What Was Cultural Life in the Weimar Republic Like?

From 1918 to 1933, Germany lived through a dramatic yet remarkable period of extreme political instability and outstanding cultural upheaval. The Weimar Republic, installed after Germany’s loss in World War I, was a democratic experiment in building a constitutional republic. Although flawed and unstable, the Republic introduced several liberal reforms that benefited the social climate and, consequently, the cultural scene of the country. Today, we associate the culture of the Weimar Republic with loud nightlife, jazz, shocking art, and sexual liberties.

In 1918, the devastating loss in World War I led Germany to seek radical change in its political and social system. Monarchy proved insufficient, as the last German monarch, Wilhelm II, fled to the Netherlands. In November 1918, a coalition of German political parties signed the new constitution in the city of Weimar, which gave the name to the short-lived yet famous era of German history.

The Weimar Republic was the first attempt in German history to adopt democracy, and, like many first attempts, it was flawed and dysfunctional from the start. Neither the people nor the politicians were prepared to function in a democratic system, leading the country into economic and political instability, as well as growing political radicalism, both from the right and the left.

Another issue was the Treaty of Versailles, which demanded that Germany pay reparations for the destruction caused by World War I. The post-war German economy could not handle the demands, which led to unprecedented hyperinflation in 1923. Over several months, the money lost so much value that Germans started repurposing it as wallpaper and toys for children.

Yet, there were progressive tendencies as well. The new republic officially banned censorship which brought opportunities for previously unseen creative freedoms. The new constitution also established equal rights for men and women regarding access to education, voting, and pay for work. Culture and nightlife also flourished. Due to rapid inflation, many workers preferred to spend their earned money in bars and cabarets at once, before they decreased in value overnight.

Still, a side note needs to be made here—despite our widespread recognition of the interwar German culture as the era of cabarets, avant-garde art, and ambiguous gender expression, the reality was much more bleak. Germany was still predominantly rural and remained in a more conservative cultural context, greatly affected by the economic hardships. The Weimar culture as we know it belonged mostly to Berlin and a couple of other major cities. Despite the appealing image of the decadent and liberal Weimar Berlin, the majority of the republic’s contemporaries were happy when it was over. The capital’s cabarets and art galleries did little to compensate for the poverty and instability.

The unprecedented scale of violence and destruction left millions of Europeans scarred for life. The technological advancement that brought humanity so much pride and excitement turned out to be a curse, enabling mass killings and horrific pain. The aftermath of World War I forced medical professionals to officially recognize the impact of war and violence on one’s psyche, calling it shell shock—now known to us as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The war brought a great crisis in the ranks of European creatives. It seemed that their pre-war knowledge of art was rendered useless over the four years of bloodshed. The old art could not exist any longer; a new form of creative expression had to take its place, burdened by the newly found experience of pain and destruction.

The ultimate solution to the post-war artistic crisis was Dada. Dada was everything and nothing, a cry for help and an indifferent scoff, deliberately absurd and meaningful in its absurdity. Dada poets compiled nonsensical verses from random sounds, and Dada artists put together found objects and magazine cutouts. As an art movement, Dada united artists from different parts of the world like Berlin, Zurich, Paris, and New York. Berlin Dada was distinctively political, criticizing capitalist values and the hypocrisy of German society.

Another emblematic type of Weimar art was the New Objectivity movement. Although it had no coherent ideology and no manifesto, art historians regard it as the post-war protest against the dominance of Expressionist art. Expressionism departed reality in favor of subjective emotions, feelings, and impressions. In contrast to that, the New Objectivity artists aimed to once again grasp reality in its most physical and often unpleasant form. The most recognizable artists of the movement, like Otto Dix and George Grosz, reported on violence, trauma, and corruption in almost a caricaturistic way that somehow made the images even more realistic and uncomfortably life-like.

Otto Dix was particularly famous for his depictions of crippled soldiers, filthy trenches, vulgar sex workers, and decadent socialites. Like many other artists of his time, he experienced combat first-hand and was haunted by it for the rest of his life. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, his anti-war paintings were labeled as degenerative by the new militaristic regime, with many of them captured and even destroyed.

One of the most remarkable features of the Weimar-era Berlin culture was the surprisingly progressive gender attitude. The legal emancipation of women as well as the changing workforce dynamic created a new character for the Berlin cultural scene: The New Woman. The New Woman had her own means of supporting her lifestyle, wore relaxed clothes, often of masculine fit, cut her hair short, and necessarily smoked cigarettes. In her personal life, she was as free and non-committed as the men of her circle were. The fight against the patriarchal norms of chastity and “decent” behavior was seen as a necessity to break free from the living conditions of the previous generations.

In cabarets and bars, performers often appeared nude or in provocative outfits. Dance generally was the area of liberal sexualized self-expression and the dismantling of boundaries. Crossdressing and transgender performers were common occasions and often attracted large crowds, like the touring American female impersonator Barbette (Vander Klyde). Experimental artists like Valeska Gert performed dances through abrupt and seemingly unsynchronized movements, exploring the limits of dance as a performative practice. She explained it as a mix of pantomime and abstract dance inspired by the marginalized people she met on the streets of Berlin.

Although male homosexuality technically remained illegal, the liberal reforms of Weimar Germany gave the sensation of freedom to its queer inhabitants. Berlin nightlife was particularly welcoming and open, with more than a hundred gay and lesbian bars functioning there in the early 1920s. Lesbian and bisexual women openly expressed their sexuality and even became cultural icons like Marlene Dietrich, Josephine Baker, and Jeanne Mammen.

Apart from the artistic and theatrical freedoms, the discourse of queerness and queer identity started to shift. The Weimar Republic saw the first signs of the gay rights movement, with queer activists arranging into communities to advocate for their rights. Among them was the physician and sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, who opened the world’s first sexology research institute in 1919. Apart from its scientific function, the institute functioned as a safe space for gay and transgender people. Turned away from other institutions, at Hirschfeld’s, they could get medical help, protection, or even a job. Hirschfeld advocated for widespread sex education and the destigmatization of homosexuality. For his beliefs, Hirschfeld was repeatedly attacked and injured by the far-right. In 1933, when the Nazis came to power, his institute became the raid target. Hirschfeld’s library and his priceless research archives were publicly burned at the Berlin city center.

Over the years, the presence of radical right-wing youth in Germany turned from unsettling to alarming. The poverty and instability turned the voting majority towards radical and revanchist conservatives. In January 1933, Adolf Hitler officially became the new chancellor of Germany, soon revoking the Weimar constitution. What followed were the mass murders of Communists, violence on the streets, and the swift revival of censorship. Performers and artists were either forced to flee or faced prosecution. Many actors and cabaret stars died in concentration camps; others, like the once-famous New Objectivity painter Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler, were forcefully euthanized in an attempt to clear Germany from degenerate elements.

Over the years, the Weimar period became greatly romanticized, with its flaws overlooked and glossed over by the memories of parties, dances, and great art. In its glamorized version, the Republic remained on the pages of decadent novels and stills from period dramas. Perhaps our desire to overlook the worst aspects of the Weimar years developed from the sheer horror of the years that followed—the years that starkly contrasted the decadent freedoms of 1920s Berlin.