Changes in society 1924-29 Flashcards
How did German living standards improve after 1924
1927 - Unemployment insurance Act took 3% of worker wages to help the unemployed or ill with 60marks/week
1924-29 - 37k new houses built. Homelessness decreased by 60% by 1928. State spent 33x more on housing in 31 than in 13
1925-28 Workers wages increased and working hours decreased (+25% wage, meaning some were the best paid in Europe)
What were the limitations to these new living standards
Wages:
Middle class did not share much of the prosperity as it did not make a large difference to their wages and did not help after the hyperinflation 1923.
Generally, unemployment fell but it still stayed high for teachers and lawyers
4% unemployed 1924
How many middle-class citizens were still looking for a job in 1928
184,000
Other benefit insurances included
Other reforms provided benefits and assistance to war veterans,
wives and dependents of the war dead, single mothers and the disabled.
Position of women in politics
1919- women over 20years had the right to vote
1926- 32 women deputies in the Reichstag
The Weimar Constitution also introduced equality in education for the sexes, equal opportunity in civil service appointments and equal pay in the professions.
Most advanced in women’s rights of any european country in this period
Position of women in employment
- growing number of women in civil service, teaching or social work
- women working in civil service earned the same as men
- 1933- 100,000 women teachers and 3,000 women doctors
Limitations in success of women in employment
- After the war, better paid jobs were taken back by men
- Married working women were criticised for working and neglecting their home
- The number of women employed dropped from 75% in 1918 to 26% in 1925
Position of women in leisure
- much more freedom than before the Weimar Republic
- went out unescorted, drank and smoked in public, fashion conscious and wore makeup
What was “new objectivity” in German art?
Weimar artists tried to show everyday life as opposed to previous artistic detachment from the subject (new objectivity)
Name 2 prominent German artists and how they influenced art:
Grosz: served at the front line in WW1 and created paintings to show doll/robot like figures who had no control over their lives
Dix: showed the uglier side of human nature. He said that wartime had made him aware of this
What was the name of this new cultural Weimar?
Golden-age Weimar
What was the Bauhaus movement in architecture
Created by Gropius who thought it is better to use simple shapes and colours with bold designs and unusual materials - modernism
What was “Zeittheater” in German Theatre
“Opera of the time”
Often involved portrayal of Germany’s old failures, which were now swept away.
The Salesman of Berlin three street-sweepers sweep away the worst features of the years after 1918, including a pile of paper money, a steel
helmet, which represents Germany’s defeated army, and the body of the man who had worn it.
The Good Soldier Schweik, the hero delivers his criticisms of Germany as he sits in the toilet.
What was the “golden age cinema” in Weimar like?
Often used to convey messages. Eg “metropolis” 1927 was a futuristic city held by abused workers, and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, was a horror film ut its underlying message was anti-war and anti-military.
What was literature like from both the left and right?
Right - Critical of German democracy and glorifying WW1
Left- Anti-war, describing horrors of war, eg Remarque i- & war novel called All Quiet on the Western Front
