Chapter 6

Question 1

What social welfare reform happened in 1924?

Answer 1

The Public Assistance system was modernised, providing help to the poor and destitute.

Question 2

When was the Public Assistance system modernised?

Answer 2

1924

Question 3

What social welfare reform happened in 1927?

Answer 3

A national unemployment insurance system was introduced to provide benefits to the unemployed.

Question 4

When was the national unemployment insurance system introduced?

Answer 4

1927

Question 5

What were the two issues with the social welfare reforms made under the Weimar Republic?

Answer 5

1. It was very expensive.
2. It required a very large and expensive bureaucracy to administer it.

Question 6

How many disabled war veterans was the state supporting by 1926?

Answer 6

800,000

Question 7

Why did people on benefits feel humiliated and less inclined to support the Weimar Republic?

Answer 7

• Means testing was tightened.
• Snoopers were used to check that claimants were not cheating the system.
• There were delays in paying the benefits.

Question 8

What happened to the living standards of millions of Germans between 1924-28?

Answer 8

They improved.

Question 9

What was the ‘new woman’?

Answer 9

The symbol of the way women’s lives changed during the Weimar years.

Question 10

What was the ‘new woman’ portrayed as?

Answer 10

• Free
• Independent
• Sexually liberated
• Visible in public life

Question 11

What had the Weimar Constitution given women?

Answer 11

• Equal voting rights
• Equal access to education
• Equal pay

Question 12

How had the First World War changed women’s position in society?

Answer 12

• Over 2 million German men had died, meaning women could not follow the traditional path of marriage.
• During the war many women had entered the workforce while the men were away fighting, and were not about to give those jobs up easily.

Question 13

What law remained in force during Weimar which undermined women’s independence?

Answer 13

The Civil Code of 1896

Question 14

What did the Civil Code of 1896 state?

Answer 14

That in a marriage, the husband had the right to decide on all matters concerning family life, including whether his wife should be in paid employment.

Question 15

What was the most popular women’s group in the 1920s?

Answer 15

The League of German Women (BDF)

Question 16

What is the BDF?

Answer 16

The League of German Women

Question 17

How many members did the BDF have?

Answer 17

900,000

Question 18

What did the BDF support?

Answer 18

Traditional family values - definitely not the ‘new woman’.

Question 19

How much of the German workforce were women in 1925?

Answer 19

36%

Question 20

How many women teachers were there by 1933?

Answer 20

100,000

Question 21

How many women doctors were there by 1933?

Answer 21

3000

Question 22

What were ‘demobilisation’ laws?

Answer 22

Laws after the war that required women to give up their jobs to ex-soldiers.

Question 23

What were many women required to do once they married?

Answer 23

Leave their job.

Question 24

What were women who continued to work after getting married called?

Answer 24

They were attacked as ‘double-earners’ and blamed for male unemployment.

Question 25

What happened to the birth rate during the Weimar period?

Answer 25

It decline due to wider availability of birth control.

Question 26

What happened to divorce rates during Weimar years?

Answer 26

They increased

Question 27

How many abortions were there by 1930?

Answer 27

1 million a year

Question 28

Although the abortion rate increased, why was this still part of the ‘myth’ of the new woman?

Answer 28

Because abortion remained illegal and was performed by unqualified people.

Question 29

Who opposed birth control?

Answer 29

The Catholic and Protestant churches

Question 30

How many women were elected to the Reichstag in 1919?

Answer 30

41

Question 31

What did the Reichstag have a higher proportion of women than?

Answer 31

The House of Commons

Question 32

How many women were in the Reichsrat?

Answer 32

None

Question 33

How many women cabinet members were there?

Answer 33

None

Question 34

Who was Clara Zetkin?

Answer 34

KPD member of the Reichstag from 1920 to 1933.

Question 35

How were young people viewed in Weimar Germany?

Answer 35

As breaking free from the constraints of family, school, and religion, turning to a life of crime and anti-social behaviour.

Question 36

What were children expected to do if they failed to get into a Gymnasium school?

Answer 36

Leave school at 14 and begin an apprenticeship or employment.

Question 37

Why were those children that left school at 14 disadvantaged?

Answer 37

There were fewer apprenticeships and jobs to be had.

Question 38

Who was disproportionately affected by the rise in unemployment after 1924?

Answer 38

Young people who were the most expendable.

Question 39

What proportion of the unemployed were aged between 14-21 in 1925?

Answer 39

17%

Question 40

With no education or work to pursue, where did young people turn?

Answer 40

Working-class youths living in cities joined gangs to find comradeship, support and adventure that was otherwise lacking.

Question 41

Who were the Wandervogel?

Answer 41

A non-political youth group of mainly middle-class boys who hated industrialisation.

Question 42

What activities did the Wandervogels do?

Answer 42

They wanted to get out of big cities and spent much time hiking in forests, swimming in lakes, and camping.

Question 43

What was the goal of church youth groups?

Answer 43

Instil a respect for the church, family, and school.

Question 44

When was the Social Democratic Youth movement established?

Answer 44

1925

Question 45

What youth group had the most members during Weimar?

Answer 45

The Social Democratic Youth movement.

Question 46

How many members did the Hitler Youth have by 1929?

Answer 46

13,000

Question 47

How did German Jews see themselves?

Answer 47

As more German than Jewish and were intensely patriotic.

Question 48

What proportion of private banks were owned by Jews?

Answer 48

50%

Question 49

What proportion of the entire banking sector was Jewish owned in the 1920s?

Answer 49

18%

Question 50

What proportion of lawyers were Jewish?

Answer 50

16%

Question 51

What percentage of doctors were Jewish?

Answer 51

11%

Question 52

What proportion of the total population were Jewish?

Answer 52

Just 1%

Question 53

What had many Jews done?

Answer 53

Assimilated into German society, marrying non-Jewish spouses and even converting to Christianity.

Question 54

What was Jewish Bolshevism?

Answer 54

The term used to imply that Jews and communists were closely linked and represented a danger.

Question 55

What was there a fear of between 1918 and 1924 with regards to Jews?

Answer 55

Jewish Bolshevism

Question 56

When was the Barmat scandal?

Answer 56

1925

Question 57

What was the Barmat scandal?

Answer 57

A high-profile court case in which three Barmat brothers were found guilty of having bribed public officials to abstain loans from the Prussian State Bank.

Question 58

What movement in German art dominated in Weimar?

Answer 58

Expressionism, which sought to express meaning and emotion rather than the traditional physical reality.

Question 59

What sort of music did Arnold Schoenberg create?

Answer 59

He created classical music that was ‘atonal’, and sounded harsh and lacks harmony is the view of traditionalists.

Question 60

When was the Bauhaus founded?

Answer 60

1919, by William Gropius

Question 61

How was American Jazz music, that gained much popularity during the golden age, viewed by traditionalists?

Answer 61

As morally degenerate