Weimar Germany: Promise And Tragedy

A demoralizing loss and economic altering war left the German government splintered. After World War I, costly demands from the Allied Powers left Germany in a struggling state. Germany was required to sign and agree to the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty became one of the causes that sends Germany into an economic depression in the 1930’s. Germany was required to accept the responsibility of causing all losses and damages during the war. Also, Germany had to pay massive reparations to certain country’s that formed the Allied Powers. While reading Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy I was able to focus on three main points. First, Eric Weitz does a great job with the exploration of Germany’s culture. He also explores the artistic and intellectual

Berlin, the capital of Germany, with more than four million residents, was the second largest city in Europe. The city was “a megalopolis that charmed and frightened, attracted and repelled Germans and foreigners alike” (pg. 41, Weitz). With such size and cultural influence, this city was a magnet for artists and poets. The city had a plethora of homosexual bars, nightclubs, and had a fascination with the body and sex. Berlin was home to the where Germany’s government would assemble. In Berlin, Germanys various bureaucrats and leaders fought desperately to maintain order and regain the nations international position. Throughout the city sat elegant shops, buildings with modern and neoclassical architecture, as well as working class apartments, and neighborhoods with sophisticated wealth. It was said that “to walk the city is to “feel” the politics through the sight of street demonstrations, campaign posters, and party headquarters draped in banners” (pg. 42, Weitz). The city of Berlin during the Weimar period was one to truly visit. Thousands of Russians fled into the city as well as Poles in search of work and business opportunities. Various races and religious beliefs all gathered into the city. All of which would end up defining and creating such a multifarious and fascinating

Economic and political factors helped the cultural promise of the Weimar period thrive. After the end of WWI, the kaiser that once ruled Germany, was no more. The German population would soon become deeply divided, politically. With the former kaiser gone, a broad realm of possibilities opened for the Germans. Women won the right to vote and could now join political organizations. Movements and parties of all lines used the new media and art forms of the 1920s to broadcast their messages. Messages would be carried by radio, photomontage, microphones, and even film. With the use of these various medias, political messages could reach to the most isolated villages. During the Weimar period, the political history can be divided into three phases. Phase one; 1918-23, the Left and center ruled. Phase two; 1924-29, largely the center Right. Phase three; 1930-33, the authoritarian Right. Each political configuration failed, each falling victim to the attacks of its opponents. With each political organization running for power, a political ad or poster would follow. Various artists were now able to design political posters to boost support for their campaigns. Examples of art work on posters were; the use of a child and mother, the hardworking male, and honorable labor. Political worlds were now becoming woven with the artistic