The Weimar Republic

    The Weimar period of Germany is one of the most culturally rich periods of the country’s history. The government was in control during one of the worst economic crises in German history, but created a much freer state than before. The Republic was the nation’s first foray into a democratic system of governance where monarchy had long reined. The government was in the beginning largely led by socialists but was later taken over by conservatives that elevated Hitler to Chancellor cementing Nazism. Socialist influences largely were cooped into the new republic, but had substantial influence on the governmental policies pursued.
    

The Weimar government continued to support the UFA studio, which had previously been started by the imperial government during the war to produce propaganda. Under the Weimar government the studio moved to producing film for entertainment, opening the silver screen to German Expressionism. The government also invested in operas, libraries, and orchestras opening up the arts to the people. The extremely influential Bauhaus School of Design was financed in part by the city of Dessau where it began. The biggest gift to artists of all kinds was the relative freedom they had in expression during this time. The Weimar government did not have the same repressive intellectual culture as the empire. Instead artists were permitted to express themselves freely. Films such as Metropolis were able to critique class structure in a way that previously would have been unthinkable. These freedoms were not perfect or always consistently protected. However, the socialists who rose to power helped usher in a brief era of democratization and freedom that would be swept away by the Nazi party.