War

In late 1918 the German empire lied in ruins following the devastating "Great War" leaving behind a tragic scenery for the remains of the European peoples whose young generations had fought and died on the battlefields of Somme, Tannenberg, and Ypres. A gaping hole of emptiness was created due to the meaningless of mankind and its endless brutality who had killed a whole generation of painters and poets, young and old.

The German people demanded an explanation for why millions of German husbands, brothers, and fathers had fallen in battle - a battle that never crossed the german borders. Riots broke out in the cities, and all over Germany workers attempted a revolution very much like the one in Russia. The people never really experienced the horrors of war and therefore, couldn't understand why Germany had lost and wished for someone to pay the prize of surrendering - this came, amongst others, to be the old German Empire and its emperor; now it was time for a new and free Germany, now it was time for the Weimar Constitution.

The Weimar Constitution was founded in the city of Weimar in the Land of Thüringen. This constitution was forged by the new ideas of liberalism and created a radical clash between the old German empire and a new democratic Germany. Shaped by the spirit of the two German thinkers Goethe and Schiller, the constitution attempts to protect the freedom of speech and other essential rights thus trying to create a country where individualism and pluralism thrived.

The newly gained freedom of the German people with its liberal ideas and the cruel memories of First World War provided a postwar atmosphere that had both elements of absurdity, meaninglessness, creativity, and a revolutionary spirit.

This "Zeitgeist" of believes and historical background was to create an artscene more critical of society and politicly involved than before. The golden twenties of art and film had begun.