Germany: To what extent was German culture shaped by political ideology in the years 1918-45?

Introduction

• German culture was shaped by political ideology to an extent in 1918-45

• More so after 1933

• Culture up to 1933 was mostly inspired by experimentalists

• From 1933-45, Nazism was controlling over culture

• Criteria: To what extent the values and beliefs of the government at the time was reflected in art, media, sport etc

Paragraph 1

• The culture from 1918-33 was not shaped by the government to a great degree, but was more shaped geographically

• By 1925, 1/3 lived in cities, whereas 2/3 lived rurally, rural = conservative, city = avant-garde and metropolitan

• By 1928, 353m cinema tickets were sold

• By the end of the period, there were over 5000 cinemas

Paragraph 2

• Governments did have some influence over culture during this period, but perhaps not ideologically

• Women gained the right to vote in 1919, which led to 5,000 in work by 1932; also established freedom of speech and expression

• The Weimar Government funded the film Metropolis in 1927 with RM5 million

• Throughout the Weimar period, 99% literacy rate

Paragraph 3

• In some areas, Nazis didn’t have complete ideological control over culture

• 1933 census = 62% Protestant and 33% Catholic, not complete submission to Nazi govt

• Membership of Hitler Youth reached 8.7m in 1939, indicating that some eligible youths had not joined

• By 1943, around 2000 were prosecuted annually for listening to foreign radio

Paragraph 4

• Nazi Governments significantly influenced culture ideologically

• By 1935, 42,000 excluded from cultural professions

• By 1939, over 2000 newspapers were shut down

• Nazi Party membership = 8m by 1945