Weimar Culture (AQA GCSE History)

What Caused the 'Golden Years' in Weimar Culture? - Summary

Weimar Germany in the 1920s experienced a ‘cultural explosion’. There are several factors that fuelled culture in the Weimar Republic.

1. Before 1918, the Kaiser's government censored the arts. Artists could not freely express their thoughts for fear of punishment. Under the Weimar Constitution, the German people gained freedom of speech. Weimar artists could work without restrictions.

2. The First World War impacted Germany’s cultural identity. Weimar artists reacted to the pain of war in the New Objectivism movement. They also explored the possibilities that peace could bring to Germany through Modernism.

3. By 1924, Germany had recovered from the political and economic turmoil of the early years of the Republic. Artists wanted to create pieces that reflected the zeitgeist - or mood of the time. The Expressionism movement used this approach.

4. New technologies such as radio and film provided German artists with new mediums to explore.

5. The Weimar government gave grants to artists and cultural organisations like theatres and libraries. The government supported, rather than restricted, new approaches to the arts.

The 'New Woman'

• The 'New Woman' was the idea that women had more political, economic and social freedom after the First World War

  • This idea was popular in Germany but affected other European countries

  • It affected more young women than older women

• The ‘New Women’ could:

  • buy more revealing clothes

  • cut their hair short

  • wear more makeup

  • smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol

  • be focused more on their careers than on becoming wives and mothers

  • vote in elections

Reactions to the 'New Woman'

• Germany had mixed reactions to the introduction of women’s rights

Art in Weimar Germany

Expressionism

• Expressionism in Weimar Germany used grotesque or exaggerated figures in violent scenes

• This aimed to make the audience uncomfortable

  • In doing so, the artist hoped people would begin to question the society in which they lived

    • Otto Dix was a famous new objectivist artist in Weimar Germany. One of his paintings highlighted the issues war veterans had once they returned to Germany

    • George Grosz painted ‘Grey Day’, which used expressionism to represent the boredom of day-to-day life

Bauhaus

• In 1919, a new form of design called ‘Bauhaus’ emerged

  • Walter Gropius founded the movement in Weimar Germany in 1919

    • He aimed to create a unified style that connected all types of art forms

• ‘Bauhaus’ architecture uses geometric shapes to create practical buildings

  • The movement saw the beauty of technology and the use of familiar materials in different ways

    • For example, they constructed entire buildings using only concrete

• The ‘Bauhaus’ movement inspired Weimar architects such as Erich Mendelsohn

  • He designed the Einstein Tower, an observatory in Potsdam, to look like a rocket

Reactions to Weimar art

• Weimar Art horrified the conservative upper classes and right-wing extremist parties

  • Traditionally, the upper classes controlled and produced Germany’s cultural output

    • In the Weimar Republic, the upper classes no longer monopolised this power

  • The meanings of the artworks were unclear

    • The pictures had many interpretations 

  • These pieces could have undermined the authority of the upper class

  • Many artists had strong left-wing beliefs

    • This challenged the traditional ways of life valued by the right

• The communists saw Weimar Art as a waste of money

  • They believed that the money could have been better spent improving the lives of workers

Music in Weimar Germany

• Music during the Weimar Republic was divided into:

  • Classical music

  • New musical styles

Classical music

• Classical music and opera remained popular in Weimar Germany

• However, Weimar classical music still challenged its audience:

  • Composers like Schoenberg made classical music sound different from its traditional roots

  • Zeitoper - or 'opera of the time' - incorporated modern technology, satire and comedy to make opera more accessible

New musical styles

Jazz

• Jazz was popular in the USA

  • It was associated with black culture

  • Its influence spread to Germany during the 1920s

• Famous US jazz musicians visited Germany in the Weimar period. These included:

  • Josephine Baker

  • Sam Wooding

• German musicians adopted jazz

  • Ernst Krenek created 'jazz opera'

  • Eric Borchard became Germany's leading jazz musician

Cabaret

• Cabaret is a form of entertainment that combines music, dance, comedy and theatre

  • It focused on sexual and political themes

  • It combined different music styles such as jazz

• Cabaret was performed in restaurants and nightclubs

Reactions to Weimar music

• Some Germans enthusiastically embraced changes to music

  • Jazz and cabaret became very popular among young people

• Jazz was heavily criticised by conservatives

  • It was associated with American culture, not German

  • People were racist and disapproved of the influence of black culture in Germany

    • Extremist parties deemed it a part of 'non-German' culture

Film in Weimar Germany

• The popularity of cinema exploded in the 1920s

  • By 1929, there were roughly 500 cinemas across Germany

  • Films with sound, called 'talkies', became available in 1927

    • This highlights the new technology available to film-makers

Examples of Weimar Cinema

• Three key films that represent Weimar Cinema are:

  • The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari

  • Nosferatu

  • Metropolis

The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari

• Germany began to compete with American film production

  • The expressionist film The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1920) was one of the first horror films

    • The director, Robert Wiene, created the first ‘plot twist’ ending in cinema history

  

  Nosferatu

  • F. W. Murnau directed the film Nosferatu (1922). It was the world’s first vampire film

    • Many films today use the tension methods Murnau created while filming Nosferatu

  

  Metropolis

  • The Weimar government funded Metropolis (1926) through an organisation called UFA.

    • It cost 5 million Reichsmarks

    • Fritz Lang created a modernist science-fiction film that centred on the impact of technology on 20th-century life

    • It was unsuccessful at the time but has influenced many modern-day films such as Star Wars

Reactions to Weimar cinema

• The number of Germans going to the cinema increased during the Weimar period

  • They were amazed at the new technology available in film-making

  • The public enjoyed the new ideas and plotlines of Weimar cinema

• The upper classes disliked how Weimar films went against traditional values

  • Weimar films often criticised society, encouraging change

    • This challenged the authority of the ruling classes

  • Films like The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari were purposefully obscure and unclear in their meaning

Literature in Weimar Germany

• Print media boomed after the abdication of the Kaiser

  • There were 120 different newspapers and magazines in Weimar Germany

• Famous books in Weimar Germany included:

  • All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)

    • Written by Erich Maria Remarque

    • An anti-war novel

  • People in the Hotel (1929)

    • Written by Vicki Baum

    • Created into a film in the USA in 1932

Liberalism in Weimar Germany

• Berlin became the centre of liberalism in Germany

• People in Germany were more open about:

  • homosexuality

  • cross-dressing

  • prostitution

  • drinking lots of alcohol

Reactions to liberalism

• Young people embraced liberalism

  • Many young people loved expressing themselves in whatever way they wanted to

  • They felt free after the hardship of the First World War and hyperinflation

• Older people hated the liberalism in Weimar Germany

  • They argued that the country was in 'moral decline'