Lesson 13 & 14: The Weimar Republic Tan Block Agenda Objective: 1.To understand life in the Weimar Republic. 2.To understand how life in the Weimar Republic was a time of social change in Germany. 3.To understand how Germans conceptualized the causes and consequences of the social changes. Schedule: 1.Opening activity 2.Weimar Discussion Opening Activity: None Homework: 1.Read and note Mein Kampf Due: L15 Fri 3/30 2.Evaluated Working Paper Due: L15 Fri 3/30 3.Process Check Two: Due L19 Tues 4/10

Lesson 13 & 14: The Weimar Republic Blue Block Agenda Objective: 1.To understand life in the Weimar Republic. 2.To understand how life in the Weimar Republic was a time of social change in Germany. 3.To understand how Germans conceptualized the causes and consequences of the social changes. Schedule: 1.Opening activity 2.Weimar Discussion Opening Activity: None Homework: 1.Read and note Mein Kampf Due: L15 Mon 4/2 2.Evaluated Working Paper Due: L15 Mon 4/2 3.Process Check Two: Due L19 Wed 4/11

Our Focus/Goal for the Next Two Days What was life like in the Weimar Republic (in our six dimensions)? Where do we see social change in each of these dimensions? Who was most likely to be effected by these changes? What did some Germans view as the cause of these changes? What did some Germans view as the consequences of these changes? Thesis about Weimar? (How would we describe it and how people felt about it?)

The Weimar Republic The new government created out of the German Revolution of 1918, was the Weimar Republic. August Democracy (Parliamentary) Led by members of the Social Democrats, Catholics, and Democratic parties. First democracy in Germany

The Weimar Republic Democracy was new to Germany. Germany had been ruled by an emperor and was semi- autocratic. –This system had virtually no democratic elements thus the introduction of democratic ideals (universal suffrage, political parties) was a radical change for Germany. Emerges in the shadow of Germany’s defeat in World War One. Germany embarks on its experiment in democracy at an unfavorable movement: a moment when the political and social system was already cracking…

Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany To understand the effects of hyperinflation, we need to some math. Consider the following: –Assume that in July 1922 a stove cost 100 German marks. –By November 1923 that stove cost 726,000,000,000 marks. –How is this possible?

Rate of Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany Take out a calculator… Monthly rate of hyperinflation (Divide by 15) = Daily Rate of Hyperinflation (Divide by 30) = Hourly Rate of Hyperinflation (Divide by 24) = Rate of Hyperinflation per Minute (Divide by 60) = With this rate of hyperinflation what happens to wages? With this rate of hyperinflation what happens to the price of goods? What is everyday life like under this sort of inflation?

A million mark note being used as notepaper

The “Dagger-stab-in-the-back Legend”: Austrian caricature of a Jew stabbing the German Army in the back with a dagger. (1919)

“Germans, consider this!”: A German cartoon of the dagger-stabbing-in-the- back of the German Army by the politicians Phillipp Scheidemann (Social Democratic Party), who proclaimed the Weimar Republic, and was the second Chancellor; and the anti-war militant Matthias Erzberger (Centre Party), who signed the Armistice with the Allies. Note the caricatured Jews in the background.

Crisis of Modernity Modernity is simply the sense or the idea that the present is discontinuous with the past, that through a process of social and cultural change life in the present is fundamentally different from life in the past. –This sense or idea as a world view contrasts with tradition, which is simply the sense that the present is continuous with the past, that the present in some way repeats the forms, behavior, and events of the past. The “crisis of modernity” is the sense that modernity is a problem, the traditional ways of life have been replaced with uncontrollable change and unmanageable alternatives. The crisis itself is merely the sense that the present is a transitional point not focused on a clear goal in the future but simply changing through forces outside our control.