GERMANY IN THE 1920SBBS 20th Century History

2014-2015

READING 9: CRITICIZING SOCIETY In 1920s/30s Germany many individuals spoke out and

used various art forms to do so. During this period, a number of German artists created

pictures that challenged authority or forced viewers thinking.

George Grosz was one such artist who was fined many times for “attacks on public morality.”

GEORGE GROSZBERLIN STREET SCENE, 1924

READING 10: INFLATION BATTERS THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC In the early days of the Weimar Republic, inflation took place.

Inflation: The value of money decreases and/or general prices increase sharply.

After the war, there was more money in circulation than goods resulting in incredible inflation.

In 1923, Germans went on strike based on non-payment of reparations. This resulted in the few goods available becoming more valuable. Prices skyrocketed with the German Mark purchasing less and less.

People now found themselves bankrupt. People could not forget that the Government allowed this to happen to the economy and to its people.

WEIMAR REPUBLIC INFLATION CHART

Date Marks US Dollar

1918 4.2 1

1921 75 1

1922 400 1

Jan 1923 7,000 1

Jul 1923 160,000 1

Aug 1923 1,000,000 (Million) 1

Nov 1, 1923 1,300,000,000 (Billion)

1

Nov 15, 1923 1,300,000,000,000 (Trillion)

1

Nov 16, 1923 4,200,000,000,000 (Trillion)

1

READING 11: REVOLT IN A BEER HALL Adolf Hitler had Mein Kampf (My Struggle) published in

1925 which maintained that a struggle among the races is the catalyst of history. In his view, different races had different roles to play in society. He believed the “Aryan” or white race was superior to all others and

wanted to incorporate all of Eastern Europe into a new Aryan empire.

HITLER ON BLACKS

From time to time illustrated papers bring it to the attention of the German people that some place other a Negro has for the first time become a lawyer, teacher or even a pastor, in fact a heroic tenor, or something of the sort…It doesn’t dawn on this brainless world that this is positively a sin against all reason; that it is criminal lunacy to keep on drilling a [subhuman] until people think they have made a lawyer out of him, while millions of members of the highest race must remain in entirely unworthy positions. The fox is always a fox, the goose a goose, the tiger a tiger, etc.