The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari

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.

Ulrich Herbert’s “Good Times, Bad Times” is about the contrast between the ways typical working Germans perceived the years before and during Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor, his rise to dictator, and during and after and World War II. The article cites a survey conducted by the Institut für Demoskopie (Public Opinion Institute) in 1949, as well as an oral-history project conducted at the universities of Essen and Hagen between 1930-1960. Both studies

On The 30th of January 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor. In the 18 months succeeding this, Hitler became, essentially, a dictator. This essay will look at what a dictatorship is and how it operates, how the population is brought to a point where they accept a dictatorship, and examine and analyze the vital events that took place in Germany which lead to Hitler assuming dictatorial power: the Reichstag fire, the Emergency Decree, the Enabling Act, the banning of trade unions and other political parties, the Night Of The Long Knives, the death of President Hindenburg, and the German army’s oath of loyalty to Hitler. It will

At the highest level, the division that persists in most democracies transforms into conflict over power. In these situations, there is a constant struggle over popularity and legitimacy, both of which are necessary components for power accumulation and consolidation. As a result, severe issues arise when either or both of them no longer lie in the hands of elected officials. A prime example of this was Germany during the Great Depression, where the democratically elected government collapsed because of economic crises. While they were losing power and popularity, Hitler was rapidly gaining on them. After going through several other candidates, the political elites were desperate for change, so they resorted to elevating him to the position of chancellor. They believed they could control and use him to regain a political foothold over the nation. Although such an event did not ensue, it revealed that, “If a charismatic outsider emerges on the scene, gaining popularity as he challenges the old order, it is tempting for establishment politicians who feel their control is unraveling to try to co-opt him” (Levitsky and Ziblatt 15). This was the final nail on their democracy’s coffin. By supporting an extremist like Hitler, the elites gambled away the future of Germany. They thought that

In addition to the damaging consequences of the First World War with the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, certain features of Germany caused the state to be susceptible to the influence of this dangerous ideology. Along with the damage to the national ego as a result of the First World War, Germany had co-existing and conflicting highly modern strands of development forced to integrate with powerful remnants of archaic values and social structures, and had a deeply fractured parliamentary political system, and the weaknesses of this system reflected the social and political differences within the population. This shame and failure after World War I was superimposed onto a modern country which once had an advanced economy, a sophisticated state

With incompetent leadership and an unhappy nation, the German people began to realize that their country was in a vulnerable situation and began to look for stable alternatives to democracy. Hitler’s

1) Germany before the Fuhrer. Germany’s defeat at the end of World War I left the nation socially, politically, and economically shattered. The reparation agreements inflicted upon Germany without its’ consent at the end of the war meant that the nation was in complete financial ruin. In the wake of Germany’s defeat, public decent climaxed on the 9th November 1918 during the revolution that took place on Berlin’s Postdamer Platz. This revolution transpired as a result of the public’s culminating discontent towards the imperial monarchy, and lasted up until August 1919, which saw the establishment of the Weimar Republic. In attempts to guide Germany out of economic

The cinematography of the film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was very effective to the audience at the time. During the 1920’s, it wasn’t common to have a horror movie like this with a dark and twisted visual style. Because of the cinematography of this German film, it actually had a major influence on the American films in horror and film noir genres. To get the cinematography right, they had to exaggerate the lighting to give off the feel of it being a horror film.

The rise and subsequent take-over of power in Germany by Hitler and the Nazi Party in the early 1930s was the culmination and continuation not of Enlightenment thought from the 18th and 19th century but the logical conclusion of unstable and cultural conditions that pre-existed in Germany. Hitler’s Nazi Party’s clear manipulation of the weak state of the Weimar Republic through its continued failure economically and socially, plus its undermining of popular support through the signing the Treaty of Versailles all lead to the creation of a Nazi dictatorship under the cult of personality of Hitler. This clear take-over of power and subsequent destruction of any

All of these factors made it very difficult for the German people to be trustworthy, faithful and supportive of the regime of the Weimar Constitution. This idea is re-affirmed through German historian Friedrich Meinecke saying that “true loyalty to the Fatherland requires disloyalty to the Republic”, leading to an opening for extremist parties as well as the Republic’s doom.

When looking into the history of Germany and determining what led to the startling rise in Nazism in Germany and its detrimental effects on the social outcasts in Europe, it can be easy to deduce that the Nazi regime was one where Hitler walked in with his officials and took office by force. The truth is that, while the Nazi party is responsible for the atrocities that occurred before and during WWII, they would have not gotten far if it hadn’t been for the cooperation of the German people themselves. Life in the Third Reich provides proof through voting, youth programs and village life that the Nazi party rose into power with German support.

The German mark lost almost all of its value due to inflation, the debt Germany owed to Allied Powers increased exponentially, and Germany had to liquidate its military. Even though Germany was falling apart in the year 1919, there was still hope as it miraculously birthed the Weimar Republic, which lasted until 1933. During this time period, the true state of its people and country were portrayed through film. One of the most iconic films of the Weimar Republic, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, was released in 1919. This mysterious, yet incredibly confusing film embodied the anxiety and uncertainty felt by German citizens during the Weimar Republic. Specifically anxiety related to current and future chaos, and uncertainty related to sanity. In The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the protagonist Francis narrates a past experience of his in which he ends up wrongfully locked up in a psychiatric ward. In this past experience, a man introduced as the somnambulist Dr. Caligari controlled a man named Cesare, and had Cesare kill people of his choosing. Trying to expose Dr. Caligari’s acts, Francis ends up being locked up in a psychiatric ward. What is odd is that Dr. Caligari is then shown as the doctor running the psychiatric ward, trying to help Francis with his condition. The duality of Dr. Caligari symbolized uncertainty and chaos experienced by Germans after World War I. Like the audience of the film, Germans questioned who was or was not sane. Would the search for and desire and control by an authoritative figure, like Dr. Caligari, remove the chaos Germans felt? Or, would that control lead to worse chaos in the

Flamineo is initially perceived to embody the stereotypical villain of Jacobean drama as seen by his introduction in The White Devil. This is supported by Webster’s characterisation as Flamineo’s traits are associated with that of a Machiavellian as well as a Malcontent, which are recognized as conflicting traits. This ‘conflict’ is emphasized by the duplicitous and insincere nature of Flamineo’s manipulation of the other characters, particularly of Camillo and Bracciano in Act 1 Scene 2. In addition to his ‘manipulative behaviour’, his characterisation is also linked to misogyny as his ambiguous language as well as viewpoints regarding women is constantly seen as both critical and cynical. However, Flamineo’s character is not considered

German history is seen as a ‘painful issue for thousands of Germans and other Europeans’ . However it has interested many historians over the years into inquiring how and why Hitler came to power and how much of this was to do with the failure of parliamentary democracy in Germany. To fully ascertain to what extent these events have in common and what reasons led to the fall of democracy and rise of the Nazis, each have to be looked at individually. Also it seems beneficial, to be able to evaluate these in the relevant context, to look at the situation in Germany was in prior to 1920.

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari by Robert Wiene is a silent, black & white horror film, which emphasizes on ‘the expression of inner thoughts and emotions through the control of stylistic elements’ (Bordwell, 2000). It was a ‘creative film movement’ that took off in the 1920s during a period known as ‘Weimar Germany’ (Foster, 2008). This period was between ‘World War I and World War II, where filmmakers were exploring juxtaposions of light and shadows to create a new style of filmmaking’, that have later inspired such cinematography seen in Film Noir (Foster, 2008). ‘German Expressionism is described as seeing beauty in imbalanced proportions’, the sets used in the film was constructed with the expressionist style (George, 1965). For instance, windows & walkways were not viewed in their original symmetric form but instead in unnatural shapes and sizes. In terms of the characters, Dr. Caligari drives the plot throughout the film, alongside his somnambulist, Cesare. The film primarily surrounds these two characters and how their actions affect the decisions and lives of the other characters. However, it is obvious that Wiene ‘deliberately used complex architectures, settings and evil characters’ to frame such unique elements to represent how ‘set design could put expressionist painting and art to good use in film’ (Bordwell, 2017). His creativity is also evident through his manipulation of light and shadows, a lighting technique known as ‘Chiarascuro lighting’ to contrast light and dark to create interesting shadows (Bordwell, 2017). This is because Wienne’s use of set design and mise-en-scene also contribute to this expressionist feel. In addition, viewers also witness human like form to nonhuman things, this can be seen by the examples of the tree branches or even the street lights & buildings themselves. However, its all-purpose is to blend with the ‘bizarre setting to display straightforward messages to direct spectators’ (Bordwell, 2000). Due to these uncommon elements, ‘critics have praised the movie for its unique expressionistic style’, it has become a ‘profound influence over other directors in Hollywood today, such as the notable Tim Burton, whose film, Edward Scissorhands (1990), which had many similar