Taking a Look at the Weimar Republic

During the war it was up to the women to replace the men that went off to fight, some women chose to take over the jobs while some chose to stay and take care of their family. The women were forced to work and and to have children but the government did not have any luck (“ War Impact on Life in Germany”). The German government was trying to increase the birth rate because they did not know how long the war was going to last and if they would need more soldiers. The women had to deal with so much stress everyday. Just watching their children going to school could have been the last time they every saw them. The fathers where only allowed to come home and visit twice a year.

The Weimar Republic would have continued to be a functional government far longer than achieved if not for the defeat of WWI, the economic burdens imposed by the Versailles Treaty, and the flawed Article 48 which all contributed to the down fall of Germany’s first attempt at a legitimate Democracy. This paper will argue that the societal, economical, and constitutional aspects all played a role in the hopeless Democracy Germany attempted which ultimately lead Germany into a totalitarian state that would further shake the world with the rise of the NSDAP and Adolf Hitler.

In Nazi Germany, during the reign of Hitler, women had a specific role of being mothers and raising their children at home, while their husbands worked. Hitler strongly believed that women should not work, but rather get married at a young age to a racially pure German and have lots of children. In 1933, Hitler passed a Law of Encouragement of Marriage that encouraged newly married couples to have as many children as possible (“The Role of Women in Nazi Germany”). Unlike other countries that encouraged women to go into combat, Nazi Germany forced women into a childbearing role to produce the next wave of male soldiers. During World War II, the young boys were groomed to become soldiers, while young girls were groomed to become mothers. Even unmarried women were persuaded to have children; this was not considered a social problem in Nazi society (“The Role of Women in Nazi Germany”). Young German girls were taught that this was their typical lifestyle in Nazi Germany during the war.

Hitler had a very clear idea of women’s role; she was the centre of family life, a housewife and the mother. Their job was to keep the house nice for their husband and family – their lives should revolve round the three ‘ks’, church, children and cooking. This ideal was based around Hitler wanting to achieve his long held goal of Lebensraum to increase the German Aryan population. Strasser argues that ‘National Socialism intended to restore the natural order, and states that this was to accord women the respect they deserved as mothers and housewives’, therefore improving their status. However Carey argues that women’s position did not improve and “throughout the civil war

In the book Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich by Alison Owings, we are provided with plenty of women who describe their lives before, during and after Hitler received power. This book provides us with different views of the time era and as well as how the impact of Hitler affected every woman differently through social class, age, marital status and etc. This paper will explore the lives of three German women who seem to be in the Grey area during the over control of Hitler but mostly with the killings of the Jews. This paper will further explore the complicity and the different levels of resistance that these three women had during this time era which is 1933-1945. The three women that will be discussed in this paper are Margarete (Margrit) Fischer, Ellen Frey, and Christine (Tini) Weihs. When looking into the lives of all three women these women it seems as though women didn’t have much of a responsibility for the events that were happening around them. Although these women seemed to be complaint to a certain degree with the events there were going on around them. These women would have been complaint due to the fear of what happened to Germans when they stood against the events that took part.

The collapsement of the Weimar Republic was due to many social, political and economical issues within. From its birth it faced numerous political problems, for which the causes were many and varied. These problems included political instability, deep divisions within society and economic crisis; problems were constantly appearing for the new government. The Weimar Republic never really had a stable political party, having a whole six different parties between 1924-1928 does not create stability. Many of these parties were also narrowly sectioned, with messed up

Which gave the right for women to vote without discrimination by other people in1920.Also Germany was required to make significant territorial concessions. They were primarily long against the east and west borders.There was some of the many changes in the politics section.If I was a woman I would have been able to vote if I was 18 years old.But sadly I was 17 years old.

Prior to the Republic, political life was completely foreign to women. They were subjected to an immense amount of discrimination and thought of as lesser beings than men. However, over the course of the century,

Emphasized Femininity During World War II World War II was considered a start for women’s liberation. On the surface, it appears so; women entered the work force in large numbers and performed tasks previously considered masculine. This is just face value, when looking deeper, it is clear that women entered the labour force not because of a right to work or a struggle for gender equity but for the war effort. Supposed gains were lost at the end of the war because the attitude towards women’s role in society had not become more egalitarian. In fact, gender roles were even more strictly enforced.

The Weimar Constitution gave the people some rights such as the right to a “dignified existence”, economic freedoms, religious freedom, and the freedom of

1925-1929 as the Time of Economic and Political Stability in the Weimar Republic The years 1925-1929 were described as the Golden Years for Germany. There were no attempts to over throw the government like the Sparticist uprising or the Kapp Putsch, therefore undoubtedly it was the best years compared to the problems before and after the Golden Years. The way the golden years were perceived would indicate to what extent were the years 1925 to1929 a time of economic and political stability for the Weimar Republic. There were developments in Germanyduring the Golden Years in the following essay we will learn where the developments took place and whether they disadvantaged Germany or helped her

Third, the false Golden Age of economic prosperity created by the Dawes (1924) and Young (1929) Plans and resulting loans from the US Government the during the 1920s had come to a close as the Great Depression hit, and unemployment rose to over 6 million in Germany. Yet, the Weimar Government has survived the hyperinflation of the early 1920s, and therefore it is easy to over-estimate to impact of the Great Depression on the failure of democracy. The economic situation did help to draw more voters towards the fringe parties, and create an atmosphere more willing to foster extremist views as the Weimar Government was seen as weak and unable to cope with Germany’s problems. Thus, the first major factor attributing to the downfall of democracy in Germany was the preceding failure of the Weimar Government politically, structurally, and economically to take a firm hold over Germany.

The collapse of the Weimar Republic can not be seen as solely indebted to the severe economic problems faced during the period of its rule, but consequently it was the economic issues that became a footstep to the ultimate demise of the Republic. Subsequent to Germany’s defeat in the First World War and German Emperor Kaiser’s abdication from power, the Weimar Republic was proclaimed. The Republic that had emerged from the German Revolution of November 1918 would inevitably fall as a result of numerous issues. However, the extent of which economic problems had in the dissolution of the republic, and how these issues caused or came about due to separate concerns faced by the new democratic system became a major contributing factor.

There were various factors that contributed to the failure of the Weimar Republic of Germany and the ascent of Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers Party into power on January 30, 1933. Various conflicting problems were concurrent with the eventuation of the Republic that, from the outset, its first governing body the socialist party (SPD) was forced to contend with.

The Weimar republic from 1919 to 1929 had many successes and failures, starting in chaos and ending in relative stability. However, due to individual perspective these successes and failures were often viewed as both successes and failures- not either. Class, political leanings and other moralistic beliefs, primarily influenced the individual's perspectives. Overall, due to the relative stability, (the aim of any government) primarily achieved by Streseman's influence, the successes outweighed the failures by 1929.