Weimar and Nazi Germany 1.4 - Changes in society, 1924-1929

Question 1

Due to whose position did the living standards begin to improve in Weimar Germany after 1924?

Answer 1

Stresemann.

Question 2

Summary of why there was a bad standard of living in Weimar Germany

Answer 2

In the Weimar Republic, after the First World War, living standards were poor due to the economic difficulties which the country faced such as hyperinflation.

Question 3

Percentage of the possible workforce unemployed in 1924

Answer 3

4%

Question 4

There were gradual improvements to unemployment rates; what decrease was there from 1926 to 1928?

Answer 4

2 million to 1.2 million; 40% decrease

Question 5

What did the Unemployment Insurance Act of 1927 do?

Answer 5

• Took 3% of worker’s wages
• In return provided 60 marks per week in unemployment and sickness benefits if they fell out of work

Question 6

As well as employment increasing, standards of employment and pay also improved:

Answer 6

• The average number of hours in a working week fell from 50 hours in 1925 to 46 hours in 1927
• Despite the fall, wages increased by 25% between 1925 to 1928

Question 7

Housing

Answer 7

• After 1918, the housing stock in Germany was of poor quality and also in short supply.
• To improve this, the government announced that rent would have a tax of 15% placed upon it which would fund house building.
• Housing Associations built most new houses.
• 64,000 new homes were built this way and half as much again were built by companies.
• Significant progress was made by those building houses.
• However, by 1928 there was still a shortage of houses.

Question 8

Other improvements

Answer 8

do this later lol

Question 9

An improvement in the standard of living?

Answer 9

• Improvements were fragile
• Employment remained insecure and loss of savings during the inflation of 1923 still caused hardship
• Not everyone was pleased by the social improvements

Question 10

Who wasn’t pleased by the social improvements in 1924-1928?

Answer 10

• Big businesses, who resented their loss of power and profit
• Lower middle class, who saw their own position threatened by a system which seemed to favour the working class

Question 11

Compared to other countries, how were the rights of women in the Weimar Republic?

Answer 11

Advanced

Question 12

What rights were women given when the Constitution was created and how did they respond to these changes?

Answer 12

• When the Constitution was created, women were given the right to vote and allowed to stand for election.
• Women responded to the changes well with high turnout in elections: 90%.
• By 1932, 112 women had been elected to the Reichstag.
• Women received further rights that were protected under the Constitution including equal rights with men, the right to enter any employment and marriage becoming an equal partnership.

Question 13

Details about roles of women in work during WWI & after:

Answer 13

• Like Britain, many women in Germany worked in factories and did other war work during the First World War; by 1918, 75% of women were in work.
• When the war ended most women were working, but this fell as men simply picked up the jobs from women when they returned from war.
• By 1925, only 36% of women were in work (around the same as pre-war).

Question 13

Treatment of women at work

Answer 13

• Women did not receive equal treatment in work despite the protections in the Constitution.
• They were often paid less (on average 33% less), expected to give up work when they got married, and few women occupied positions in top positions (only 36 female judges by 1933).
• Women did not lose out completely; retail jobs increased as did jobs in more liberal sectors such as education and medicine.
• Female doctors rose from 2,500 to 5,000 between 1925 and 1932.

Question 14

Financial independence for some women in the 1920s

Answer 14

• For some women (esp. unmarried, young, working women living in cities, where there were job opportunities) the 1920s brought greater financial independence.
• Growing up during the war, they were also used to greater social independence. Many of these became ‘new women’.

Question 15

What were ‘new women’?

Answer 15

• Bought more clothes
• Went out more
• Expressed independence through their behaviour
• Short hair
• More make-up
• More jewellery
• More revealing clothes
• Smoked/drank more
• Went out accompanied
• Some less interested in families and marriage & took advantage of liberal sexual attitudes which had developed during the war

Question 16

Where did images of these ‘new women’ become common?

Answer 16

Advertisements and films

Question 17

Were they popular with all Germans? Why?

Answer 17

• No.
• Many Germans, mainly men, but also many women, believed that the growing equality and independence of women threatened to change traditional aspects of society e.g. motherhood, family, and good housekeeping.

Question 18

What evidence did those who were against ‘new women’ use?

Answer 18

• Falling birth rate: in 1913, 128 live births each year per 1,000; by 1925, this had fallen to 80.
• Many people felt that Germany needed women to be mothers.
• Rising divorce rate: in 1913, 27 divorces per year per 100,000 people; by the 1920s, this had risen to 60.
• Many people felt that Germany needed women to be wives.

Question 19

society divided

Answer 19

do it later

Question 20

In the 1920s, several factors caused a surge of artistic and cultural energy:

Answer 20

• The restrictions of the old imperial regime of the Kaiser had been thrown off.
• The new Weimar constitution enshrined freedoms - such as freedom of speech - in law.
• Economic recovery after 1924 created wealth to finance the Arts.

Question 21

This new cultural/artistic energy caused the growth of a number of new ways of looking at the Arts:

Answer 21

• New Objectivism: the idea that the Arts should not show a romantic view of the world, but should show life as it really is, including poverty and squalor.
• Modernism: the idea that the Arts should not always hark back to the past, but should, instead, embrace the future and see beauty in cities, industry, technology.
• Expressionism: the idea that the Arts should reflect the thoughts and feelings of the artist rather than being limited to showing things exactly as they really look.

Question 22

What two factors helped new cultural/artistic ideas to spread?

Answer 22

• The Bauhaus movement: evolved out of the Bauhaus design college in Berlin. This helped design new buildings with an emphasis on technology, clear lines, and careful craftsmanship.
• Government support: the Weimar government gave grants to support art galleries, theatres, orchestras, museums, and libraries.

Question 23

What type of art was created by German artists in the 1920s?

Answer 23

In art, painters like Otto Dix and George Grosz often painted expressionist versions of scenes from German life which were very critical of German society.

Question 24

What type of architecture was created by German architects in the 1920s?

Answer 24

• Architects during the Weimar Republic were influenced by the Bauhaus design college which promoted modern and future looking buildings.
• Erich Mendelsohn was a Weimar era architect who took inspiration from the Bauhaus school of thought.
• Mendelsohn designed many buildings which took the form of Art-Deco and Streamline Moderne architecture.
• The Bauhaus style extended from buildings through to furniture and typography.
• Bauhaus design is linked very closely with the ideas of modernism and the forward looking and forward-thinking designs which were found in the art world.

Question 25

German cinema in the 1920s

Answer 25

• Very innovative, e.g. ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ was one of the world’s first horror movies.
• ‘Metropolis’ released in 1926 was a sci-fi film about life and technology in the 20th century. Directed by a government-funded agency called UFA.
• Germany’s first sound film was made in 1930, and by 1932, there were 3,800 German cinemas showing films with sound.