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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 14: April 28, 2005

The Beginning of the End:

From Brüning to Von Papen

1931-1932

[Assigned Reading from Weimar Republic Sourcebook]

A New Democracy in Crisis

III. Economic Upheaval: Rationalization, Inflation, and Depression

30. Rolf Wagenführ, The Inflation Boom (1932) [pp. 78-80]

31. Franz von Papen, Speech to the Lausanne Conference (1932) [pp. 80-83]

IV. Coming to Terms with Democracy

44. Kurt Tucholsky, For Carl von Ossietzky (1932) [pp. 117-118]

V. The Rise of Nazism

52. Adolf Hitler, Address to the Industry Club (1932) [pp. 138-141]

53. German Farmer You Belong to Hitler! Why? (1932) [p. 142]

54. Joseph Goebbels, Fighting League for German Culture (1932) [p. 143]

55. Count Harry Kessler, On the Nietzsche Archive and the German Elections (1932) [p. 144]

VI. The Struggle Against Fascism

62. Joseph Roth, Cultural Bolshevism (1932) [pp. 169-171]

63. Paul Tillich, Ten Theses (1932) [p. 171-172]

64. Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin, National Socialism: A Menace (1932) [pp. 172-175]

Pressure Points of Social Life

VII. White-Collar Workers: Mittelstand or Middle Class?

71. Theodor Geiger, The Old and New Middle Classes (1932) [pp. 191-194]

VIII. The Rise of the New Woman

83. Siegfried Kracauer, Working Women (1932) [pp. 216-218]

IX. Forging a Proletarian Culture

97. Günther D. Dehm, Berlin Workers' District (n.d.) [pp. 245-247]

X. The Jewish Community: Renewal, Redefinition, Resistance

108. Central Association of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith, Flyer (1932) [pp. 272-275]

109. Carl von Ossietzky, Anti-Semites (1932) [pp. 276-280]

Intellectuals and the Ideologies of the Age

XII. Critical Theory and the JSearch for a New Left

124. Wilhelm Reich, Politicizing the Sexual Problems of Youth (1932) [pp. 322-324]

125. Leo Löwenthal, On the Sociology of Literature (1932) [pp. 325-327]

126. Ernst Thälmann, The SPD and NSDAP are Twins (1932) [pp. 327-328]

127. Social Democratic Party (SPD), The Iron Front for a United Front! (1932) [p. 329]

XIII. Revolution from the Right

137. Edgar J. Jung, Germany and the Conservative Revolution (1932) [pp. 352-354]

XIV. Cultural Pessimism: Diagnoses of Decline

145. Ernst Jünger, The Worker: Domination and Form (1932) [pp. 375-377]

146. Franz von Papen, German Cultural Policy (1932) [pp. 377-380]

147. Gottfried Benn, After Nihilism (1932) [pp. 380-384]

148. Ludwig Bauer, The Middle Ages, 1932 (1932) [pp. 384-386]

149. Alfred Döblin, May the Individual Not be Stunted by the Masses (1932) [pp. 386-387]

The Challenge of Modernity

XVI. Berlin and the Countryside

164. Harold Nicolson, The Charm of Berlin (1932) [pp. 425-426]

Changing Configurations of Culture

XX. Literature: High and Low

212. Lion Feuchtwanger, The Novel of Today is International (1932) [pp. 526-528]

213. Günter Eich, Remarks on Lyric Poetry (1932) [pp. 528-529]

XXII. The Roaring Twenties: Cabaret and Urban Entertainment

238. Friedrich Hollaender, Cabaret (1932) [pp.565-566]

XXIII. Music for Use: Gebrauchsmusik and Opera

248. Theodor W. Adorno, Mahagonny (1932) [pp. 588-593]

XXIV. New Mass Media: Radio and Gramophone

259. Bertolt Brecht, The Radio as an Apparatus of Communication (1932) [pp. 615-616]

XXV. Cinema from Expressionism to Social Realism

270. Siegfried Kracauer, The Task of the Film Critic (1932) [pp. 634-635]

The Transformation of Everyday Life

XXVI. Visual Culture: Illustrated Press and Photography

279. Alfred Keményi, Photomontage as a Weapon in Class Struggle (1932) [pp. 653-654]

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

291. Liselotte de Booy [Miss Germany 1932], Wasted Evenings (1932) [p. 672]

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

303. Carl Diem, The German Academy for Gymnastics (1932) [pp. 691-692]

XXIX. Sexuality: Private Rights versus Social Norms

314. Kurt Tucholsky, Röhm (1932) [p. 714]

315. Walter von Hollander, Birth Control---A Man's Business! (1932) [pp. 715-717]

Supplemental Readings [photocopies supplied by instructor]

A. John Willett, Art and Politics in the Weimar Period: The New Sobriety, 1917-1933, Chronology 1932, pp. 256-259.