Despite it all too obvious political and economic failings, in terms of its society and culture Weimar Germany nevertheless constituted one of the most advanced and modern countries in interwar Europe.' Discuss.

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'Despite it all too obvious political and economic failings, in terms of its society and culture Weimar Germany nevertheless constituted one of the most advanced and modern countries in interwar Europe.' Discuss.

The Weimar Republic was an extremely complex and diverse place throughout the entirety of the interwar years. The society and the culture that the Weimar created had several different facets and frontiers according to how one chooses to approach it. The fundamental themes of the period evolve around Political conflict, economic instability, social unrest and diverse ideologies.

In relation to this essay I shall be focusing my attention on the latter themes, as I believe that the determinants of social unrest and conflicting ideologies are paramount when investigating the social and cultural development of the Weimar Republic.

There is little doubt that pre-war and post-war German societies were very different. Prior to the Great War, under an autocratic regime, the innovative intellectuals within society felt that the institution oppressed their views and creative instinct.

In contrast, post World War one Germany brought with it an extremely diverse and radical culture. It is with the benefit of hindsight that it becomes apparent that this period was an opportunity for those pioneering modernists to sow their ideology in fertile lands.

Those observers who nostalgically refer to the Weimar years as the 'Golden Twenties' are clearly not referring to the socio-economic distresses of the period. Instead, as Eberhard Kolb expresses they are referring to "The eruption of new vitality, the liberation of creative forces in a short decade of unbound intellectual and artistic freedom." (1)

In the immediate post War years rapid ideological change and economic development were evident throughout most of Western Europe. The reason why I believe that so much impetus was apparent in Germany was because the country as a whole was starting from a blank canvas. The conclusion of the War had led to the creation of the Weimar Republic, and with it democracy for the first time in German history. These factors provided the German people with the opportunity to start afresh, to create and mould a society that they would choose to be apart of.

It may be argued that the Weimar Republic was fundamentally flawed from its birth, or that diverse political and economic problems led to its downfall. Either judgment has been discredited amongst contemporary historians.

In my opinion one issue that cannot be discredited, and has withstood much scrutiny over the years, is the lasting ideological and cultural legacy that Weimar Germany left behind. In terms of cultural initiative and diversity, the Weimar Republic was without doubt one of the most advanced and modern countries in interwar Europe.

An example of this can be seen by the emergence and development of the new art scene in Weimar Germany, it was symbolic of the way many Germans had adopted a fresh innovative mindset.

John Willett declared, "It was those fifteen years between nineteen-eighteen and nineteen-thirty-three which saw the fiercest, most concentrated and least one sided contest between the modern movement in the arts and the primitive conservative resents with which it has long had to contend."(2)

A number of intellectuals wasted no time in airing their views publicly. They gathered in the Reichstag on the same day the Weimar was proclaimed and demanded the abolition of all academic institutions and the nationalisation of all theatres, they declared, "Art should be brought to the people, and the world should be changed through art." (3)
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This declaration was the first stage of an art-based revolution that took the Weimar Republic by storm. Paul Bookbinder is of the opinion that, "Weimar Germany was on the cutting edge of developments in visual arts, architecture, theatre, literature and film." (4)

It was through such cutting edge developments that legitimised the Weimar Republic's dramatic rise to the capital of European culture.

A key figure that was instrumental in creating the ideology of the 'Weimar culture' was Walter Gropius. It was he who was the pioneering influence behind the creation of the 'Bauhaus'. Gropius set out ...

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