A SNAPSHOT OF 1920's GERMANY

 By 1920, Germany was feeling the effects of severing ties with several of it's provinces through the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. This agreement largely reduced Germany's economic power and split the country into two factions. Those that were willing to conform to the pressures from the Weimar Republic, an early attempt at democracy, and those that remained loyal to the Germanic empire of old. [1]

This dissension led to the successful execution of a coup d'etat by the former president of East Prussia, and one of the founders of the Fatherland Party, Dr. Wolfgang Kapp.

Unfortunately for Kapp, a few members of the Weimar Republic were able to escape the overtaking and immediately made this plea to the working class of Germany:

"The military revolt has come. Ehrhardt's naval brigade is advancing on Berlin to overthrow the government. These servants of the state, who fear the dissolution of the army, desire to put reactionaries in the seat of the government. We refuse to bend before military compulsion.

We did not make the revolution in order to have again to recognize militarism. We will not cooperate with the criminals of the Baltic states. We should be ashamed of ourselves, did we act otherwise.A thousand times, No! Cease work! Stifle the opportunity of this military dictatorship! Fight with all the means at your command to retain the republic. Put all differences of opinion aside.

Only one means exists against the return of Wilhelm II. That is the cessation of all means of communication. No hand may be moved. No proletarian may assist the dictator. Strike along the whole line. "

This call to arms did not go unheeded. In as little as 48 hours every factory in Germany had come to a grinding halt. This effectively forced Kapp to resign from the office of the Chancellor on May 17th, a mere 4 days after taking the title. Unfortunately, this was not the end of his legacy, as on May 18th, while being followed out of Berlin by a jeering crowd the last group of his soldiers, known as the baltic troops, turned around and fired volley after volley of ammunition into the unsuspecting crowd killing hundreds. [2]


This political turmoil brought about a horrible economic climate for Germany's population. A loaf of bread went from costing a family one mark, which is equivalent to $0.64 USD today, to 200,000,000,000 marks or $127,168,589,763.30 USD today according to coinmill.com. 

 Yes, times were hard in Germany.  From 1920-1930, Germany was a cesspool of conflict. The German Mark had fallen so low due to the Treaty of Versailles' call for reparations (it took 4 -billion- German marks to buy a single dollar). Groceries had cost billions, and thus hunger strikes broke out left and right. 

The military was pitiful because all it was was a defensive force; the Treaty of Versailles didn't allow Germany to have a military beyond what could be qualified as "homeland defense." Anti-semitism was rather popular in Europe at the time (though mostly in Austria). 

Communists and Socialists were coming close to taking over Germany and starting a Communist revolution. However, the Weimar Republic (post-WW1 Germany) put down both. 

Crime sprees broke out left and right in Germany because of all the unrest from the weak government. 

Unemployment was exceedingly high in the Weimar Republic, though what would it matter if inflation was so high, right? Germany had one of the highest poverty rates in the world after WW1. [3]

However, during 1923-1929, when Gustav Stresemann was Chancellor of the Weimar Republic, civil unrest decreased and economic conditions had improved. This is commonly called the "Golden Era." Under it, a new currency - the Rentenmark - had been issued, and it managed to stop hyperinflation. Stresemann had refused to issue more currency than needed, which caused the massive inflation to begin with. Furthermore, an agreement called the Dawes Plan was reached between German- and American-owned banks that allowed American banks to lend money to Germany to pay reparations. Culture, political and social stability, and economy had improved greatly during this time, though it only lasted so long. In 1929, Stresemann had died. The Golden Era had ended, and Germany had entered even worse stability than before Stresemann became Chancellor. 

Food and religion were... well... pretty much the same thing as they are now. German cooking included stuff like German chocolate cake, and religion in Germany was primarily Christianity (Roman Catholicism and Protestantism). Clothing was the same as in other countries in the 1920s. Neckties were becoming increasingly popular, and women started to wear shorter skirts and hair (corresponding with the rise of the "Flapper Era"). 

Pastimes included things like going out to bars and diners (if you could afford it anyways), picking up women (or in the case of Flappers, picking up men), going to jazz clubs, listening to music on the streets etc. 

Germany was full of endless instability. Every move the government made seemed to push the weak republic even deeper into self-conflict and further from self-resolve. [4]

EXAMPLES OF ARCHITECTURE AND FASHION DURING THIS ERA

[1] "Ein Zwischenruf Studiengebühren? Was sonst!". faz.net. 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2013.

[2]  Wise, Michael Z. (1998). Capital dilemma: Germany's search for a new architecture of democracy. Princeton Architectural Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-56898-134-5.

[3]  Klein, Fritz (1998). "Between Compiègne and Versailles: The Germans on the Way from a Misunderstood Defeat to an Unwanted Peace". In Boemeke, Manfred F.; Feldman, Gerald D.; Glaser, Elisabeth. Versailles: A Reassessment after 75 Years. Publications of the German Historical Institute. Cambridge University Press. pp. 203–220. ISBN 978-0-521-62132-8.

[4]  Berg, S.; Winter, S.; Wassermann, A. (5 September 2005). "The Price of a Failed Reunification". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 28 November 2006.