Achievements of the Weimar Period

Question 1

What were the achievements of the Weimar period?

Answer 1

• Under Stresemann, Weimar Republic stabilised
• Increased stability saw growth of Weimar culture

Question 2

What were the persisting weaknesses of the Weimar period?

Answer 2

• Rural, conservative, elderly Germans were shocked by decadent behaviour in the cities
• Wandervogel movement called for a return to traditional German culture
• Nazis criticised Weimar culture as liberal

Question 3

How was the Weimar Republic stabilised under Stresemann?

Answer 3

• His policies stabilised the German economy and saw reparation payments lowered
• Moderate parties in the Reichstag began to cooperate and form more stable coalitions
• Votes for extremist parties declined
• Nazis won only 2.6% of the vote in 1928
• Weimar constitution brought an end to censorship

Question 4

What is the period 1924-1929 sometimes known as?

Answer 4

the “Golden Years”

Question 5

In what ways did a Weimar culture develop?

Answer 5

• Art and literature
• Cinema
• Architecture
• Nightlife

Question 6

How did art and literature develop in the Weimar period?

Answer 6

• End of strict censorship, so writers and poets flourished
  E.g:
  Bertolt Brecht (musical drama criticising capitalism & bourgeoise) - The Threepenny Opera, 1928
  Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain, 1924 (critique of European society)
• Artists free to criticise politics, big business, the war, and the Church
• A new artistic style called “new objectivity” developed with artists such as George Grosz + Otto Dix (more abstract, unsentimental realism vs. Hitler’s preferred Expressionism)

Question 7

How did cinema develop in the Weimar period?

Answer 7

• Epic sci-fi films like Metropolis (1927) by Fritz Lang became popular
• German actress Marlene Dietrich became an international star in von Sternberg’s “The Blue Angel” (1930)

Question 8

How did architecture develop in the Weimar period?

Answer 8

• New style emerged called the Bauhaus with slogan “Art and Technology - a new unity”
• Walter Gropius and Paul Klee designed furniture, apartments and town halls from the Bauhaus design college in Dessau

Question 9

What was nightlife like in the Weimar period?

Answer 9

• Theatres, night clubs and cabarets became popular in towns/cities (like Berlin)
• In 1927, there were 900 dance bands in Berlin alone
• Modern forms of dance, sexual songs and open criticism of political leaders flourished