History - Admission/Application Essay Example

Because of its weak government, a libertarianism flourished both in an economic sense and a cultural sense. This can be seen in much of the art work that was created during the period. The Nazis, who seized power after the effects of the Great Depression made even what little political stability existed in the Weimar Republic untenable, loathed the cultural products of the era. They felt the art produced in the Weimar Republic was degenerate, immoral, and decadent—products of infiltrating “racial influences.

” When they came to power they closed down the cabarets and galleries and burned the book. The art produced in the Weimar Republic certainly reflected the period. But in what way? Was the art simply cultural trash which contributed to the failings of the period, as the Nazis thought—or did it have a lasting value and reflect something more profound about this difficult period in German history? These questions will be explored in this essay. It would be fair to describe the fourteen years the Weimar Republic lasted as producing a cultural explosion.

In the years prior to World War One, Europe had seen the first stirrings of modernism in the works of artists such as Di Chirico and Apollinaire. Now suddenly, with the war finished, modernism was everywhere—but Germany especially was the place to be. It was an any-things-goes kind of country and culture. Painting, literature, architecture, filmmaking, all major categories of art were represented and developed as artists exchanged ideas and cross-pollinated. New technologies and new media were encouraging creativity—radio ownership was increasing, for example, and cinemas were open (Fulbrook, 34).

Indeed, much of this creativity can be traced to the economic and political circumstances of the day. The government had very little control over the country because it was politically weak. Hyperinflation and crippling poverty forced the government out of many people’s lives as it could