Social and Cultural Developments in Germany 1924-28

Question 1

What was the term used to reflect the cultural developments in Weimar Germany?

Answer 1

‘Neue Sachlichkeit’ or ‘new practicality’, or ‘new functionalism’, which means a desire to show reality and objectivity.

Question 2

What was one of the most striking artistic developments in Weimar Germany?

Answer 2

The Bauhaus school led by the architect Walter Gropius, which was established in 1919 in the town of Weimar itself.

Question 3

What was the Bauhaus movement?

Answer 3

A new style that influenced all aspects of design like furniture and textiles. Its approach was functional and emphasised the close relationship between art and technology.

Question 4

Who won the Nobel Peace Prize for literature?

Answer 4

Thomas Mann, who was not an expressionist like many other authors. He was a supporter of Weimar and lived in Switzerland when Nazis came to power.

Question 5

Who founded the famous Bauhaus school for Architecture in 1919?

Answer 5

Walter Gropius. it taught that architecture should work with new tech + an emphasis on functional design.

Question 6

What did Neue Sachlickeit develop into in drama?

Answer 6

Zeittheater (theatre of the time) that introduced new dramatic methods with explicit LW sympathies. Evident in plays of Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator.

Question 7

What was the German film market dominated by?

Answer 7

UFA, led by Alfred Hugenberg (later partners up with Hitler to give him access to media)

Question 8

What was established in 1923?

Answer 8

The German Radio Company. The following year, a radio network and nine companies were set up to serve different regions across the country.

Question 9

Why were Berlin nightclubs becoming renowned?

Answer 9

Because of the cabaret which featured nudity.

Question 10

What did composer Friedrich Hollaender describe the club Eldorado?

Answer 10

“A supermarket of eroticism”.

Question 11

What did traditional Germans think of the nightclub scene?

Answer 11

They hated the US influence on German cultural life. They felt like the order and discipline had been destroyed by revolution of 1918. Germany was becoming morally degenerate.

Question 12

What did expressionist painters believe?

Answer 12

Their works should express meaning or emotion rather than physical reality. Paintings were abstract in style and vivid in colour.

Question 13

What did Schoenberg try to convey in his music?

Answer 13

Powerful emotions but also avoiding traditional forms of beauty. Associated with atonal music. (lacks a key, sounds harsh and lacking in harmony to traditionalists)

Question 14

What the common theme among expressionist literature?

Answer 14

Revolt against parental authority.

Question 15

What did novelists and poets adapt while writing?

Answer 15

A free form of writing wherein they focused on a character’s internal mental state rather than on the external social reality.

Question 16

What were students at Bauhaus encouraged to do?

Answer 16

Break down barriers between art and technology by incorporating new materials such as steel, concrete and glass in their designs.

Question 17

What was experimental theatre like in Germany?

Answer 17

Political. attacked capitalism, nationalism and war.

Question 18

Who composed the ThreePenny Opera?

Answer 18

Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. Developed a new form of music theatre, symbolised Weimar Berlin. LW satire that treated respectable middle classes as villains and made heroes out of criminals and prostitutes. “cultural Bolshevik” by RW.

Question 19

Who were the important figures of Jewish descent in the film industry?

Answer 19

Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder and Josef von Sternberg. Sternberg directed the film The Blue Angel, the best-known film of the Weimar era.

Question 20

When was the Public Assistance system modernised?

Answer 20

1924, provided help to the poor and destitute.

Question 21

When was the state accident insurance system extended?

Answer 21

1925. it was introduced by Bismarck to help those at work, and was extended to cover those suffering from occupational diseases.

Question 22

When was the national unemployment insurance system introduced?

Answer 22

1927, introduced to provide benefits for the unemployed, financed by contributions from workers and employers.

Question 23

What were the flaws of the social welfare system?

Answer 23

1) promised more than it delivered
2) expensive
3) needed a large and expensive bureaucracy to administer it.

Question 24

In 1926, how many war veterans, war widows and war orphans were the govt supporting?

Answer 24

800,000 WV, 360,000 WW and 900,000 WO.

Question 25

What improved during 1924-28?

Answer 25

Living standards of millions of Germans. Those in work were able to maintain their living standards by negotiating wage increases.

Question 26

What was the flaw to the increase in living conditions?

Answer 26

1) Those who had lost their savings during hyperinflation crisis were unable to regain the comfortable lifestyle they once had.
2) Farmers suffered from poor trading conditions and low prices, and their incomes were falling.

Question 27

What did Elsa Hermann write in 1929?

Answer 27

‘the modern woman refuses to lead the life of a lady and a housewife, preferring to depart from the ordained path and go her own way’.

Question 28

What was Elsa Hermann represented as?

Answer 28

free, independent, sexually liberated and increasingly visible in public life.

Question 29

What had the Weimar Constitution granted to women?

Answer 29

1) equality with men in voting rights and in access to education
2) equal opportunities in civil service appointments and the right to equal pay.
3) coincided with a major change in the gender balance of the population as a result of the war.

Question 30

What did the war bring to women?

Answer 30

1) fewer opportunities to follow the path of marriage and having children
2) paid work, fill spots of male workers.

Question 31

What did the Civil Code of 1986 state?

Answer 31

in a marriage, the husband had the right to decide on all matters concerning family life, including whether his wife should undertake paid employment.

Question 32

What was the most important women’s group in the 1920s?

Answer 32

League of German Maidens with 900,000 members. promoted traditional family values and maternal responsibilities.

Question 33

What percentage of the workforce was women in 1925?

Answer 33

36%. By 1933, there were 100,000 women teachers and 3000 women doctors.

Question 34

What did the demobilisation laws state?

Answer 34

that women had to leave their jobs so that ex-soldiers could continue their jobs.

Question 35

What were women accused of?

Answer 35

Being double earners, they were also blamed for male unemployment. campiagns in the press and by conservative parties for the dismissal of married women workers

Question 36

How many deaths were there as a result from illegal abortions?

Answer 36

10-12,000 in 1930. Despite the illegal nature of abortions there was an estimated 1 million abortions a year by 1930.

Question 37

What was thought of the decline in BR?

Answer 37

‘birth strike’, threatened the health of the nation and the continued existence of the race.

Question 38

How many women were elected to the Reichstag in 1919?

Answer 38

41 women. German Reichstag had a higher proportion of female deputies than the British House of Commons

Question 39

Which party used gender equality as a key aim?

Answer 39

KPD, but this party was the least appealing.

Question 40

Which party gained the most from female suffrage?

Answer 40

Catholic Centre Party.

Question 41

Who was Clara Zetkin?

Answer 41

KPD member of the Reichstag from 1920 to 1933. active in SPD before 1914. organised the first International Women’s Day in 1911. blamed capitalism for reducing womento the status of breeders and homebuilders.

Question 42

Who was Marie Juchacz?

Answer 42

member of SPD and elected to National Assembly in 1919. first woman to make a speech in any legislative body in Germany. Reichstag deputy for the SPD until 1933. joined SPD in 1908.

Question 43

What were children who didn’t attend the Gymnasium schools or came from a working-class family required to do?

Answer 43

Leave school at 14 and either get an apprenticeship or employment.

Question 44

In 1925-26, what percentage of the unemployed were in the 14-21 age group?

Answer 44

17%. partly because of a baby boom between 1900 and 1910, so young people were seeking employment at a time when employers were reducing workforces.

Question 45

What provided some help for the young people?

Answer 45

Benefits system and the establishment of day centres to help youths acquire the skills needed to find work. couldn’t compensate for the lack of employment opportunity.

Question 46

Name some youth cliques in Hamberg?

Answer 46

Farmers’ Fear, Red Apaches, Death Defiers, Tartar’s Blood, Eagle’s Claw. These names reflected the importance of projecting an image of physical toughness, aggressive masculinity and anti-social attitudes. These groups met often in taverns and had to pass an initiation test of stealing or vandalism.

Question 47

What was the flaw in the state education system despite the elite private schools?

Answer 47

It was divided based on class lines. Majority of children who attended the Gymnasium schools came from a middle and upper class family. Also divided based on the religious lines, Protestant and Catholic churches had a powerful influence over religious education.

Question 48

What was the aim of the education reformers in Germany?

Answer 48

Break down these religious and class divides and provide a comprehensive education that was also free to all pupils. However, the reformers didn’t succeed in removing religious influence as the Catholics and Protestants defended their right to promote religious teachings through the state education system, supported by their political parties.

Question 49

What was the main educational reform of the Weimar period?

Answer 49

introduction of elementary schools, which all students would attend for four years. Those who weren’t able to pass the entrance examination for the Gymnasium schools would be allowed to carry on at the elementary school for a further four years.

Question 50

What was the Wandervogel?

Answer 50

one type of youth group. ‘wandering birds’. set up in 1896 by a Berlin schoolteacher. Movement spread and groups consisted of middle class boys. non-political but highly nationalistic with a romanticised view of the past. hated industrialisation and big cities. hiking in forests, swimming in lakes and rivers. rejected middle class conventions. practising nudism and vegetarianism.

Question 51

What consisted of the Church youth groups?

Answer 51

Catholic and Protestants had own youth groups. e.g New Germany (Catholic) founded in 1919 and was aimed at middle class youths. Protestants didn’t prioritise youth work as high as others. For both, tasks of the youth were to promote religious observance and instil respect for the church, family and school.

Question 52

Give some examples of political youth groups.

Answer 52

1) Social Democratic Youth movement, founded in 1925. most members of any political young groups in Weimar.
2) Young Communist Leage, founded in 1925 for the children of KPD members
3) Bismarck Youth, linked to DNVP, founded in 1922. membership of 42,000 by 1928. appeal among middle and upper class youths in Protestant areas. strong working class following in Berlin
4) Hitler Youth, linked to Nazi Party. growth was slow in 1920s, reaching a membership of 13,000 in 1929.

Question 53

What percentage of Jews lived in cities and were well educated?

Answer 53

80% or (400,000). Many of them felt more German than Jewish. Jews represented only 1% of the total population.

Question 54

What did many Jews believe in?

Answer 54

Assimilation, keeping their ethnic and cultural identity but becoming fully integrated and accepted in mainstream German society.

Question 55

Who was Theodor Wolff (1868-1943)?

Answer 55

liberal journalist from a wealthy Jewish family. worked for the Mosse publishing house from 1887, appointed editor of the liberal newspaper Berliner Tageblatt in 1906. from 1916 onwards, he and his newspaper faced attack for urging for a negotiated peace. founder for DDP in 1918. went into exile after his books were burnt by the Nazis. arrested in 1943 in Italy and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camps where he died

Question 56

Who controlled the electrical engineering firm AEG?

Answer 56

The Rathenau family until 1927. Shows how German Jews achieved considerable wealth and influence in industry and commerce.

Question 57

What percentage of German banks did Jewish banking families own?

Answer 57

50%. families like Rothschilds, Mendelssohns and Bleichroders. However, in the 1920s the role of Jews in banking were declining.

Question 58

What percentage of Jews owned banks?

Answer 58

18%, a smaller proportion than the years before 1914.

Question 59

What percentage of Jews were lawyers and doctors?

Answer 59

16% (lawyers) and 11% (doctors). There were high numbers in Berlin; more than half of the doctors were Jewish and of 3400 lawyers, 1835 were Jewish.

Question 60

How many Nobel Peace Prizes were awarded to the Jews?

Answer 60

of the 38 that were awarded to people working in Germany, 9 were given to the Jews.

Question 61

What was the factor that limited the degree of Jewish integration in Germany?

Answer 61

reluctance of many Germans to stop identifying Jews as alien.

Question 62

What is Jewish Bolshevism?

Answer 62

a term used by anti-Semites to imply that Jews and communists were closely associated and represented a danger to German values.

Question 63

What was the Barmat scandal of 1925?

Answer 63

Barmat brothers, Julius, Salomon and Henri. Jewish businessmen who had emigrated from Galicia in Poland just after WW1. convicted of having bribed public officials to obtain loans from the Prussian State bank and the National Post Office. Juliua and Salomon sentenced to 11 months in jail.

Question 64

In 1919, what did the German writer, Paul Ernst write?

Answer 64

‘Our age is over! Thank God it is over! A new age dawns that will be different!’.

Question 65

What was the new surge of culture described as?

Answer 65

‘cradle of modernity’.