Germany: Social Developments Flashcards
By 1918
. Many lived on no more than 1000cals a day
. Electricity supply cut to conserve energy
. Public transport ceased to operate
. Businesses couldn’t function, economy close to collapse, ill + needy couldn’t be attended to
. Epidemic of Spanish flu killed over a mil
Early years of the Republic
. Difficult for all classes: 1923 crisis:
. At the height of inflation workers had to be paid daily/twice daily + many went to countryside to ‘glean’ what they could from the fields
. Organised employers payed employees in goods
. Unskilled workers fared the worse
. Recovered once real wages + living standards rose from 1924
Those who suffered the worst
. Pensioners, eg war widows living on state pensions
. Those who purchased ‘war bonds’ lost out bc interest rates became worthless
. Landlords reliant on fixed rents
. Hyperinflation hit many white-collar workers hard:
- lost savings + pensions, gov compensation based on 10% of their debt seemed inadequate
Those who did well out of hyperinflation
. Those w debts, mortgages, loans could pay off money owed in worthless currency
. Enterprising businesspeople who took out new loans + repaid once currency devalued further
. Those who had property they paid long-term fixed rents for gained bc real values of rents decreased
. Owners of foreign exchange + foreigners in Germany
Those who did well out of hyperinflation - lower in the hierarchy
. Farmers coped: food was in demand + money less important in rural communities anyway
. Some skilled workers could benefit from high demand for their goods or services, but much depended on region + levels of supply and demand
Expansion of Welfare State - 1918 (Nov)
. Workers granted 8hr day
. All restrictions on trade unions abolished
. System of industrial tribunals established to provide arbitration for employers + employees
Expansion of Welfare State - 1920-22
. War victims’ benefits. War related pensions for invalids, widows + orphans: 2.5mil+
. Youth Welfare State established a youth service to promote physical + social fitness
Expansion of Welfare State - 1923
. Unemployment relief, financed by employees and employers (extended in 1927)
. National Insurance system provide treatment for state-supported patients
. Single agency for administration of social insurance programmes for miners
. System of binding arbitration: outside arbitrator had final say in industrial disputes
Expansion of Welfare State - 1924-27
. Public assistance programme replaced older poor relief legislation
. Accident insurance programme: diseases linked to certain types of work became insurable risks
. An act for labour exchanges + unemployment insurance extended protection to 17.25mil workers. Half paid by workers, half by employers
Schemes by Lander gov
. Improved hospitals, schools, roads, municipal buildings + electricity supplies
. Initiatives to provide affordable homes
. 178,930 dwellings built in 1925 (70,000+ more than last year) + in 1926 205,793 more new homes
. Self-building housing initiatives + experimenting in recycled building materials were encouraged
Burden of Welfare System
. 1923: when many unemployed during passive resistance, benefit system nearly collapsed
. Higher taxes scheme needed led to friction between elites + workers
. Elites saw them as ‘attack’ on their wealth, another reason to hate the republic
Further resentments due to Welfare System
. Some employers tried to resist concessions + cartels they formed were used to ‘monopolise’ production, stifle competition, keep prices high
. Some smaller shopkeepers + artisans hated help given to lesser skilled workers - ‘inferiors’
. Didn’t want hard-earned profits to be used to prop up ‘no goods’, esp when they suffering competition from growing no. of large department stores
Women - improvements
. They had the vote
. In 1920, 111 women elected to Reichstag
. Continuing wartime trends, overall no. of women employed rose from 31.2%-35.6% in 1925
. Mainly white collar, declined in agriculture
. Inc. no. in higher ed, many doctors + teacher
Women - limitations
. Left + right parties believed women belonged at home + stop working when married to raise children
. Even BDF (League of German Women’s Association) was quite moderate, encouraged women to undertake social work as most fitting to their ‘natural qualities’
. Some active resistance to women in workplace
Family
. Became smaller as contraception became cheaper
. 1926: ‘Marriage Advice Centres’ established in Prussia, ‘racial hygiene’ to improve population
. Young ppl enjoyed easier upbringing than parents
. Clubs, cinema, gramophones, radio: youth culture
. ‘Wilde Cliquen’: mainly WC, rebel young men - rejected authority
. Many youth copied US culture
