Chapter 11: Social developments

Question 1

What proportion of the workforce was female by 1918?

Answer 1

a third

Question 2

How many women were elected into the Reichstag in 1920?

Answer 2

111

Question 3

How much did the overall number of women in employment rise between 1907 and 1925?

Answer 3

1907 - 31.2%
1925 - 35.6%

Question 4

What types of jobs were women starting to do in the Weimar republic?

Answer 4

• white colar jobs
• more women in higher education = more female doctors and teachers

Question 5

How did families change during the weimar republic?

Answer 5

• generally smaller due to contraception being more accessible
• young people had more educational opportunity
• more leisure time - youth clubs, cinemas, radios

Question 6

How did right-wing nationalism continue to impact the Jewish population?
Give an example of one major incident which occured between the two groups

Answer 6

• Groups such as the Pan German league blame the jews for German defeat in WW1
• 1923 - 30,000 German workers join an attack on the Jewish quarter of Berlin

Question 7

What was the Sklarek scandal - how was it used by the right-wing to attack jewish people and Weimar democracy?

Answer 7

• 3 Jewish brothers arrested for fraud - they bribed weimar officials to cover it up
• brothers had associations with the SPD and DDP
• scandal fueled anti-semitism and was used to critisise the SPD government

Question 8

What was the biggest change during this period for the aristocracy?

Answer 8

all titles and legal privileges were removed

Question 9

What were the main developments for the military during the weimar period?

Answer 9

• restrictions places on the military at versailles but these have little influence - Elbert-Groener pact (military superiority was hard to remove)
• Groener became defense minister (1927) - would not let the Reichstag restrict the activity of the army
• military budget was increased by 75%
• officer corps continued to be made of nationalistic elites

Question 10

How many calories were some Germans living on by 1918

Answer 10

just 1000
- due to disruption of agriculture and the british blockades

Question 11

How were workers impacted by the 1923 crisis?

Answer 11

most were able to recover once real wages and living standards were restored

Question 12

How were the middle classes impacted by the 1923 crisis?

Answer 12

mixed impact
* those with **savings, pensions or fixed incomes lost everything - government compensation of 10% was inadequate
* people with debts or mortages **were able to pay these off with the worthless currency
* businesspeople could take out foreign loans and repay these with the devalued currency - some made a fortune (Hugo Stinnes - hyperinflation king)

Question 13

How many houses were built by the government in 1925?

Answer 13

178,930
- houses were functional, compact and well-equiped

Question 14

What social welfare reforms for workers occured in 1918?

Answer 14

• 8 hour work day
• restrictions on trade unions abolished
• new system of arbitration between employers and employees
• war victims pensions for invalids, widows and orphans

Question 15

What social reforms for war victims occured in 1920?

Answer 15

war victims benefits
- pensions for invalids, widows and orphans (this covered more than 2.5 million people - 40% of national expenditure

Question 16

What were some of the negative impacts of government welfare reforms?

Answer 16

• elites saw high taxation as an attack on their wealth
• some employers formed cartels to keep prices high
• many of the improvements were funded by foreign loans

Question 17

How many cinemas were in Germany by 1929?

Answer 17

500

Question 18

What new forms of entertainment became more widely available?

Answer 18

• dance halls
• swimming pools
• cinemas
• radios and telephonea

Question 19

What were the main developments for those in the countryside during the weimar period?

Answer 19

minimak change
* traditional entertainment
* women remained in the home
* lack of land reform - 1929 - income per head was 44% below the national average - high rural bankrupcies

Question 20

Which city was known as the avant guarde capital?

Answer 20

Berlin
-nightlife - carabet
-tolerence of same sex relationships

Question 21

How did art change?
How did the government aid this?

Answer 21

• art became more expressionistic - often violent and distorted
• gov subsidised art exhibitions

Question 22

How did architecture change?
What was the name of significant architecture movement?

Answer 22

• became more functional - utalitarian
• Bauhaus movement
  -functionality and geometric designs
  (later supressed by the Nazis)

Question 23

How did literature change?
Give names of two significant pieces of Weimar literature

Answer 23

• more political and social purpose
• “All is quiet on the western front” - explores the horrors of trench life
• “Decline of the West” - reinforced conservative views -blamed democracy for failing civilisation

Question 24

How did film/cinema change?
Give the names of a significant sci-fi film and an LGBTQ+ film of the period?

Answer 24

• new genres - lots of silent films
• “Metropolis” - hinted at industrial exploitation of workers - critique of modern society
• “Different from the others” - explored same sex relationships

Question 25

How did right wing groups react to the cultural changes happening in society?

Answer 25

• 1926 - Reichstag passed a law against literature deemed too explicit
• censorship rules imposed by individual lander
• pressure groups protested - disrupted performances and exhibitions
• Hitler created a “museum of degenerate art” - didn’t work as the museum was actually very popular