Weimar Republic 1919 – 1933
Economics
- 1918: Germany lost WW1 and condition for surrender decided by the allies at the Treaty of Versailles
- Surrender resource-rich colonies
- Pay enormous monetary compensation to their enemies
- Weimar govt. printed more money to finance war debt = hyperinflation + massive unemployment, drop in living standards, deep national resentment against allies.
- 1929: Wall Street Crash hits Germany especially hard as it relied heavily on US loans
- 1931: Unemployment
Politics
- Pessimism lead upper class, artists and intellectuals to various forms of decadence. Lower classes often forced into liver of crime, theft, prostitution.
- Berlin symbolises these contradictions. One of the World’s “Sin Cities”
- Desperate economic circumstances divided political parties into extremes
- Lacking leadership, frequent violent conflicts
- Weimar era begins with the appointment of Hitler
Culture
- Dramatic rise in productivity
- Expressionism, Dadaism
- Cabaret culture
- Robert Weiner
- Dadaism: Anti-war cultural movement began in Switzerland (1916 – 1920) protested barbarianism of war
Expressionism
- Leading art movement, roots before Weimar Republic
- Lines typically not straight. Denial of order
- Nosferatu 1922: Use of shadow distortion
Weimar Cinema
- UFA: Super studio
- Didn’t have to leave for anything
- Vested interest from govt.: Ideals and income
- Privatised in 1921
- 600 films a year
- 1 mil customers everyday
- Serious threat to Hollywood
- Watching German films + thought the films were equal or superior
- Vast, technically superior and inventive
- Expensive super-productions (Metropolis) – Financial decline + receivership by 1927
- New studio head Alfred Hugenberg. Sympathetic to Nazism. Produced propaganda films after 1933.
- Gobels controlled film content through politics.
Genre Motifs
- Group collectivism as a form of social activism/ critique
- Kameradschaft (1931)
- Emil + the Dectectives (1931)
- M (193!)
- Parallel social order
- Similar structures/ functions across social groups
- Desire for social order/ social responsibility
- Adherence to decisive leadership
Nazi Cinema (1933 – 1945)
The Propaganda Machine
- Goebbels head of Nazi Germany’s Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
- Aimed to win loyalty and cooperation of German people
- all aspects of social life subject to official censorship
- 15% contained overt Nazi propaganda but films accounted for 20% cinema admissions
Pro-Nazi Propaganda
- Hitlerjung Quex (Steinhoff, 1933)
- Celebrates spirit of sacrifice among Hitler Youth
- Young protagonist defies his communist father to server the Nazi cause
Anti-Semetic Propaganda
- Jud Suss (Harlan, 1940)
- Historical costume melodrama
- Perpetuates corrosive stereotypes in line with nazi ideology
- internationally successful
Entertainment Cinema
- Comedies, musicals, fantasy produced
- Hollywood-esque musicals: Frau Luna
- Münchhausen
- Budget of 6.5 mil Reichmarks
- 3rd film in AGFA colour
- Politically innocuous, lavish production values