Weimar Germany

1919-1933

Traditional Germany(revision of period before)

• First Reich (Holy Roman Empire), Second Reich 1871- End of WWI in 1919.

• Society & Culture:

- Organised into regional groups around primary production and language.

- Ethnic variations in culture according to language and religion.

Authority and Power:- Authority came in the form of a

monarchy/feudal system.• - The Second Reich was ruled by an

Emperor known as the Kaiser.• - He was a hereditary ruler and had

enormous power. He could choose and sack ministers, controlled foreign policy and could declare war.

• - In 1888 the 29 year-old Wilhelm II became Kaiser. He was a great nephew of Queen Vitoria of Great Britain.

Gender:

- Men and women accorded traditional gender roles.

Men:

Women:

Important events in Weimar Germany

• Weimar Germany (1918-1933)• Weimar Republic (WR)• Born out of end WWI need to form a democratic

government to meet the rules of the Treaty of Versailles.

• WR Constitution formed 31 July, 1919• Relative political, eco, social stability 1924-1929• Great Depression and WR collapse 1929-1933

Authority

• End of WWI marked the shift in the structure of authority and the individuals who held it!

• Traditional Soc= Monarchy where authority was held by nobility E.g. Kaiser

There was a parliament= only men over 25 could vote

• In WR= democracy

• NO Kaiser but a Chancellor

• Reichstag= parliament

• ALL men and women over the age of 20 had the right to vote and hold public office

Society (p,g,i,o)

• Rural to urban (industrialisation)

• Status: Based upon INDIVIDUAL WEALTH rather than bloodline!

E.g. Seen in the development of the class system

• Political parties= formed opposing groups

• Older ‘elites’ still remained. E.g. nobility, army officers, Freikorps.

Culture (shared v,b,t,p)

• Culture in the WP underwent significant changes= modernisation

• New ideas in art, literature and science such as: freedom (of expression and ideas), simplicity, equality, scientific innovation.

E.g. Germany’s film industry experienced a golden age leading film making innovation.

Metropolis (1927) directed by Fritz Langhttp://www.sbs.com.au/films/movie/809/Metropolis--1927-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAuSEdPbqmo

• Rise of modernism in art, literature and architecture:

Beauty, 1922 by Otto Dix

The years of the Weimar Republic in Germany were short, sad and, particularly in Berlin, spectacular. A contingent of German visual artists moved on from Dada to Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity= branch of Modernism), from which a leftist sub-branch now known as Verism arose.

The Verist works on view in this exhibition were painted during a society's death spiral. Prostitutes, war cripples, transvestites, wealthy industrialists, doctors, lawyers and, yes, often the Verist artists themselves, are captured here in a now-lost era. Less 'enjoyable' than many themed exhibitions, Glitter and Doom... is superlative at compelling the viewer to look and think.

Environment (physical and psychological)

• During the WR the physical and psychological landscape of Germany changed significantly.

• Physically:The Treaty of Versailles (June 1919) caused

Germany to retract its national boundaries by losing many of its primary resource territories such as the Rhur.

- This physical in environment contributed to a change in the economic landscape= industrialisation and people moving into the cities. E.g. The New Woman

• Psychological Env:‘Virtually all sections of German society now

saw their country as a nation in chains’. Reading 2, p.90.

- Freikorps (Free Corps Units): ex-army, anti-communist volunteers under control of former army officers. Felt betrayed by German Democracy. Why?

- New Democratic government: constant struggle for power between different political groups. E.g. SDP, DDP, Centre Party.

• The depression took a heavy toll on physical and mental health, especially for men who were unemployed for two or more years. Children particularly suffered from malnutrition, the effects of which were long lasting. This created a psychological environment of uncertainty and placed individuals in positions of competition and conflict with each other.

• Example: The misery of unemployment and deprivation unleashed racial antagonisms. Unemployed Germans blamed gypsies for causing the Depression and saw Jews as benefiting from the oversupplied labour market while ‘ordinary Germans’ suffered.

• Example: Working-class men faced competition for work from women, who were paid at lower rates for the same work. This fuelled cries for women to return to their traditional roles as wives and mothers. In 1932 the government passed a law to bar married women from the workforce if their husbands were employed.

Gender (soc const diff)Women:• The rights and status of

women were significantly changed during the WR.

• 1918- new Constitution gave all women over 20 the right to vote and hold public office

• Occupations- white collar• Education- secondary and

tertiary study• New Woman: Sexually

liberated , financially independent, city dwelling.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r60Xo4QXZrU

Continuities: behind popular image of the New Woman was many German women were:

- Still eager to marry, have children

- Gave up full time work upon marriage

Men:

• Gender roles altered due to the changing roles of women, democracy and industrialisation.

• The source of a man’s status altered from bloodline to individual wealth and social status.

Persons (unique ind)• Trends:• The emergence of the Weimar Republic led to the growth in

prominence of individual people. This was because Weimar was a democratic society that placed emphasis on the individual. (No longer COLLECTIVIST)

• Individual persons also had more power under the Weimar republic.

• People had gained extensive social security provisions to make individualistic life better.

• No longer was power gain from inheritance but popularity and wealth for example; Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht who led the communist party.

• Under Weimar, women were now recognised as individuals (the new woman) – this is evident in that woman in Germany had more people in Parliament than any other country in Europe. They were also becoming more visible in white collar professions.

• Individuals gained a sense of social identity from:

• - class

• - occupation

• -political beliefs

Power (ability to influence)

• CONSERVATIVE ELITES AND ARISTOCRATIC LANDOWNERS

• ‘Older’ sources of authority such as the conservative elites and aristocratic landowners (nobles, land owners, army officers, civil service, lawyers and judges) were stripped of their ‘authority’ and now had ONLY POWER under the new democratic government.

• Conservative elites demonstrated their POWER and INFLUENCE through political parties such as German National People’s Party (1918) (DNVP). Right wing nationalist party. Rejected Weimar system of Versailles. Strong defender of large landowning interests. Some support from urban middle class and co-operated with the Nazis during the last years of Weimar.

• ARMY (Freikorps) (Free Corps Units)• Anti-communist volunteers were formed a group

from demobilised military men under the control of former army officers. Many of the men would later become Nazis. They actively fought communists on the streets of Bavaria and all over Germany.

• Example: Kapp putsch, 1920• - Prior to WWI Germany had a parliamentary

system of two houses, but was NOT a democracy.

Time (construct of p, p, f)

Continuities with trad Germany

Changes with trad Germany

Really good website on Weimar Germany:

• Facing History

• http://www2.facinghistory.org/campus/weimar.nsf/