Key learning points

1. Weimar Germany's 'Golden Age' saw a cultural flourishing and a culture war between modernism and traditionalism.
2. Bauhaus movement revolutionised architecture but critics saw it as an attack on German identity with links to communism.
3. Artists like Otto Dix and George Grosz challenged idealised traditions and depicted social decay.
4. Berlin’s cabarets and daring nightlife defied authority and social norms, but fuelled a reputation of moral decline.
5. Weimar cinema pioneered expressionist film, but was later condemned by the Nazis as "degenerate" art.

Keywords

• Culturewar - disagreements about cultural and social beliefs between groups, especially between people supporting social change and those against the change

• Modernist - describes a style or movement, particularly in the arts, that rejects traditional forms in favour of new ways of expression that reflect modern life and ideas

• Degenerate - having lost the physical, mental or moral qualities considered normal and desirable; showing evidence of decline

• Cabaret - a performance of music, singing, dancing or political satire, often held in a bar or nightclub, known for its provocative acts, defiance of social and political norms and embrace of sexual freedom

Common misconception