Culture in Weimar (4)

Question 1

Culture in Weimar

Answer 1

• Often portrayed as vibrant, experimental and, in the cities, decedant.
• Important to note that not all areas were touched with cultural experimentation, or were horrified it.
• However, its influence on technology, eficiency and a stress on the modern influenced both Germany and abroad.
• Weimar culture can be split into strands.

Question 2

Art elite culture

Answer 2

• Artists, intellectuals, writers and those who supported them.
• Most experimental.
• Favoured modernism and then the darker objectivity movement - existed side by side, influencing art, music, lit, opera and theatre.

Question 3

Government-subsided culture

Answer 3

• Subsidiesed theatre, orchestras, museums and libraries.
• However, subsidies were quite small and social welfare projects took priority for both federal and state governments.
• Encouraged other cultural initatives - Ufa (govt-organised film consortium) made the most German movies like Metropolis.

Question 4

Popular culture

Answer 4

• Widely enjoyed and largely non-subsidised and most diverse.
• Some, especially the young in urban areas, were heavily influenced by US trends like a consumer culture, advertising and jazz.
• Traditional music, plays and cinema had a huge following.

Question 5

Reactions to experimentations

Answer 5

• The Weimar Constitution said free speech was a right of citizens.
• Some thought this meant no censorship but the Criminal Code Paragraph 184 allowed the banning of ‘obscene’ films and publications = used to ban pornography for under 16s, but people could still paint, sing or write freely.
• Also allowed critics = many right-wing people (like Centre Party) worried about Weimar culture’s decadence, the increasing number of influential Jewish writers and increasing Americanisation of the culture.