Social, Cultural And Political Golden Age Flashcards
Social welfare reform
Before 1914 Germany had one of the most extensive systems of welfare benefits in the industrialised world. During the Weimar years, this system was extended and modified:
• In 1924, the Public Assistance system was modernised.
This gave basic assistance to the poor.
• In 1925, the state accident insurance system was extended.
• In 1927, a national unemployment insurance system was introduced, financed by contributions from employers and workers.
Problems with social welfare reform
The welfare system was expensive to administer and sustain, involving a large bureaucracy. Taxes on the better-off to pay for benefits often aroused resentment, while the introduction of means tests to hold expenditure down was often unpopular with welfare claimants.
Those with rising living standards
• Owners of businesses that prospered during the trade boom
• Workers in trade unions that were able to negotiate wage increases
• Welfare recipients had some help to prevent them falling into poverty
• Some women who were able to take advantage of new employment opportunities
Those with stagnant or declining living standards
• People living on fixed incomes, especially pensioners and widows
• Those who had lost their savings in the 1923 hyperinflation
• Farmers and farm labourers
Outline of the position of women
There was much talk in Weimar Germany about the ‘new woman’ - free, independent, sexually liberated and having greater opportunities in employment and public life than earlier generations; for example, new opportunities arose in service industries, as clerks, typists, and shop assistants.
There was some truth in this, but for many women in Germany, similar to the rest of industrialised Europe, very little had changed and there was fierce resistance to the changes from conservative forces in society.
Changes for women
1) The Weimar Constitution gave women equal voting rights in elections and the right to be Reichstag deputies, which was progressive for its time. Many more women became actively involved in politics at central and local levels
2) Women were given equal opportunities and the right to equal pay in civil service employment
3) There were increased employment opportunities for women
4) Birth control became more widely available, which empowered some women to exert control over the size of their families
Resistance to changes for women
1) No women became cabinet ministers nor leaders of political parties
2) There was no regulatory requirement for equal pay in most occupations
3) In many occupations, women were required to give up employment when they married
4) The decline in the birth rate due to birth control was attacked by conservatives as a ‘birth strike, and both Catholic and Protestant churches opposed birth control and divorce
Position of young people
In the Weimar period there was a perception that young people were becoming more rebellious and a concern that crime and anti-social behaviour was growing among young people.
Worries were expressed over the activities of youth ‘cliques in large industrial cities. For young people themselves, a major concern was the rise in youth unemployment.
Germany had a well-developed system of state education but this divided young people along class lines and by religion. The education system had traditionally emphasised the virtues of obedience and respect for authority among the young.
This continued but there were attempts to reform the school system in the Weimar years, to break down the religious and class barriers by introducing comprehensive, non-sectarian schools. This succeeded at elementary-school level but the educational divide persisted in secondary schools.
Youth groups had been a feature of German life since the 1890s and continued to flourish in the Weimar period. Many churches had their own youth groups to encourage young people to attend church and respect their teachings, but there were also more independent youth groups, such as the Wandervogel, which gave middle-class young people from the cities the opportunity to experience life in the countryside. A new development of the 1920s was the rise of youth groups for political parties. The SPD, KPD, DNVP and the Nazi Party all had groups for inculcating their ideologies in young people.
Position of Jews in society
There were more than half a million Jews living in Germany in the 1920s, with 80% of them living in large cities. Most Jewish people were fully assimilated members of German society.
During the Weimar period, many Jews were successful and achieved influence in the fields of politics, the press, business, the professions (16% of lawyers and 11% of doctors were Jewish) and the arts.
Antisemitism in society
Anti-Semitism was strong among nationalist groups throughout the 1920s. However, hostility to Jews was greatest at times of national crisis, such as the period of 1918-24, as Jews were blamed for communist uprisings and Jewish financiers were blamed for the hyperinflation crisis. Between 1924 and 1930, Anti-Semitism was far less apparent, although Jewish bankers and businessmen were often accused of corruption.
Music developments
This was epitomised by the flourishing night club scene in Berlin in which nudity, erotic dancing and American jazz music featured strongly in the cabarets.
Composers such as Hindemith and Schoenberg moved away from traditional musical forms.
Schoenberg was associated with ‘atonal’ music.
Art developments
The expressionist movement, which emphasised the importance of emotion, was very influential among German artists such as George Grosz and Otto Dix. Hannah Höch, a pioneer of photomontage, used her work to challenge gender stereotypes and link female liberation to left-wing political ideology.
Books development
Novelists such as Thomas Mann were also influenced by expressionism and focused on a character’s internal mental state rather than on an external social reality.
Cinema developments
Berlin was a leading centre in world cinema in the 1920s. Film-makers such as Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder and Joseph von Sternberg experimented with new cinematic techniques which influenced film-makers in Hollywood and elsewhere.
Theatre developments
German playwrights such as Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill were part of a new wave of experimental theatre, particularly musical theatre, which was explicitly political and left wing, being anti-capitalist, anti-nationalist and anti-war.
Architectural developments
In architecture, the Bauhaus school of art and design, founded by William Gropius, was highly influential in cultivating a ‘modernist’ approach to building design. Bauhaus students were encouraged to use materials such as steel, concrete and glass in their building designs, and to focus on the function of a building rather than superfluous ornamentation.
Resistance to cultural change
Not everyone in Weimar Germany was happy with the new trends in arts and culture. Away from the cities, traditional values and tastes still held sway and radical, experimental, modernist ideas were viewed with suspicion and hostility.
There was a strong backlash from more nationalistic Germans who wished to preserve authority, traditional family values, conservative behaviour by women, respect for the teachings of the churches, and a Germanic culture. In the eyes of these people, the cultural experimentation of the Weimar years was leading to moral degeneracy and the influx of unwelcome foreign influences.
Statistics and examples on women’s progress
.By 1925 36% of workforce were female
Divorce rate increased
By 1930 estimated 1 million abortions annually
In 1919 41 women elected to Reichstag
Overview of political developments in the golden age
After the turmoil and instability of the years 1919 to 1923, the political life of the Weimar Republic was much calmer in the following five years. There were no further attempts to overthrow the government by armed force, political violence in general subsided, and support for the parties of the extreme left and extreme right declined. On the surface, therefore, the Weimar Republic appeared to be much more stable than previously. The extent of this political stability, however, is open to question.
When and why Hindenburg elected
After the death of Ebert, Paul von Hindenburg was elected as President of the German Republic in 1925.
Positives of Hindenburg’s election
-As a former military commander who was revered by the right, Hindenburg’s election reassured conservatives that the government of the Republic was in safe hands.
-After his election, he respected the Weimar Constitution and did not abuse his powers.
-He appealed to political parties to work with him to restore national unity.
Negatives of Hindenburg’s electioneering
-Hindenburg was fundamentally a monarchist and anti-democratic.
-He became increasingly impatient with party political rivalries and was prepared to use article 48 to bypass the Reichstag.
Attitudes to the Republic from the elites and other social groups
• The old elites had been hostile to the republic from the beginning. The election of Hindenburg gave some reassurance to aristocratic landowners, army officers, civil servants and judges, but they remained anti-democracy.
The middle class was diverse and not universally hostile to the republic. Those who had lost savings and did not share in the prosperity of the ‘golden years’ remained hostile, while business owners who prospered were broadly supportive.
• Most working-class voters, especially members of trade unions, supported the SPD and valued the democratic freedoms and social benefits of the period. A minority who supported the KPD were bitter at the brutal crushing of revolts by the army and police.
Main positives political developments
Decline of Extremism
Role of Hindenburg
Political stability
