The 'Golden Age' of the Weimar Republic Flashcards
To use knowledge of the period to determine how far it should be regarded as ' A Golden Age'.
Achievements of the Republic: Art and Culture
General cultural revival from architecture to opera.
New spirit of ‘freedom’ e.g ‘freedom of speech’, reflected in the Arts.
Berlin a thriving capital of culture.
Playwrights flourishing e.g Erich Remarque’s anti-war play “All quiet on the Western Front’ sold 1/2 million copies.
Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus movement.
How did Nationalists / Traditionalists respond to the cultural liberation?
Considered it DECADENT.
Attacked traditional German values.
Was responsible for moral decline.
Achievements of the Republic: Political
Extremist politics seemed to be ‘under control’
Moderate political parties like the SPD provided a core stability for coalition government.
Stresemann ended German ‘isolation’ through active Foreign Policy.
Achievements of the Republic: Economic
Generally the period saw a slow rise in living standards.
Investment from the Dawes Plan loans helped.
Renegotiating the terms of the Treaty of benefit to growth.
Industrial growth reached pre WWI levels.
The Political Spectrum: The Socialist parties
KPD - Communists
USPD - Independent Social Democrats
SPD - Social Democrats
SUPPORTED BY: The workers
The Political Spectrum: The Centre parties
DDP - German Democratic Party
‘Z’ - Catholic Centre Party (Support from all threes social classes)
SUPPORTED BY: Middle Classes
The Political Spectrum: The ‘Right’ parties
DVP - German People’s Party
DNVP - German National People’s Party
SUPPORTED BY: Generally ‘older’ aristocratic / upper classes
Focus on Gustav Stresemann
Businessman and politician
Leaned to the ‘right’ but understood the need for ‘co-operation’
Set up the DVP (Protestant middle / upper classes)
4 Months as Chancellor in 1923
Criticised for lenient dealing of Munich Putsch
Main success as Foreign Minister: 8 years. Provided some continuity in Government.
Dies of stroke aged 51 in 1929
In what ways does this Painting by George Grosz reflect a degree of cynicism about Weimar Politics?
Eclipse of the Sun, George Grosz, 1926
Headless politicians - don’t know what they are doing.
Army remain prominent in society / politics - telling the politicians what to do.
Capitalists influencing the politicians.
The masses, unaware of what is happening.
What happened to the NSDAP during the period 1923 - 1928?
Hitler imprisoned for 5 Years (Served 9 months)
Newspaper and Party banned in Munich.
Won 14 seats as National Socialist Freedom Party, in December 1924
Hitler released - set about achieving power via ‘legal means’
1925 ban lifted - party re-organised (but Hitler banned from public speaking for 2 years!)
Organised party around 34 districts - appointed a gaulieter (district leader from the party to each)
Founded the Hitler Youth and the SS.
1926: had 50,000 members.
1927: Held first Rally at Nuremberg.
1928: won 12 seats in the Reichstag
Summary: In 1928 the Nazis ‘remained on the lunatic fringe of German politics’ and were not being taken seriously.
In what ways did the Republic remain ‘fragile’ in its recovery by 1928? : Economy
The economic recovery did not extend to all sections of society (farming struggling)
Economic recovery dependent on foreign loans (short-term)
Unemployment 1.3 million
In what ways did the Republic remain ‘fragile’ in its recovery by 1928? : Political
Between 1924 and 1928 there were 6 governments and the longest survived 21 months.
5 out of 6 governments were minority [they don’t have parliamentary majority] governments.
The Army, Civil Service and Courts had right wing sympathies. [Proven by Hitler’s light sentence in ‘23]
In what ways did the Republic remain ‘fragile’ in its recovery by 1928? : Society
The left and the right regarded much of the experimentation and artistic development as useless to the needs of the working classes.
The right interpreted the changes as decadent, un-German and a threat to traditional values.
Many Germans thought Berlin (and Berliners) was sleazy, corrupt and obsessed with themselves, fashion and change.
