FRG, 1945-89: Aspects of Life

Question 1

What was education like under allied control in 1945-49?

Answer 1

• Allies could not agree on a common educational policy
• Lack of school buildings, materials and teachers meaning classes were large
• Methods resorted back to Weimar, history teaching focused on general Europe and not Germany

Question 2

How was education reformed in the 1950s?

Answer 2

• 1958, abolition of fees
• 1955, Dusseldorf Agreement, covered a number of examination standards and made attendance mandatory for a minimum of 9 years
• Other failed reforms, system same as Weimar

Question 3

How did university improve throughout the FRG?

Answer 3

• Student numbers had risen in the 1960s, facilities however were inadequate, curriculum was old fashioned and still only catered for the well off
• Numbers rose to 750,000 in 1980, law in 1971 provided a mix of state funding and loans to encourage the working class into university

Question 4

How had education improved by the end of the period?

Answer 4

• State provided free education up to the end of secondary school, parents encouraged to keep children in school
• Gymnasium numbers rose to 2 million by 1980

Question 5

What evidence is there of changing attitudes towards young people over the period?

Answer 5

• Voting age lowered to 18 in 1975
• 1950s, 50% of parents thought corporal punishment was good, frowned upon by the 1980s
• Reversal in 1960s, adults listened to youth issues

Question 6

What was film like in the FRG?

Answer 6

• 1950s, light-hearted tales of family and love
• 1962 Oberhausen Manifesto rejected this cinema
• New German Cinema emerged, dealt with social issues, included remake of Nosferatu

Question 7

What was literature like in the FRG?

Answer 7

• Writers reemerged, spoke of wartime experiences
• 1960s, critical of Year Zero policy, Group 47 talked of contemporary issues
• Emergence of feminist literature in the 70-80s

Question 8

What was art like in the FRG?

Answer 8

• Conceptual art, idea takes precedent over the aesthetic (Hanne Darboven)
• Neo-expressionism, reaction to minimal art, showed objects like the body and colour

Question 9

How was architecture influenced in the FRG?

Answer 9

• Allies put money into public buildings and put a modern style in Western Berlin in order to show it as affluent and send a message to the East
• Brutalist Architecture from the UK, showcased bare materials like concrete

Question 10

What was theatre like in the FRG?

Answer 10

• Post-war, emphasis on authenticity
• 1960s, burst of creativity, new takes on Shakespeare
• 1984, ‘Brother Eichmann’, focused on Adolf Eichmann and his role in the genocide

Question 11

What was music like in the FRG?

Answer 11

• Pop music from the UK and the US
• US army developed jazz and rock culture during the allied control
• Bands fused psychedelic rock with electronic sounds
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