t interfere w/ role as wife/mother

Question 6

What does 1982 survey show about pop’s view on women working?

Answer 6

70% of men and women thought men should work and women should care for the home

Question 7

Give one example of a feminist action group:

Answer 7

Jan 1968 –> Action Council for Women’s Liberation (West Berlin)

Question 8

What did the most radical groups protest against?

Answer 8

Para 218 (crime to seek abortion unless for strong medical reason)

Question 9

When was a law allowing abortion in first 12 weeks of pregnancy allowed and what happened to this?

Answer 9

• 1974
• 1975 –> Declared unconstitutional by federal gov because there was huge public outcry that it violated foetus’ rights

Question 10

As soon as the Allies took over what did they do to schools and why?

Answer 10

They closed them down until autumn of 1945 to de-Nazify

Question 11

How did the presence of the Lander prevent educational reform?

Answer 11

Even when federal gov could agree on reforms, the Lander had to be convinced to adopt them

Question 12

Give one example of the failure to introduce educational reform:

Answer 12

• Brandt gov tried to introduce federal framework for restructuring schools eg help for disadvantaged
• Bundestag passed it by narrow maj but insufficient in Bundesrat to become law
• No school restructuring

Question 13

What key problem was there w/ education and how was it solved (3) ?

Answer 13

Problem:
- Only catered for wealthy
Solution:
- Parents encouraged to keep children in education –> numbers going to uni increased from 240,000 in 1960 to 750,000 in 1980
- 1971 –> Federal Education Act provided mix of state funding + state loans to encourage working class families to go uni

Question 14

What aspects of culture were easy to de-Nazify and regenerate?

Answer 14

• Removing Nazi controls
• Re-establishing a free press

Question 15

What aspects of culture were harder to de-Nazify and regenerate?

Answer 15

Harder to retain culture, as it was easier to adopt the culture of Allied zones eg Hollywood movies

Question 16

Give one example of a popular social movement and 2 of its features:

Answer 16

• Anti nuclear movement
  Features:
• Rejected consumerism
• Desired more peaceful, equal society

Question 17

Give an example of 2 different movies showing the cultural divide in film:

Answer 17

• Until 1960s –> One of most popular films was Heimatfilm w/ escapist, romantic plot
• During 1960s –> Der junge Törless examined German persecution of Jews

Question 18

Give one example of a difference in the viewpoints of youngsters and older gen:

Answer 18

Older gen:
- Wanted traditional German culture
- Wanted comfortable consumerist lifestyle
Younger gen:
- Less consumerist lifestyle
- Culture that faced both present + Nazi past (rejected Year Zero)

Question 19

On 1 Apr 1947, how many refugees and expellees were there?

Answer 19

10 mil

Question 20

Why was there a need for workers?

Answer 20

Economic boom of 1950s

Question 21

Why were unions worried about recruiting foreign workers?

Answer 21

• Wages may be forced down
• Existing workers may be undercut by accepting less favourable working conditions

Question 22

In order to prevent the issue of existing workers being undercut, what solutions were put in place?

Answer 22

Gov guaranteed non-German workers same wages and preference to German workers when hiring

Question 23

What office was set up in Nuremburg and what was its purpose? with whom FRG had labour recruitment treaties with?

Answer 23

• Federal Office for Labour Recruitment
• Run offices in countries FRG had labour recruitment treaties with

Question 24

Give 3 countries that West Germany formed labour recruitment treaties with:

Answer 24

• Italy
• Yugoslavia
• Turkey

Question 25

Procedure of guest worker recruitment:

Answer 25

• Had to pass physical exam for fitness to work
• Signed a 1 yr renewable contract
• Basic accommodation provided, often outside towns in order to cut them off from community

Question 26

What kind of jobs did foreign workers take and give one stat to show this:

Answer 26

• Took jobs Germans were happy to leave such as those w/ low wages + no accommodation
• Between 1961 and 1971 –> 870,000 Germans left mining jobs later taken up by 1.1 mil guest workers

Question 27

In what 2 ways were guest workers not treated as Germans, especially in the recession of 1966-67?

Answer 27

• Did not have rights of German citizens
• Unions less helpful about long-term assimilation
• In the recession, many landlords refused to take guest workers as tenants

Question 28

What organisations, however, did help out guest workers?

Answer 28

• Caritas (Catholic organisation)
• Diakonisches Werk (Protestant organisation)

Question 29

What was the impact of oil crisis on guest workers?

Answer 29

• Nov 1973 –> Stopped hiring and banned permits
• Mass layoffs were likely

Question 30

What systems were present that could protect guest workers and what was the limitation of one of these?

Answer 30

• Points system –> Legally, workers had to be laid off according to how vulnerable they were, which could protect guest workers
• Many workers did not realise this existed and rather took voluntary severance packages based on time working
• 1975 –> Gov gave same benefits to guest workers’ children as others

Question 31

When was the ban as a result of the oil crisis removed?

Answer 31

1977

Question 32

What was set up in 1978 as further protection for the workers and what was its purpose?

Answer 32

• Federal Commissioner for Foreign Affairs
• Work for rights of foreign workers and promote integration

Question 33

Give one stat to show the rise in guest worker children:

Answer 33

165,000 in 1976 to almost 200,000 in 1983

Question 34

What religion did the majority of guest worker children belong to, what age were most of these children when they began school and what skills did they lack?

Answer 34

• Islam
• 6
• No pre-school education + language

Question 35

In what way was education challenging for Muslims and how did they attempt to overcome this?

Answer 35

• Most pre-school education was Christian
• Set up their own schools (Koran schools) that attracted a lot of hostility

Question 36

What did guest workers often belong to and how were they both positive and negative?

Answer 36

• Ethnic associations
• Positive because they helped newcomers settle in
• Negative because they kept themselves separate