Theme 4- Aspects of Life 1945-1989

Question 1

What were trummelfrauen?

Answer 1

Literally means rubble women. They were important in rebuilding Germany after the war and were involved in manual labour jobs. However, this was often seen as temporary and many women were forced to give up their jobs after Germany had been rebuilt.

Question 2

What was the social attitude towards women in the FRG?

Answer 2

Attitudes to women were very conservative and traditional marriage became society’s ideal again despite the surplus of 7.3 million women. A 1963 poll also showed that 59% of male and female respondents would have supported a law banning mothers with children under 10 from working.

Question 3

What did the Basic Law say in relation to women’s rights?

Answer 3

It stated that men and women were equal although Article 218 criminalised abortion.

Question 4

How did women’s employment change?

Answer 4

Women’s employment was discouraged and war work was seen as temporary. Even in the early 1950s, women could lose their civil service job on marriage. Most women also worked in caring roles and comprised 75% of hospital workforce but only 4% of physicians. Despite this, women in employment increased from 44.4% in 1950 to 50% by 1970.

Question 5

How did women’s rights in marriage change?

Answer 5

A law was passed in 1977 which granted women equal rights in marriage such as abolishing the automatic rights of husbands to manage their wives’ property and a no fault divorce law was also introduced in 1977.

Question 6

What did the Indication Law 1976 do?

Answer 6

It legalised abortion although it was very restrictive (more so than other Western European countries).

Question 7

Did women receive equal pay?

Answer 7

No- they earned 65-78% of men’s salaries in the same job in the 1970s.

Question 8

What was the Feminist Movement?

Answer 8

It gathered momentum in the 1970s with radical magazines like Emma, protest rallies and political lobbying.

Question 9

How did women’s lives improve in the 1980s?

Answer 9

Equality officers from the National Office for Women’s Affairs were appointed to address issues of unequal treatment.

Question 10

Were women’s lives more similar to Nazi or Weimar times?

Answer 10

Government policies were more similar to Weimar but attitudes towards women were more similar to Nazi. The status of women was very similar to Nazi and women were expected to stay at home and look after children. Women were forced to give up jobs in both FRG and Nazi and women in work had caring roles. Women’s employment increased during labour shortages in both but they had little political role in both. While there was a feminist movement in the 1970s this only changed women’s lives to a small extent and was unlike the radical change some women experienced in Weimar.

Question 11

What was the legal status of guest workers?

Answer 11

The Basic Law said they had no rights of citizenship and could be sent back home as soon as their contract was over. This meant that children of guest workers suffered as they also had no citizenship; they were not allowed to work in paid employment.

Question 12

How many guest workers were there in Germany in 1973?

Answer 12

2.5 million

Question 13

How did the lives of guest workers improve in the early years of the FRG?

Answer 13

They played an important role in economic recovery and by 1964, DM50 million had been allocated for extending family accommodation for guest workers and their dependants. Newspapers like Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also encouraged employers and others to treat guest workers well.

Question 14

What happened to guest workers in 1973?

Answer 14

A ban was placed on further labour recruitment from abroad because of the oil crisis.

Question 15

What was the likelihood of guest worker redundancy 1973-1976?

Answer 15

41% compared to 15% for German workers.

Question 16

What were conditions like for children of guest workers?

Answer 16

From 1977, children of guest workers were not allowed to work in paid employment and a 1978 report showed that 70% of children of guest workers failed Abitur.

Question 17

What racism took place in the FRG?

Answer 17

Foreign workers often struggled to integrate into society and Koran schools were treated with hostility by some Germans. Between 1979-1980, there were at least 6 bombings of Jewish memorials and guest worker accommodation.

Question 18

How did guest workers’ lives improve again after the economic problems ended?

Answer 18

A government office was set up to help guest workers in 1979 and cheap housing was provided for eastern migrants in 1988.

Question 19

What sort of jobs did guest workers do?

Answer 19

They mostly took up unskilled, low status and menial jobs. Almost 90% were in the lowest income bracket and in the 1970s, around half of Germany’s toilet cleaners and garbage collectors were foreign born.

Question 20

What were living conditions like for guest workers?

Answer 20

They often lived in the poorest neighbourhoods and a survey in the 1970s showed that 89% of guest workers were dissatisfied with their living conditions.

Question 21

What were the Allies’ main aims for education?

Answer 21

Denazification, inculcating liberal Western ideals and trying to change the structure of the German system.

Question 22

How did the Allies deal with teacher shortages?

Answer 22

Britain and France sent teachers to their zones. Pro-Nazi teachers who had initially been fired went back to work- 85% of teachers in Bavaria who lost their jobs due to Nazi views were back at work by 1947.

Question 23

How did the Allies deal with a lack of non-Nazi resources?

Answer 23

The Americans brought in over 5 million new textbooks and they worked with German authorities to provide new books like the History Working Party producing new booklets on recent history.

Question 24

How were liberal values introduced in education by the Allies?

Answer 24

Civic education became compulsory in 1950 to promote liberal ideas and from 1962, teachers were instructed to teach the Nazi period and communist USSR.

Question 25

What were the key inequalities highlighted in Picht’s report in 1964?

Answer 25

There were class differences with only 7% of university students from the working class in 1971. Regional differences between states. Gender inequality- girls were less likely to take academic courses and rural working class and Catholic girls in particular were underachieving. Children of guest workers also underachieved with less than half passing the secondary school final exam in 1977.

Question 26

What reforms did Brandt introduce to equalise access to education?

Answer 26

Brandt introduced reforms to increase access to gymnasium and university, although his efforts to introduce Gesamtschulen failed. His reforms such as financial support for working class students increased the number of students at university and gymnasium with over 2 million students in gymnasium in 1980. A higher proportion of girls chose an academic education too as a result of the reforms although still only 38% of university students were female in 1981.

Question 27

What was the problem with universities?

Answer 27

They were overcrowded, underfunded, were very old fashioned in their teaching methods and structure, modern subjects like technology and economics weren’t taught and students weren’t represented on governing bodies.

Question 28

What were the key reforms to universities?

Answer 28

In 1968 students were given the right to a share in decision making and reduced the powers of professors. Additionally, 24 new universities emerged in the FRG and the number of academic staff at universities increased from 19,000 in 1969 to 78,000 by 1992. Enrolment in university also grew 75% between 1977 and 1992.

Question 29

How successful were the university reforms?

Answer 29

Many universities maintained their emphasis on research over student-centred learning and as a result, retained their elitist image. Access to university was improved but still not equal.

Question 30

What were the main cultural changes in post-war Germany?

Answer 30

Denazification took place with public libraries purged of Nazi literature and censorship was abolished. Culture celebrated the work of Weimar artists who had been condemned by the Nazis but American culture also became popular like Hollywood movies. Culture became more diverse with immigration and the removal of government control. Social movements emerged in the 1950s such as anti-nuclear and ecological movements which pushed for a more peaceful and equal society.

Question 31

What cultural trends were present throughout the 20th century?

Answer 31

• Traditional German culture like folk dancing and classical music continued to flourish and remained popular no matter the political regime.
• There were always generational and geographical differences in cultural tastes with more radical tastes coming from cities like Berlin and the younger generation.
• Culture had always been a force for division like Grosz’s art criticising the ruling classes in Weimar but also unity like the successful 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Question 32

What is some evidence of cultural tensions between the generations?

Answer 32

The media called youth gangs holligans and these groups were widely feared by the conservatives and older generation (although they were a minority). The US influence also caused tensions between liberals who liked consumerism, rock and roll etc. and conservatives who didn’t.

Question 33

What is some evidence that there were not cultural tensions between the generations?

Answer 33

Polls in 1968 showed most young people to share their parents’ conservative values. The German Youth Ring offered traditional activities like singing, folk dancing and hiking and these had far more members than hooligan gangs.

Question 34

What is some evidence that culture heightened tensions?

Answer 34

Literature like the Tin Drum, the Flounder and the Clown were very divisive and controversial covering themes like feminism and criticism of the Catholic Church.

Question 35

What is some evidence that culture united German society?

Answer 35

Football became very popular and provided the FRG with a sense of identity- efficient, teamwork and flair and winning the World Cup in 1954 and 1974 was a sense of national pride.

Question 36

What is some evidence that Germany was producing its own distinct culture?

Answer 36

Krautrock was a new style of music that was emphatically German and was a rejection of traditional forms of music with synthesisers used to create a droning, pulsating sound. There was controversial literature about the Nazi past like the Tin Drum and the New Cinema Movement saw new imaginative films like Fitzcarraldo and the Marriage of Maria Braun.

Question 37

What is some evidence that German culture was weakened by consumerism and foreign influences?

Answer 37

US influences like blue jeans, chewing gum, rock and roll, Coca-Cola, TV and consumerism worried conservatives and the older generation and were associated with a breakdown of deference to authority.