German 102- Identifications:

I. Guernica

a. Picasso’s painting of a fragmented, destroyed town.

b. He’s making a statement about the cruelty of war.

c. A copy remained at the UN security counsel to remind the UN to promote

peace.

II. Deutsches Reich

a. Deutsches = German

b. Reich = Empire [ambitious name, you won’t call a small country a Reich]

c. Kaiser = Emperor

i. Deutsche Reich is a young state-came to existence only in 1871.

1. Deutsche Reich is the continuation of “Holy Roman Empire of

German Nations”, which lasted for 1000 years. Now, it is a
Christian nation.

2. HREGN ended because Napoleon defeated the German Empirer,

then he crowned himself emperor. So German Emperor
resigned.

ii. Bismarck, the President of Prussia, is the founder of this new empire.

III. Bismarck

a. President of Prussia which helped in building the new Deutsche Reich.

i. Even though Prussia had a king, the king didn’t do anything so the
President did all the work.

ii. The king liked Bismarck because he was not a democrat; he knew how
to govern without the parliament.

iii. He could bypass the parliament.

iv. Believed that decisions are made by “blood and iron”.

v. Smart diplomat who knew how to restore and keep peace. For
example, he didn’t exploit the victory of Prussia to Austria so the two
remained good relationship.

vi. Between 1870 to 1871- war between Prussia and France- Prussia won
and Germany enlarged, so Deutsche Reich came into existence.

vii. No war anymore under Bismarck, he entered into clever alliances with
Austria, Russia, and England. He became a mediator in international
conflict. He was also successful with internal affairs.

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 viii. Opposes colonies

ix. Berlin became German Capital, though it used to be capital of Prussia.

Berlin grew and grew under Bismarck.

x. But Bismarck faced problem with Catholic church, since he believed

marriage and school should be a civil thing instead of a religious thing,
but he had to compromise with the church, there are still many
religious schools that are supported by the states.

xi. The other problem Bismarck had is with the socialist. Bismarck hated
all kinds of socialist parties. He outlawed socialist gatherings, but he
was not “unsocial”. He had socialist policies to help workers, health
reform, most progressive legislations in Europe.

xii. He was not popular:

1. Prussian landowners didn’t like the erosion of power

2. Democrats didn’t like how he can bypass the parliament

3. Socialists felt persecuted

4. Catholics were distrustful.

xiii. Bismarck was dismissed in 1890 by Wilhelm II.

IV. Wilhelm II

a. 1888 Wilhelm I dies, so Wilhelm II takes over.

b. Was admirer of Bismarck, but he wanted to rule so he dismissed Bismarck in

1890.

c. Change in politics/alliances

i. Relied on military buildup.

ii. Favored large navy for overseas colonies like other Euro nations.

iii. Wants colonies.

d. Bismarck alliances with Russia expired.

e. Germany surrounded by France and Russian

f. Emperor tries to keep a good relationship with England by fails.

V. Einstein & Freud on War

a. Einstein

i. Why war, and what can we do to avoid future war? Public

correspondence with Freud.

ii. Full of goodwill to avoid war.

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 iii. He thinks there should be a judicial body where every nation has
representatives.

1. The problem is, you cannot enforce the rulings, individuals have
to get together to enforce it.

iv. He talks about power, and how no nation would give up their own
power.

v. He talks about cooperations, and how the majority dislikes war, but are
influenced by the political power group with access to media, school
and churches. This power group doesn’t care about having war.

b. Freud

i. According to Freud, there are only 2 basic instincts: love and

destruction. Both are essential for life.

ii. Eros & Thanatos

1. Eros: the life drive-includes love, self-preservation, when one

wants to survive.

2. Thanatos: the drive for destruction and for death

iii. He justifies war, that it is human’s natural instinct to participate in the

war of defense to survive. Not all wars are bad, some transformed
violence into law.

iv. To end war, we need to make eros stronger than thanatos.

1. Can only come through education, cultural education and be

more civilized.

VI. Literatures:

a. Susan Sontag:

i. Writes about the pains of others.

ii. Begins with Virginia Wolfe, who says that men don’t include women.
That women feel differently than men with regard to war.

iii. She agrees with Virginia Wolfe that there is a dichotomy between men
and women, but when talking about human suffering, then gender
differences disappears.

1. Especially, there is a dichotomy between the people that

interpret the facts.

iv. She talks about Spanish Civil War, and how war depends on your
political opinions. The same photo can initiate different feelings
depending on which side of war your political views.

v. War needs to be interpreted, that it is no pure fact or morality to it.

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 b. Chris Hedges:

i. Writes about how war gives us meaning.

ii. A war reporter in Iraq, discusses war from various angles.

iii. Claims that war is a force that gives us meaning because normal life is
boring and trivial. War is something special, a matter of life and death.
Something is at stake, and we have something to bond with others.

iv. War is something that transcends individuality.

v. He talked about how patriotism is a form of self-worship, where we

only count the good side.

vi. He claims that human not only seek happiness but also meaning in life,
and tragically, war is sometimes the most powerful way in human
society to achieve meaning.

vii. War is something like a myth, a history with meaning. And he is

against this idea, the false heroism that dehumanizes the enemy, its
distorted morality. War may give meanings, but it is mostly a lie.
However, he does agree that sometimes war needs to be faught to
protect something, for example, during genocides.

VII. EVENTS leading up to WWI:

a. Growing Imperialism

i. Germany wanted more colonies and therefore built a fleet.

1. Bismarck didn’t like colonies because he wanted to avoid

conflict with nations like France and England.

ii. The Turkish Empire was crumbling and everyone wanted to have
influence there.

b. Arms Race

i. Everyone was distrustful of their neighbor

ii. Russia had the most troops in arms, and was building a railway to the
west so they could transport the troops.

iii. France had the second most troops in arms.

iv. England built their fleet up

v. Austria also have a sizeable army

c. System of Alliances

i. Germany was surrounded by two potent powers who were potential

enemies (France and Russia)

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 ii. Britain was not in alliance with any other nation and could have
avoided involvement in the war, but it sympathized strongly with
France.

1. Britain threatened that if Germany marched through Belgium to

go to France during war, England would declare war on
Germany.

d. War lasted for four years (1914-1918).

e. Started in Austria.

i. The Habsburg Empire (Austrian-Hungarian monarchy) was the only

undisputed ally of the Deutsche Reich.

ii. When Franz Ferdinand, the successor to the Habsburg throne was
assassinated by a Serbian terrorist, Austria declared war on Serbia.

1. Austria got help from Germany, and the German chancellor gave
approval to Austria.

2. Serbia, on the other hand, has support from Russia because of

pan-Slavism.

a. Russia mobilized its troops right away, even though

Germany demanded that Russia call the mobilization off.

3. Germany then declared war on Russia on August 1st, 1914,

and two days later, declared war on france.

VIII. WWI:

a. Germany had a strategic plan called the Schlieffen Plan.

i. Under this plan, Germany would throw all their troops to one side to try
to gain a fast victory, then move quickly to the opposite side.

ii. The plan failed.

1. In order to defeat France fast, which has more troops than

Germany, Germany had to go through Belgium, but faced strong
resistance so there was a delay. In addition, England declared
war on Germany, as it promised it will do if Germany were to
march their troops through Belgium.

2. Then, Austria was too weak to hold off Russian army in the east,
and even Austrian’s attack on Serbia was unsuccessful, so
Germany had to take troops out from the west and send them to
the east.

3. Two generals that have done well in Belgium, Hindenburg and

Ludendorff, went to the east and at the end of August,
engaged the Russian army at Tannenberg and won a great
victory of Russians.
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 4. In the west, Germany had advanced strongly close to Paris, but
general Moltke made the decision to move German troops back
when strong opposition came. At the Marne, a battle where
Germans retreated to make a smaller, narrower front,where it
became a trench warfare instead of battles.

a. Moltke was removed from his position for being too timid.

b. Battle of Verdun and Somme

i. These two battles are known as material battles, which depended on

the artillery you had.

c. Hindenburg and Ludendorff advocated for victory before negotiations of

peace when Social Democrats and other groups at home opposed war and
wanted peace negotiations.

d. Battle of Skagerrak

i. In North Denmark, Germans successful in making British retreat.

ii. British used their fleet for a blockade of Germany so that no raw
materials could be shipped into Germany.

iii. Germany counter-blockade England through submarines, and they

were quite successful except sometimes foreign ships were hit by
submarines, such as the Lusitania, a British passenger ship with 1200
people on board that was sunk by a submarine in 1915. This angered
the Americans, who were already supportive of British.

1. When in 1917, Germany started submarine warfare again after a

brief break, Americans joined the war.

2. Germany signed peace treaty Brest-Litowsk with Russia at end

of 1917 and beginning 1918 to continue Russian Revolution.

e. In 1918, even Ludendorff and Hindenburg realized that the war could not be
won and wanted an armistice.

i. When Wilson put hard conditions for the armistice, Ludendorff didn’t
want it and want to continue war, but he was removed from power.

ii. Even though some people, like the admirals Scheer and Tirpitz wanted
to continue war, sailors didn’t want that and refused to fight for the
navy. There was mutiny, insurrection and revolution, which spread
from the sea to over the country.

iii. On November 9th, 1918, the last Germany chancellor announced the
abdication of the emperor and declared German a republic.

iv. Friedrich Ebert was the head of the Social Democrats and he took over
the government.

IX. Propaganda
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a. August 1914, general war enthusiasm

i. Government and people are patriotic in mindset, same in Austria,

Germany, France and England.

ii. Justified as a defensive undertaking against an enemy who posed an

immediate danger.

iii. Government convince people, so did the media. Film was used as a
means to influence people.

b. Originally, there were six nations in the war:

i. Germany, Russia, France, England, Serbia, Austria.

ii. Japan got involved because they wanted German colonies in Africa

iii. Soon, whoever promised more advantages got more people in their
coalitions.

iv. Italy, who has been an ally of Germany and Austria before WWI, joined
the war against them in 1915 because the allies promised them not
only all the Italian speaking areas under Austrian control, but also all
German speaking areas south of the Alps.

1. Even Portugal and Romania joined the war.

c. While at first, self-defense was the main thought, soon people thought of
what would happen if they won the war.

i. Sizable territorial annexation was proposed by groups.

1. France wanted Alsace-Lorraine back

a. Some French wanted all German land west of the Rhine

2. England wanted all German colonies

3. Russia wanted more of Poland

a. Imperialist also wish to include a ring of satellite states

around Germany for security purpose (like Russia has
after WWII)

ii. The war was stationary- no moving armies.

1. Technologies became more important than soldiers, relatively

few hand-to-hand combat encounters

a. Had planes, tanks, artillery.

b. Soldiers were stubborn in their trenches and their main

purpose was to survive until the war was over. And
civilians as well.

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 iii. Allies had better food than the Germans

1. Sometimes Germans tries to get food from the allied trenches.

a. 1916-1917 things was so bad, people didn’t support the

war anymore.

b. 1917-1918, everyone wanted the war to end except the

military commanders.

X. 3 main reasons for WWI

a. Imperialism of various nations

b. Arms race

i. Nobody trust the other nation and everybody is building up their

armies.

c. System of alliance

i. France and Russia had to enter the war if the other did

ii. Same with Germany and Austria

1. Austria was not a national state, but a multi-national empire

a. Many nations wanted more power for themselves, and

after the war, they got independence.

XI. August 1st, 1914

a. Russia mobilized their troops and Germans declared war on Russia when
Russians refused to halt mobilization.

XII.Miracle on the Marne:

a. Allied victory, German took their front back a little too carelessly and Moltke
lost his position due to this.

XIII. Intellectuals

a. Einstein

i. Calls it a war frenzy

ii. Almost all intellectuals participated in the war discussion.

1. Those who stayed behind wrote poems about war.

2. Everywhere people talk about patriotism.

iii. Very often, intellectuals found their previous lives boring and stagnant,
and said that they only started living when the war came.

b. Thomas Mann
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 i. Distinguishes between culture and civilization

ii. Argued that we are fighting for German culture against French or
western civilization.

iii. Said that genuine art and genius can only come from culture.

iv. Thought war means purification of life.

c. Hermann Bahr

i. Said the war was a blessing

d. Karl Kraus

i. Famous essayist that made fun of Hermann Bahr and his war
enthusiasm

e. Comparing the War to French Revolution of 1789

i. French Revolution was sprung out of the mind, the ideas of

enlightenment: idea came first, then action.

ii. The awakening of 1914 was also a revolution, but first there was an
action, then the idea of the action.

1. Overcoming of extreme individualism, connection of freedom

and discipline and obedience; of freedom and attachment.

XIV. Fine Arts

a. Expressionism

i. Since the 16th century, a great superior of Germany art

1. Especially in the period of 1905-1920, where expressionism is a

term loosely applied to a lot of artists of the period, even if they
are quite different among one another.

ii. Most expressionist wanted to renew art and mankind.

1. How they did it varies from person to person.

a. Some were pro-war

i. Because the war is awakening from stagnant world.

b. Others were anti war

i. War was dehumanizing.

2. Some became leftist, some became Nazis (who didn’t like

expressionism).

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 3. They looked for inner life; vision of inner truth; advocated
dynamic feeling, thinking, change, rebirth, new love, new
intensity, etc.

a. They protested against academic classicism, saying it was

outdated.

i. Before them, the naturalists and impressionists

were also against the classicism.

4. They differ from impressionists in that impressionists tries to

show the world as it appears, and how it is reflected through the
senses and nerves.

a. Expressionists calls these “surface art”

5. They were also against art nouvue, because it is only

“decoration” and art should be more than decoration.

a. Expressionists says art should not beautify reality, but

should express the truth. They want to present the
essence of this through inner eyes

6. Expressionists were striving for metaphysical unity between

man and nature

a. They try to uncover the disharmony of society, and the

magic of color is at the center

7. Edward Munch, Van Gough, and Gauguin were the forerunners

of expressionism.

iii. “The expressionists were against preceding art (e.g. classical academic
art that were too traditional), they were also against naturalism which
just copies reality. Impressionism is also too surface. Expressionists
wants to express the inner truth of reality. The essence of reality, and
the metaphysics of reality. Some expressionists were very much pro-
war because they find war a new start into a new society. Others were
against it because the wars are against humanity. Some expressionists
became communists, some became Nazis. Most didn’t become Nazis
because they hate expressionism.

iv. Expressionism is not only used for the fine arts, but also in literature.

1. Objects are simplified in expressionism and often distorted;

rendered unfamiliar

a. E.g. the use of colors to express the inner self.

2. Metaphysics: goes beyond the physical.

v. New artists were against the bourgeoisie and its materialistic values;
they were against the pre-war establishment.

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 1. Young artists felt they had to overcome a stagnant period of
society and were optimists.

vi. Two major groups of expressionists:

1. Die Bruecke(bridge)

2. Blauer Reiter (blue rider)

XV. Die Bruncke (Bridge)

a. Started in 1905, then moved to Berlin

b. Formed by a close group of friends with a passion for estatic life and vitality.

i. Ernst L. Kirchner, Erich Hackel, Karl Schmidt-Rotluff, Otto

Mueller.

1. Erich Hackel: paintings,vibrant color. “portrait of a man”-wood

cut

2. Ernst L. Kirchner: painting of prostitute with lots of men. “figures

wading into the sea”, stylization of landscape and figures, can
hardly distinguish between figures and landscape. “marcilla”,
young model with white body, vibrant color, short body. “Erna
with cigarette”, unhealthy woman, “conflict”, a woodcut-man
sold shadow to devil, looks like obama.

3. Karl Schmidt-Rotluff: wood cut, jesus, “conversing about death”,

deformed figure with no hands.

4. Otto Mueller: nude female figure, famous for gypsy pictures. A

few woman and lake.

XVI. Blauer Reiter (Blue Rider):

a. Started in Munich in 1911; later moved to Berlin

b. Loose association, more intellectual.

c. Kandinsky and Marc published a book called the blue rider. Horse and the
head of man is hard to distinuge. Both likes the color blue and marc liked
animals while Kandinsky liked riders..

i. W. Kandinsky, Franz Marc, and August Macke.

1. Kandinsky- father of abstract art “improvisation”, church tower,

the only thing you recognize is the tower, then the other things
are abstract. Faught against materialism and ignorance. Forms
and color. “all saints” with moon and sun at night.- taught
painting at famous architect school

2. Franz marc- “red horses”, vitality, liked animals, tiger, angular,

pointed, dominates the landscape. Forms in combat, more
abstract, red against blue. Volunteered for war and died.
11
 Romantized war, “no where do you find such a lust for death and
sacrifice”. Developed from rounded to angular forms.

3. August Macke- colorful, little huts in the background; woman

child looking into store. –soldier for war and died. Very
harmonious painter, had peace in himself.

4. *1 & 3 leans more toward abstract

XVII. Dada

a. A group that developed during the war

b. Anti-expressionists. Against paintings.

c. Did collages, and wrote manifestos against other art.

XVIII. New Objectivity:

a. Otto Dix, George Groxz

i. George Groxy: “pillars of society”, influenced by dada and

expressionism. Sees five figures that holds them responsible for
militaristic feelings that led to WWI. One man holds a saber (in a
fraternity) with a beer in his other hand. One is a journalist, one is a
capitalist with no brain, a priest, and soldier.

ii. Otto Dix- Self Portrait as Mars-houses and animals destroyed; cocktail
party life with jazz and glamour, street with war cripples.-
critical,satirical picture of consequences of war.

b. Art movement in opposition to expressionism.

c. They were first influenced by expressionism, then dada, and then reality.

XIX. Expressionist Sculptures:

a. Wilhelm Lehmbruck and Ernst Barlach

i. Wilhelm Lehmbruck

1. Sensitive, not very vital, more spiritual, committed suicide in

1919

2. Elongated figures

ii. Ernst Barlach

1. Inspired by Russian Peasants, religious motifs.

2. Sturdy, earthbound figures.

3. Lived on and was strong like his pictures

iii. These two are opposite in a way

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XX. All Quiet on the Western Front

a. Written in 1928, by Erich Remarque

i. Written like a diary, except the ending

ii. Perspective from book is that of a soldier-how they experience war.

iii. Message of the book: war is a daily fight, not phony discussion of the
war by beer drinkers. War is useless, senseless; all justifications of war
are false. Victims are soldiers and the poor who get poorer.

iv. Even if Paul had survived, he wouldn’t know what to do with his life,
and he couldn’t go back to the life he had before.

1. Lesson: dehumanization through war, ppl become beasts,

instincts which help them survive. Soldiers have no interest in
pathetic patriotism from their teachers.

b. Comparison with Ernst Juenger

i. His book describes his personal experience in the first world war and
was written in 1920s. he has more experience in the actual war than
Remarque.

ii. For him, the war was a way to excel; he hated battles of material, and
said that spirit was most important.

iii. More sober and factual than Remarque.

iv. Shows less feeling but more heroism.

v. His hero gets a high honor while remarque’s character die

vi. Remarque’s book is an expression of pacifism, whereas Juenger’s book

is an expression of heroism.

1. Remarque’s hero admit weakness and fear while Junger didn’t

do that, and juenger emphasizes heroism as a manly virtue.

vii. Also like diaries.

XXI. Politics after the war

a. November 9, 1918:

i. Abdication of German Emperor was announce and Germany was

proclaimed a republic.

ii. The republic was called Weimar Republic, and it lasted from 1918 to
1933, when Hitler took office.

1. The national assembly was moved to Berlin, and in January

1919, there was a election, in which women could vote, “all
power derived from the will of the people.
13
 a. People governed through a parliament, not directly, so it’s
a parliamentary democracy.

b. The president has the power to dissolve the parliament.

i. Very important, because later on it was a real

problem when in 1925, Hindenburg became
president, who later on appointed Hitler as
chancellor.

c. Some called the position of the President the Ersatzkaiser,

or substitute emperor because of its power.

iii. Friedrich Ebert became leader of the gov’t.

1. A rather conservative Social democrat.

2. Elected president, tried to control the leftist revolutionaries with

home-coming military, was considered a traitor from both left
and the right.

iv. The conservative military didn’t like the republic at all, they didn’t like
social democrats and preferred the monarchy.

b. Dolchstosslegende:

i. Promoted by Hindenburg, which says that the German armies were

undefeated but the civilian government and parties let them down.

1. The defeat was not the military’s fault, but the traitors at home.

c. Versailles Treaty

i. The biggest problem of the new government, where germany had no

input on treaty, and it was just imposed upon them, and didn’t stick to
the 14 point plan as promised, because France and Britain were very
radical.

1. The first gov’t stepped down, because they didn’t want to sign
the humiliating treaty. In the end, they had no choise.

2. Germany was held solely responsible under the treaty.

a. Lost approx. 20% of its territory in the east and in the

west.

i. France got Alsace Lorraine back

ii. Many provinces went to Poland.

iii. Austria lost all parts that weren’t German, and they
were forbidden to join Germany even though they
wanted to.

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 b. Germany was only allowed an army of 100,000
individuals, and the German Rhineland is now occupied by
the French

ii. Worst part about treaty is that Germany had to pay huge reparations
and goods that were needed for the restructuring of the country.

1. In 1919, they left the treaty open-ended because the Allies

couldn’t decide on what they want, in 1921, demands were
raised and it wasn’t until 1929 that the treaty was finalized.

a. The treaty created unrest, everyone was against it, even

president Wilson who didn’t sign it.

b. The Nazis and other groups said that they had to fight this
treaty with their programs.

iii. Economic hardship.

iv. Ruhr District-a strongly industrial area.

1. When in 1923, some deliveries of reparations arrived late in

France because the industry could not produce so much so fast,
the French troops occupied this district. This led to renewed
hatred, and German government protested but in vain. Workers
led a strike and gov’t supported it.

XXII. Various uprisings in Weimar Republic

a. Spartakus League

i. Revolutionary left, with much more leftists than social democrats.

ii. Wanted a republic governed by worker councils

iii. Leaders include Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who were
arrested in the uprising and on the way to Prison, were murdered.

iv. Crushed by returning military

b. Military right

i. Wolfgang Kapp, was the leader of this conservative group in 1920

ii. He declared the government dismissed; marched on Berlin, occupied

it, and tried to rule the country as Chancellor, but he failed because
unions supported social democrat republic and called for strike.

c. Hitler in 1923, Munich

i. Hitler wanted conservative Bavarian government to fight the social

democratic Berlin government.

1. He was stopped and arrested in Landsberg, and was supposed

to be locked for five years but released after 1.
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 2. While arrested, he wrote “Mein kampf”, aka “my fight, my
battle”. Hitler’s idea of how germany should be

XXIII. 1923- Inflation

a. In 1923, germany experienced worst inflation, and money had been devalued
due to reparations, expenses of buildings, support of unemployed, etc. before
the war, 1 dollar was 4 marks, at the end, it was 4 billion marks.

XXIV. 1923- Change for the better

a. New chancellor came to power:

i. GUSTAV STRESEMANN: #7 in 4 years. Hitler was #15.

ii. Stresemann accepted occupation of France at the Ruhr district.

iii. He instroduced a new currency and reduced government spending as

much as possible and raised taxes (which was unpopular but necessary
to avoid deficits), and tried to get help from American financial
experts, Charles Dowes and Owen young in the payment of
reparations.

iv. He made a treaty with France about the borders; Germany would not
demand Alsace Lorraine back and that France would accept Rhineland
as German. Germany also became a member of the league of nations.

v. Germany’s economy was restored in a way

1. Stresemann lost chancellorship but remained as secretary of

state.

2. In 1926, Stresemann got a Nobel Peace Prize, but was slandered

by the right.

b. From 1918 – 1923, everything got worse in Germany

c. From 1923 to 1929, everything got better in Germany

XXV. 1929, Great Depression

a. The great depression started in the US, and it hit germany much harder since
US credits suddenly cancelled.

i. This led to the breakdown of economy, and unemployment was at a

level of 40% between 1929 and 1933.

1. Led to new radicalism.

b. After 1925 when Hitler came back from arrest, the Nazi party was really
unimportant but well organized.

i. In 1932, the Nazi Party was the strongest party in the country

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 ii. In 1932, Hitler tried to become president, but Hindenburg came up for
a second term and won.

1. In 1933, situation in Germany was so bad that Hindenburg

appointed Hitler to chanceller, which marked the end of the
Weimar Republic. The Nazi took over.

XXVI. Kathe Kollwitz

a. Self portrait, woodcut, and painting of people. 4 men leaning on each other,
one looks like dying, with no energy. No more war, hand against face. Anti-
militaristic message, arms are of strong working woman. Lived from 1867-
1945. Great emotional work, her child died volunteering for the war. Painting
of mother protecting children.

i. Nazis didn’t like her because she had a pacifist message that
undermined their military spirit, not permitted to exhibit.

ii. Felt close to social democrats, even communists.

iii. Looked at things from the perspective of a woman and a mother.

iv. Completely sincere of her criticism of the war.

XXVII. Weimar Republic

a. Weak, unstable, politically messy republic.

b. Ideological conflicts between left and right; rivalries of parties, and even
physical fights between Nazis and Communists.

c. The 20s was an exciting period: due to political unrest, people turn to art for
satisfaction.

i. Expressionist artists had large audience, because ppl were looking for
something for fulfillment and to help them forget the war and politics.

ii. Artists wanted to be heard, and engaged in socialism and capitalism

(most artists on socialist side)

1. The artists insisted that the state should not interfere with art or
literature criticism.

XXVIII.Theater

a. Max Reinhardt:

i. Old school, changed theater into a stage where doorkeeps had the
same costumes as actors on stage, so spectators were in the middle of
everything.

b. Berlin attracted many ppl from the outside, it had the reputation of an
immoral city, where crazies felt free to do whatever they wished.

c. Bertholdt Brecht
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 i. Opposite of Reinhardt, son of a bourgeoisie (middle-class)

ii. Wrote a pacifist paper during the war and was almost dismissed from
school for it. Anti-bourgeoisie, studied Marxiam and was impressed
with it, his work became more socialist. Prod member of the
communist party, but never a conformist thinker.

iii. His idea of theater was that it was suppose to change the life, change
reality, and not merely entertainment.

iv. When nazi took over, went to California, then welcomed in east
germany. Got a theater called Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, where 3
penny opera was performed for the first time.

v. He developed a new form or style of theater called the epic theater.

1. Epic theater: the name contradicts itself

a. Epic- narrative

b. Theater- dramatic.

vi. Dislike dramatic theater- where all details supposed to serve plot,
which makes audience feel emotional about the characters.

vii. He thinks that reality could only be changed when the spectator has a
distance to what he sees.

1. When ppl identify with a piece, it remains the same, but he

wanted to show the problems that call for change.

viii. He depicted case studies, not reality, and he thinks audience should
not get so emotionally involved.

1. To do so, he makes his spectator aware that what is being

observed is not reality, but theater.

2. He uses the technique he calls V-effect, an alienation effect.

a. E.g. when someone is asked a question and someone

sings a song that is irrelevant to the question. Polly’s
parent ask her and she sings a song about unconventional
love.

b. Intentional lack of consistency in play.

c. Peachum in the end turns to audience and gives a

different ending.

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