FRG society Flashcards
(13 cards)
What were Spiessburgers?
- Literally meant “spear carrier”
- Name given to older generation by the young because the older generation didn’t oppose the Nazis when they should have
What was the effect of the Nazi legacy like in 1950s?
- Most want to put the past behind them and enjoy post-war prosperity
- To this end, they suppressed and ignored it
How did the 1951 Reinstatement Act affect society?
Allowed them to be rehabilitated
What significant step to acknowledging the Nazi past happened in 1962?
10 Lander decided they wanted to make teaching of the Nazi era compulsory
What did Willy Brandt do in 1970?
Dropped to his knees in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial
What happened at the 1972 Olympic Games?
- Munich
- PLO terrorists kill eleven Israeli athletes
What did authorities have to do in 1985?
Intervene to stop a meeting of SS at Harzburg
What did neo-Nazis do?
- Began operating in 70/80s
- Expressed hostility to Gastarbeiter
- Conducted anti-semitic attacks
What happened to living standards in this period?
- Wirtschaftwunder results in a marked rise of living standards
- People enjoy latest technology (fridges, food processors, cars, TVs, computers)
How much did the average income of an FRG household rise?
Rose by 400%
What happened to the Junkers?
- Some powerful families go into business
- Traditional education system still reinforces the importance of their social status
- “Establishment” remains at the top politically
What happened to the working class?
- Benefit from shorter working hours and new co-determination systems
- Gastarbeiter mean that most native Germans are bumped up in social class
- Working class shrinking
What did some do to their land as industry well and truly took over agriculture?
- Some turned farms into B&Bs
- Those remaining in farming benefitted from increased mechanisation
