Expressionism has been described as ‘The dark side of the Soul’ – Discuss this statement in relation to German film-making 1919 to 1930. Sigmund Freud said that German expressionism was ‘the dark side of the soul’, in this essay I will be examining this statement and looking at German expressionism and if what Freud said could been deemed as true. German expressionism started after the First World War; because of the depression that had swept the country after not only losing the war, but losing a lot of wealth and for many German’s they had lost family due to the war. This developed the German expressionism movement. After the war, German was highly isolated from the rest of the world because of the war.
What Evans means by this is that the desperation of the people led them to polarising their votes and seeing radical leaders like Hitler as a solution to the mess that Germany had become. Hitler took advantage of this, and from there was able to play a huge role in the collapse of the Weimar Republic. The economic strain that Germany was placed under was also a major impact of the Depression on the collapse of the Republic. Firstly, the Depression had the obvious impact of the debt rising and the banking crises however, there were a number other impacts. Germany relied heavily on international trade for resources; almost one third of their resources came from overseas.
On the other hand, the anguished effects of WWI were still enduring in the Germanic collective memory. Many Germans perceived The Versailles Treaty, signed by the Allies in 1919, as a humiliation. The treaty contained a number of heavy impositions to Germany which were socio-economically unbearable to a once great and powerfu l nation. The amount that had to be paid to the Allies as war damage 2 made the Mark lost all its value, causing a hyperinflation so severe that the prices increased by over 100 times in just one year (Bresciani -Turroni, 1968.). The hyperinflation crisis, which was only solved in 1924, lasted enough time to ruin thousands of Germanic families, thus worsening the general feeling of rage against the treaty.
Several attempts from both the left and right sides of government tried to imbue the nationalistic beliefs that were embodied in Germany before they were destroyed by their humiliating defeat in WW1. These include the Spartacist uprising, the Kapp Putsch and the Munich Beer Hall Putsch. The disillusionment felt by the people and their need to restore pride in their nation influenced many factors that led to the failure of the democracy, and to the rise of the Nazi political party and its leader Adolf Hitler. In hindsight, a mixture of political, social and economic issues, combined with nationalistic goals give grounds to the reason that nationalism mainly brought about the fall of the democracy of the Weimar Republic in Germany. By the outbreak of WW1 in August 1914, Germany was well established as a major and prominent world power.
The next factor that seemed to emphasize the cause of the war was German's dictator, Adolph Hitler, who led the Germans with the ideas of fascists. Since the Germans were going through the Great Depression, Hitler's idea seemed more efficient and they reluctantly joined him and his quest to conquer. He also began to sufficiently gaining popularity throughout Germany and increased their nation’s power. This situation began to worry all the neighboring countries and began fearing Germany. Nationalism was an extreme form of patriotism that swept across Europe during the 1800's.
ABSTRACT: Richard Wagner always represented for Nietzsche the Germany of that time. By examining Nietzsche's relationship to Wagner throughout his writings, one is also examining Nietzsche's relationship to his culture of birth. I focus on the writings from the late period in order to clarify Nietzsche's view of his own project regarding German culture. I show that Nietzsche created a portrait of Wagner in which the composer was a worthy opponent-someone with whom he disagreed but viewed as an equal. Wagner was such an opponent because he represented the disease of decadence which plagued the culture and from which Nietzsche suffered for a time, but of which he also cured himself.
However these were compounded by other factors such as fundamental flaws in the democratic system, hyperinflation, the occupation of the Ruhr and the onset of the great depression. All of these factors in combination provided the situations where civil unrest, violence and revolution could place intolerable strain on the already struggling democratic Weimar republic. It is possible to trace the factors that led to the collapse of the Republic back the conditions of the TOV and its impact on the German economy. Therefore it can be said that the TOV was paramount in the fall of the Weimar Republic.
This was due to events like the devastating 1923 hyperinflation, and of course the Treaty of Versailles, which had tainted Weimar’s reputation from its inception. The Reichstag was in a constant state of flux as the parties struggled to create and maintain coalition governments, and this added to the public’s negative perception of a democratic republic. The economic slump from 1928-32 was undoubtedly responsible for the NSDAP’s rise in support, as it was the cause of social and political problems within Germany. Even prior to the Wall Street Crash in October 1929 the economy was in trouble – economic growth was uneven throughout the 1920s. Trade was in debt as imports exceeded exports; this was because Germany was
The invasion of the Ruhr and resultant hyperinflation also had a hugely detriment effect. Finally, the destruction of the Depression in 1929 dealt a huge blow. It s clearly evident that, while it had a substantial impact on the Weimar Republic to 1929, a string of separate factors were also responsible for it’s issues. Before the Treaty of Versailles was even signed, Germany’s fledgling republic experienced many problems. This proves that, while the treaty had a significant impact on the Weimar Republic, it was in no way the sole cause of its issues.
“Assess the view that the collapse of the Weimar Republic was primarily due to the appeal of Hitler and his Nazi party” The Weimar Republic government was riddled with weakness and incompetence in a variety of crucial social, economic and political areas. This caused the influence of the Nazi Party, which through its charismatic and nationalistic leader, Adolf Hitler, it gained a large amount of support. However it was due to the Weimar Republic’s own failings that the Nazi Party became appealing and as a result the Weimar Republic was brought to its inevitable demise in 1933 with Hitler ready to take the reigns. When the Treaty of the Versailles was signed in 1919, the government was making a very unpopular decision amongst the citizens, as it a result lead to the downfall of the Weimar Republic. The Treaty caused humiliation and shock amongst the citizens of the country, much of the political backlash was due to the fact that the Allies were dictating to Germany the harsh terms of the war reparations, which was seen as absurd by many citizens as they did not feel as if they were responsible for starting the war nor did they feel as though they had lost.