delit1-8, Exercise 3: Weimar as help and danger

Model answer (check the details):

How it helped: the republic of 1919 to 1933 ended imperial censorship and allowed great freedom for publishing, theatre, cabaret and film. Berlin was a centre of experiment. Examples: Brecht and Weill's Threepenny Opera (1928) was a popular hit, and Doeblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929) used the techniques of the modern city. Mann's The Magic Mountain and Kaestner's and Tucholsky's satire also found large audiences.

How it endangered literature: the republic suffered from hyperinflation (1923), depression after 1929 and strong opposition from the political extremes. Writers who criticised the right, such as Tucholsky, were attacked, and the freedom of the period ended abruptly in 1933 when the Nazis took power, with book burnings, bans and exile (Chapter 9).

Result: Weimar shows both the creative energy of freedom and the fragility of the conditions that allowed it.