Weimar Culture: Germany and the growth of democracy: History: GCSE (9:1)

A Golden Age

A term used to describe the innovations in culture and technology that occurred in Germany during the 1920s

No censorship

Until 1918 the Kaiser had controlled German entertainment. There was no control during the 1920s

Cinema

Became very popular with Germany's Marlene Dietrich a global star playing glamourous, strong-willed female characters

Metropolis

This film directed by Fritz Lang was incredibly technologically advanced

Cabaret

Musicians, singers and dancers performed vulgar (rude) songs that would have been banned under the Kaiser

Theatre

Germany became an internationally recognised centre for new plays, operas and shows

Choice

There were 120 magazines and newspapers for people to choose from

Jazz

Berlin nightclubs played this new style of music from America

Bauhaus

This movement championed practical and modern designs in architecture and design

Ground-breaking

There were even transvestite nights at some nightclubs where men dressed as women

Social realism

Artists such as Otto Dix and George Grosz painted the reality of life and made political comments in their work rather than painting beautiful scenes and figures

Best-seller

All Quiet on the Western Front, an anti-war novel by Erich Remarque was the most popular book showing a shift away from Prussian militarism

Reaction

Traditionalists on the right-wing, such as the Nazis, thought these changes in culture were evidence of a moral decline