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From Berlin Bohemia to Hitler: The Weimar Republic's Crisis Democracy & the Emergence of German Fascism

New College of California Humanities/Interdisciplinary Studies Spring 2005 Instructor: Scott J. Thompson

Week 8: March 10, 2005

Americanismus vs. The Volk Community

1925-1926

[Assigned Reading from Weimar Republic Sourcebook]

Pressure Points of Social Life

VIII. The Rise of the New Woman

75. Gabriele Tergit, Paragraph 218: A Modern Gretchen Tragedy (1926) [pp. 202-203]

Intellectuals and the Ideologies of the Age

XIII. Revolution from the Right

129. Carl Schmitt, On the Contradiction between Parliamentarism and Democracy (1926) [pp. 334-337]

130. Ernst Niekisch, Where We Stand (1926) [pp. 338-339]

XIV. Cultural Pessimism: Diagnoses of Decline

141. Hermann Hesse, The Longing of Our Time for a Worldview (1926) [pp. 365-368]

The Challenge of Modernity

XV. Imagining America: Fordism and Technology

152. Friedrich von Gottl-Ottlilienfeld, Fordism (1926) [pp. 400-402]

153. Friedrich Sieburg, Worshipping Elevators (1926) [pp. 402-404]

XVI. Berlin and the Countryside

159. Matheo Quinz, The Romanic Café (1926) [pp. 415-417]

XVII. Designing the New World: Modern Architecture and the Bauhaus

169. Walter Gropius and Paul Schultze-Naumberg, Who is Right? Traditional Architecture or Building in New Forms (1926) [pp. 439-445]

170. Hannes Meyer, The New World (1926) [pp. 445-449]

171. Adolf Behne and Paul Westheim, The Aesthetics of the Flat Roof (1926-1927) [pp. 449-450]

XVIII. Housing for the Masses

178. Grete Lihotzky, Rationalization in the Household (1926-1927) [pp. 462-465]

Changing Configurations of Culture

XXI. Theater, Politics, and the Public Sphere

219. Bertolt Brecht, More Good Sports (1926) [pp.536-538]

220. Leopold Jessner, Bertolt Brecht, and Fritz Kortner, Is the Drama Dying?(1926) [pp. 538-539]

XXII. The Roaring Twenties: Cabaret and Urban Entertainment

232. Katharina Rathaus, Charleston: Every Age Has the Dance It Deserves (1926) [pp.558-559]

233. Ivan Goll, The Negroes Are Conquering Europe (1926) [pp. 559-560]

XXIII. Music for Use: Gebrauchsmusik and Opera [pp.568-570]

239. Frank Warschauer, Jazz: On Whiteman's Berlin Concerts (1926) [pp.571-572]

XXIV. New Mass Media: Radio and Gramophone [pp.594-596]

249. Kurt Weill, Dance Music (1926) [p.597]

250. H.H. Stuckenschmidt, Mechanical Music (1926) [pp. 597-600]

XXV. Cinema from Expressionism to Social Realism

262. Fritz Lang, The Future of the Feature Film in Germany (1926) [pp.622-623]

The Transformation of Everyday Life

XXVII. Visions of Plenty: Mass Consumption, Fashion, and Advertising

282. Hanns Kropff, Women as Shoppers (1926) [p. 660-662]

283. Ernst Lorsy, The Hour of Chewing Gun (1926) [pp. 662-663]

284. Hans Siemsen, The Literature of Nonreaders (1926) [pp. 663-664]

XXVIII. The Cult of the Body: Lebensreform, Sports, and Dance

295. Artur Michel, Flying Man (1926) [pp. 679-680]

296. Fritz Wildung, Sport is the Will to Culture (1926) [pp. 681-682]

297. Ernst Preiss, Physical Fitness---A National Necessity (1926) [p. 683]

XXIX. Sexuality: Private Rights versus Social Norms

307. Magnus Hirschfeld, Sexual Catastrophes (1926) [pp. 700-701]

XXX. On the Margins of the Law: Vice, Crime, and the Social Order

318. Ernst Engelbrecht and Leo Heller, Night Figures of the City (1926) [pp. 724-726]

319. Ernst Engelbrecht and Leo Heller, Opium Dens (1926) [pp. 726-728]

320. Margot Klages-Stange, Prostitution (1926) [pp. 728-729]

Supplemental Readings [photocopies supplied by instructor]

A. John Willett, Art and Politics in the Weimar Period: The New Sobriety, 1917-1933, Chronology 1926, pp. 246-247.