FRG Society Flashcards
What was the situation for women in Germany after the end of WWII?
(4)
- many widows, rape survivors, dislocated, and poor women
- 7.3 mil more women than men in Germany
- high divorce rate until 1948
- loss of majority of able-bodied men = women had to work to rebuild Germany
What was the initial legal attitude towards women in the FRG?
(5)
- very few women in politics; Adenauer promised to give more jobs to women yet never acted on it
- Article 3 of the Basic Law asserted that there should be equality for all –> theoretical, not put in practice
- Civil Code (details of the constitution); women needed their husband’s permission to work, after marriage the legal control of property went to the husband
- 1953, Ministry for Family Affairs set up; provided wives + mothers with financial benefits
- Bundestag divided between those who wanted gender equality (SPD) VS those who wanted to discourage women from working (CDU)
What changes were there to the legal attitude towards women in the FRG?
(2)
- 1958, civil code changed to give women legal freedoms –> women no longer needed husband’s permission to work
- 1977, Marriage & Familly law (passed under Schmidt); gave women equal rights in marriage + overturned certain clauses of the civil code (eg. that women could only work if it didn’t affect their role as a wife + mother)
What were social attitudes towards women in the FRG?
(3)
very conservative;
- Nazi attitudes prevailed; ‘Kinder, Küche, Kircher’ prominent until 1970s
- education system did not facilitate the idea of a working mother; school hours meant that women without childcare had to be home in the afternoon
- 1982, public attitude survey; around 70% of men + women believed that women should give up work upon marriage, and that men should work while women cared for the home
What was the women’s liberation movement in the FRG generally like?
(4)
- based in cities
- led primarily by students + young
- focused on access to abortion
- little focus on workplace equality or laws against sexual discrimination (as in USA)
Was abortion legalised in the FRG?
(3)
- Paragraph 218 of the German Penal Code (1871) made it a crime for women to seek abortions unless medically necessary
- 1974, attempt to reform the law on abortion; to allow limited abortion up to 12 weeks –> struck down by the constitutional courts + large public outcry
- 1976, some abortion allowed
West Berlin Commune
(3)
1967, West Berlin students set up a commune to live equally;
- women ended up doing all cooking + cleaning
- women left after 6 months
the Action Council for Women’s Liberation
(4)
1968, the Action Council for Women’s Liberation set up in West Berlin;
- set up day centres (practical action)
- started a campaign to make the government change way in which daycare + schools were run
- 1969, groups split up due to disagreements; some felt it wasn’t doing enough for women outside of the family
movement against paragraph 218
(5)
many radical groups targeted Paragraph 218 (penalised abortion);
- led by Alice Schwarzer (journalist)
- put images of 30 women on the cover of ‘Stern’ magazine with the title ‘We’ve had abortions!’
- set up refuges for battered women across Germany
- published pamphlets educating about women’s health + contraception
What education related issues did Germany face after WWII?
(4)
- de-Nazify curriculum + remove all Nazi textbooks
- 97% of teachers had been part of the NSDAP = difficult to denazify
- Allies wanted to avoid the reintroduction of confessional schools and stop with selection of career paths at 10y/o
- 1945 Allies shut down all schools BUT children needed to learn numeracy + literacy –> autumn 1945 reopened schools
How did localism/länder prove to be an issue in terms of education?
- Basic Law kept länder responsible for educational + cultural policy = large differences
–> many church schools were set up in the south, whereas schools in the north were largely secular
–> differences in curriculum across länder
- Länder scuppered efforts of federal government to introduce educational reform
–> 1971, SPD gov under Brandt tried to force through a federal framework for restructuring schools (comprehensive schools, help for disadvantaged, reform of Uni structure); refused by the Bundesrat = no restructuring of school system
What were the problems of the FRG university system in the 1960s?
(3)
- outdated syllabus; didn’t teach technology or economics
- inadequate facilities + student accomodation
- elitist institutions; catered to children of civil servants + the wealthier members of society
How did the government try to ‘democratise’ universities in the FRG?
(3)
- 1971, SPD under Brandt passed the Federal Education Promotion Act; provided state funding + state loans to encourage working-class students to attend university
- free education primary + secondary education = encouraged parents to send their children to secondary school;
–> 1960, 853,400 children in gymnasiums VS 1980, >2 mil (children in gymnasiums most likely to go to university)
How successful were the government’s efforts to ‘democratise university?
(statistics)
1960, 239,000 university students
1980, 749,000 students
Why + When did the FRG start to employ foreign workers?
(3)
- 1950s, FRG effectively attained full employment = labour shortage
- TUs unhappy with gov suggestion to employ foreign workers; feared foreign workers would undercut German workers’ wages and accept worse working conditions
- government introduced ‘guest worker’ scheme
What were the conditions of the ‘guest worker’ scheme?
(7)
- foreign workers were guaranteed the same wages as German workers
- German workers were given priority when hiring
- foreigners to apply through Federal Office for Labour Recruitment offices abroad & pass a physical examination
- foreigners could then sign a 1 yr contract for a specific job; contracts could be renewed on a year by year basis
- workers were not assimilated into German culture
- given basic accomodation & cut off from the wider community
- given heavy manual labour + less favourable jobs
What were the effects of the ‘guest worker’ scheme?
(2)
- 1961-1973, 3 mil Germans switched from blue to white collar jobs
- increasing number of illegal foreign workers; no work permit & took worst possible jobs with low wages and no accomodation
What were the different waves of foreign workers in the FRG?
(3)
- 1945, 10 mil displaced people; returning soldiers, Germans, people from Nazi occupied territories –> helped to revive the German economy by keeping labour costs low
- East German refugees; highly trained at the expense of the GDR & settled for low wages –> 1961, influx halted by the creation of the Berlin Wall
- 1961, ‘guest worker’ scheme stepped up to compensate for loss of East German labour force
What was the attitude of German society towards the ‘guest workers’?
(5)
- TUs; helped them adjust to work but refused to help guest workers assimilate long-term
- church organisations; supported guest workers, Caritas (Catholic) + Diakonisches Werk (Protestant)
- 1966 recession; increased tension, many landlords refused to accept guest workers as tennants to help confine them to the poorest neighbourhoods
- hostility from right-wing groups outlasted recession
- guest workers began to demonstrate for bettwer working + living conditions; increase in hostility
How did the oil crisis affect guest workers?
1973-1978 (5)
- Nov 1973, gov put a stop to the hiring of guest workers and banned permits for families of workers already in the country –> number of guest workers fell to under 2 mil
- 1975 gov gave guest workers’ children same benefits as other children as there were now unemployed guest workers
- 1977, ban on guest workers was lifted
- 1978, Schmidt appointed the first Federal Commissioner for Foreigners’ Affairs; to work for and promote the rights of foreign workers + their integration
- clear rules for applying for unrestricted residence (not citizenship) were established
–> negative anti-migrant general attitudes were combatted by government policies
Why was the education of foreign children an issue for the government?
(5)
- Basic Law stated that ‘democratic education’ and equal opportunity to be provided for all
- tried to persuade länder to provide mixed culture learning groups; mixing foreign children with German ones in class and giving them books in German + mother tongue
- number of foreign children in schools; 1976, 165,000 VS 1983, 200,000 –> 60% muslim
- most muslim foreign children started school at 6; pre-school education largely Christian
- Koran schools attracted much hostility
Why did the majority of guest workers not assimilate?
(4)
- Germans believed they would be there for a short period of time
- ghettoised & isolated together in poor areas
- fell behind in education
- wanted to preserve their own culture
What were the easy aspects of de-Nazifying culture?
(3)
- reintroducing ‘degenerate art’
- re-establishing free press
- many people welcomed the culture offered by the Allies; Hollywood movies in US zone + Shakespeare in British zone
What was difficult about de-Nazifying culture?
retaining culture that the Nazis had approved of (eg. Wagner’s music)
What movements unified Germans of different generations?
(4)
- anti-nuclear movement
- various ecological movements
- alternative lifestyle movements
–> all rejected consumerism and wanted a more peaceful, society
What was cinema like in the FRG?
(3)
- until 1960s, Heimatfilm (homeland films) were the most popular genre; films about Germany, set in beautiful rural locations, escapist romantic plots –> helped developed regional culture, unlike Nazi nationalism
- 1960s experimentalism
- 1962, Das Neue Kino (New German Cinema) set up; focused on Germany’s shameful past & current FRG social issues –> 1966 ‘Yesterday Girl’ about problems of an East German migrant worker + 1966 ‘Young Törless’ about persecution of Jews
–> 1965, sponsored by the Board of Young German Film
What tensions existed between different generations of Germans?
(2)
- old wanted Stunde Null VS young wanted to confront the past
- old wanted traditional German culture + comfortable consumerism VS young wanted a less consumerist lifestyle + culture
What was music like in the FRG?
(3)
1960s much experimentalism + innovation;
- Krautrock
- Kraftwerk
