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1910 - 1933 First World War and Weimar Republic
Germany is largely militarized. Social hardship,
widespread unemployment, and the global economic crisis of the 1920's are predominant.
At the same time people want to liberate themselves from moral codes and
political restrictions. The so-called "secession"
becomes apparent in architecture, the arts, and in fashion.
The dawning of democracy for everyone after World War I.
is being shattered in the early 1930's by the rising powers
of the National Socialist's movement, also known as Nazism.
The castle serves as a military hospital for the injured in World War I.
The fusion between war times and everyday life is symbolized with families visiting their injured relatives.
In a carriage even more wounded are being brought from the front.
A children's choir walks up the stairs to entertain the injured.
They are supposed to raise the soldier's spirits and their readiness for combat.
For war propaganda reasons, patients lying in the sun are being photographed
in order to demonstrate that they are well-cared for.
There's a hyper-inflation in town.
Children run about with big bundles of bills - money has become worthless.
In front of the church, priests of all confessions are blessing soldiers going to war.
A soup kitchen behind the church is shows prevailing social needs. People are living on welfare.
Children are selling newspapers;
there're beggars, scavengers, and bootblacks.
A charity for the poor is being founded. Donations are being collected in the park.
Nowadays, women and men have a common and equal right to vote.
The school serves as a polling station.
In front of the synagogue a group of Jewish boys are meeting with their Rabbi for schooling.
People of all classes protest against them, and are showing their anti-Semitic mind-set publicly.
The Jewish are being ostracized from society, increasingly.
In the park, a group of naked people are playing tug-of-war
as a sign for a new, liberated attitude to life.
The Victorian or rational dress reform has begun:
dresses are loose-fitting, and worn without a restricting corset.
Increasingly, people are spending their leisure time together, even outside their families.
They openly show feelings.
The dawn of a right-wing mind-set becomes apparent with Confederate Youths,
which receive paramilitary trainingwhile performing long marches at the foot of the motte.
At the other riverbank there's a hiking club:
human wants are being focused on.
The idea of a harmonic coexistence between mankind and nature arises. Men and women are considered as equals.
The first warehouse after the image of Otto von Wertheim was built in town.
It is supposed to supply people of all classes and means with everyday necessities.
The architecture of the building supports this claim:
it is pure and modern, showing the "New Objectivity".
At the end of World War I, the republic is being proclaimed in front of the Town Hall;
the crowd is cheering.
Print mass media are booming: newspaper vendors, photographers and reporters are populating the town.
Advertising columns show commercial placards:
Coco Chanel's perfume No. 5 is the symbol for the "new" woman:
emancipated, modern, empowered.
A small crowd is appalled at the sight of a modern art exhibition announcement.
Nudity is considered scandalous, obscene, and even pornographic.
In front of the inner-cities Kontor, or old office building, members of the trade unions and burgeoning
right-wing extremists ("brownshirts" and Free Corps) are fighting each other.
In front of the union hall, right-wing extremists are demonstrating against the republic.
Mobility is developing rapidly.
There's the first motorized fire engine in front of the burnt down tavern.
There's motorized traffic in town,
side-by-side with horse carriages and bicycles.
The streetcar is powered with electricity.
A cinema shows the cultural development,
but also a criticism of modern times, and a warning of an upcoming crisis:
Fritz Lang's movie "Metropolis" is being advertised.
Increasingly, leisure time is being spent on the river.
Tournaments are being held.
Sport activities are part of people giving attention to their needs.
Still, Jewish sports associations, the "Makkabi", compete with other sports clubs.
Ship tours become a part of leisure time for the masses.
There's an excursion launch with an artist performing dances in Josephine Baker's style.
Spectators marvel at her skills, but being Black, she's not regarded as an equal.
On the bridge, crowds are cheering at the soldiers dispatching for the 1st World War.
Mistakenly, everyone believes that they will be back home,
soon, after a short and technologically superior Blitzkrieg.
On the side of the scenery, Free Corps fighters are murdering the Communistic leaders,
Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.
Political murders are part of a radical battle against democracy.
The factory has grown into a large industrial compound,
manufacturing bicycles - for the army as well.
It's an expression for power, wealth, progress, and a high self-esteem.
The factory owner is present,
but he has separated his life focus from his work. He's not living next door to the factory, any longer.
Social extremes are colliding:
the members of the local feminist movement are demonstrating for women's rights.
They want to animate working women to get involved in their cause.
Worker's quarters are poverty-stricken.
Everyone tries to make a living, whichever way.
An army officer informs a pregnant woman about her husband's death in battle.