standard of living

• Stressman's economic and foreign policy changes of the 1920s


  Led to important changes in politics, culture and living standards for German people
• As the German economy improved

  People found they had more disposable income and work conditions were improved
• As financial hardships retreated

  People had more time to focus on art, cinema and architecture
• Ebert gaining support for the new Weimar Republic

  Met with trade unions
• Policy of working with trade unions


  • Led to important changes in working and living conditions
• Between 1925 and 27, the average working week dropped from 50 hours to 46 and wages rose by around 25% between 1925 and 28
• A new unemployment insurance was introduced in 1927, where workers were charged 3% of their wages to provide insurance against unemployment or sickness
• Between 1925 and 29, 37,000 new homes were built by private companies and a further 64,000 homes were built by a government scheme
• A veteran's pension was introduced in 1920 which supported veterans, widows and children
• The number of people in higher education increased by nearly 60% by 1928
• The changes were popular


  But big business was not happy as they saw the working changes as government interference
• Women under the Weimar Constitution


  • They were allowed to vote and stand for election, and had equal rights to men
• By 1932, 10% of the Reichstag was women and around 90% of women voted in the new elections
• Women's employment had returned to roughly the same level as before the war, but new part-time jobs in retail and service were created which benefited women with children
• Women were paid on average 33% less than men
• Some women, especially young women in cities

  Embraced the new opportunities and freedoms
• The changes for women were not popular with everyone

  The birth rate was falling and the divorce rate was increasing, which some saw as a threat to traditional gender roles
• Cultural changes in the 1920s

  • Rejection of romanticism in favour of an objective view, modernist arts, cinema and architecture, government funding for the arts
• Painters


  • Otto Dix, George Grosz
• Architecture


  • Einstein Tower designed by Eric Mendelson, influenced by the Bauhaus movement
• Cinema


  • The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang
• Some saw the cultural changes


  As an insult to the traditions of Germany