The short-lived Weimar cultural scene

„Denkmal der Märzgefallenen“ in Weimar (CC) commons.wikimedia.org

A legacy and a warning

As with any other epoch, it is difficult to present a one-sided assessment of Weimar Republic’s achievements and legacy. Put simply, we can say that the period of the new German state that was established after the First World War was a bit like the city that gave it its name. Weimar, a town in Thuringia, is located between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east. It was the place where the first Bauhaus was founded by Walter Gropius, and later turned into a movement that had a profound impact on modern German architecture, art and design. But Weimar was also the city of the “first cultural cleansing” performed by Wilhelm Frick in 1930-1931.

The Weimar Republic was certainly a period of accelerated cultural development – one that inclined the German historian, Detlev Peukert, to call it a laboratory of classical modernity. Peter Fritzche, an American researcher analysing Nazism as well as the period that preceded it, stressed the experimental nature of the social and cultural events that took place during the Weimar Republic, indicating that they contributed to the development and promotion of democratic and liberal values. At the same time, there is no question that Weimar was also a period when nationalism and fascism grew in Germany. They, in turn, destroyed the potential for a liberal democracy culture to flourish. This explains why the wonderful legacy of this period’s culture is contrasted with the political turmoil and economic crises that accompanied it.

Finally, the republic saw developments with women emancipation, the spread of liberalism and sexual freedom. Yet, they were also overcome by the anti-democratic, anti-socialist and antisemitic rhetoric of the political right. Even worse, once the rights of the minorities ceased to be widely respected, their representatives started to be excluded from public life. Thus, from today’s perspective, the Weimar period should not be only seen as a time of vibrant artistic life and individualism, but also as a warning of what can put democracy at risk. The experience of the Weimar Republic shows us how fragile and unstable democracy can really be. It also teaches us that its enemies can be found within the system, while politics can both help to stimulate artistic expression and constrain it.

Unwanted child of the First World War

The short period of the Weimar Republic, which was often called the unwanted child of the First World War, was the time burdened by the German military defeat in 1918. As a result, morale was low among the German public, which led to a series of problems that were eating the new state from within. The most famous defender of the republic, politician Gustav Stresmann, put it clearly when he said: “Let’s not cheat ourselves, our parliamentarianism is in a crisis which is more than a crisis of trust.” This sense of crisis was omnipresent and affecting all spheres of life. All with the exception of one: art, which during this period became a seed for social development.

We can also say that, in a way, the Weimar Republic was a time of a cultural fight, one in which German society was learning greater tolerance. Tolerance was the value that was strongly desired by the social-democratic government that was formed after the First World War with Friedrich Ebert as its head. Even though it is hard to believe that a nation that was so exhausted with the experience of a lost war would become interested in art, it is true that the anti-war, anti-imperialistic and anti-military message of art became an engine in the new reality.

Thus, the direction that artistic expression took reflected its willingness to create something new, and in direct contrast to the conservative culture of the German empire. The German artists of that period were trying to respond to the deeper questions regarding modern human existence and to find answers in art. This art was to transform society. It was oscillating between despair (caused by military defeat and economic crisis) and faith in a brighter future. It was the second time in German history when art became part of the foundation for rebuilding of the nation. In the Romantic period, art was an expression of rebellion and an aspiration for recreating the former glory of the German nation. Similarly, Weimar artists wanted to rebuild society and its faith in Germanness. This time, however, they were not making references to tradition, nor sought inspiration in the medieval period. Instead, they were trying to stimulate a reflection of human experiences.

Weimar Germans started to postulate the need to rebuild society based on new ideas and references to naturalistic attitudes. The role of the artist was not to be a genius, but an engaged participant of social life – the creator of a new ethic. That is why writers such as Thomas Mann were trying to bring back the German tradition of Bildung and, at the same time, put faith in society’s ability of self-perfection which could take place through people’s encounters with culture and education. Philosophers, such as Martin Heidegger, were concentrating on the creative function of language. Unfortunately, with time Heidegger succumbed to the influence of a different language – namely, the Nazi ideology.

During the Weimar period, many artists and intellectuals were also engaged in politics. However, not many seemed then yet aware of the dangers haunting the European continent in general and the German state in particular. They missed the first signs of extreme nationalism and fascism, while the political activism of some artists who acted against these tendencies did not really appeal to the German public. The bourgeois was the first to show its distance and became attracted to Hitler’s views. Before this happened, however, new trends had managed to emerge in art. They included the so-called modern German movement, which later took the forms of expressionism, futurism and Dadaism.

These movements – as Jankel Adler, an artist from the Polish city of Łódź, once wrote – wanted to “seek truth in everyday life”. Thus they were not only artistic experiments, but voices calling for social reforms. As a result the artists became a modernising force in society, one that not only led it though a revolution, but also shaped new social attitudes. Under the Weimar Republic, art became a tool to promote change – its task was to reach all strata of society. The artists who called themselves spiritual revolutionaries were getting together, as Max Pechstein, an expressionist painter and co-founder of the Die Brücke group said, to “build a united epoch of art”.

Women’s emancipation

The Weimar Republic was also a period where women started to be active in public life. Observing this new trend, Franz Hessel, a German writer of Jewish origin, described modern women as the embodiment of good style and sophistication. She was active and sporty. She also worked during the day, while in the evening spent time shopping in one of the department stores. She enjoyed city nightlife, paying visits to such places as Haus Vaterland.

The Weimar period is also when the German feminist movement started to emerge and women started voicing their desire to have control over their own bodies and life. While researching this period through many journalistic and literary texts and films, we can read female artists talking about their lives, including the right to have an abortion. They also argued that women’s emancipation, and the emancipation of the German nation, was beneficial for one another, and indeed part of the same process.

Yet, not all Germans accepted women’s emancipation. Objections were also issued by those who were supporting formal equality of men and women, but who were of the opinion that areas such as home and family were a woman’s responsibility. Many on the right argued for women to play the traditional roles of wives and mothers. This attitude shows that German society, despite all the revolutionary changes which took place after the war, was not entirely ready to embrace the values being proposed in artistic and intellectual circles.

Thus, the Weimar Republic was both a time when the notion of a modern woman emerged and a time when women were forced to play a more traditional role in society. And even though the German Constitution guaranteed the equal status of men and women, the German Civil Code subordinated a wife to her husband, while the Criminal Code stipulated sanctions for performing an abortion. A woman who decided to pursue a professional career would, on average, make 10 to 20 per cent less than the average male. This was the accepted norm, to the point that lower wages for women were included in collective bargaining between the trade unions and employers. Thus, from today’s perspective, we can talk about certain important changes that started to take place with rights being granted to large groups that had previously experienced discrimination. Yet, we also have to admit that these new postulates, even when they were received positively, did not always lead to changes in behaviour. For social changes to be rooted, a much longer period was needed.

Bauhaus and Berlin

Walter Gropius, the creator of the German art school Bauhaus, was of the opinion that architects, artists and artisans should all work together to build a new future. He opened the first Bauhaus art school in the city of Weimar with a mission to overcome traditional divisions, abandon snobbism and create functional, modernist buildings. The type of architecture that the Bauhaus proposed rejected traditionalism and promoted art that was functional. As a result, social space was to become an area of activities and the exchange of ideas. Hence, the architects started to examine the relations between urban space and natural landscape. They started to pay attention to the quality of life but also local traditions.

During the Weimar period, Berlin became a fashionable metropolis and a vivid city of art. Carl Zuckmayer, a playwright who started his career in Berlin then considered the city to be the centre of his professional life, famously wrote: “Who has Berlin, belongs to the world.”

The capital of the republic, which had a population of more than four million, was the largest city in Germany. That said there was more to the state than just Berlin. Berlin was a world metropolis at this time, but many Germans living in other parts of the country were not so enthusiastic with the capital’s cosmopolitan life. This group also included those who were not really interested in the new Weimar art or modern German philosophy or literature. They might not have known the works of the Bauhaus or the expressionists. Instead, they were probably protesting against the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles and wanted to see a return of the pre-war order.

Hitler’s rise to power brought an end to the cultural life that took place in the Weimar Republic. The Nazis subordinated art to their ideology, and did the same with the artistic groups and institutions. Those perceived as dangerous, or who were accused of communist tendencies, lost their jobs. Expressionism was said to be racially impure and decadent. And even though expressionism and Bauhaus established new trends in modern art, they proved to be too weak to overcome nationalism.

Many artists of the Weimar period, for various reasons, did not continue working after the Second World War. Many of those who did no longer produced works that were considered masterpieces. This happened mostly because some of artists lost their lives, while others escaped. Most never returned to the lives they had before. To paraphrase the famous words of the German philosopher, Theodor Adorno, their art ended with the Holocaust.

Translated by Iwona Reichardt

Kinga Anna Gajda is an assistant professor at the Institute of European Studies of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. She holds a PhD in literature.