Weimar Publics/Weimar Subjects

In spite of having been short-lived, “Weimar” has never lost its fascination. Until recently the Weimar Republic’s place in German history was primarily defined by its catastrophic beginning and end - Germany’s defeat in 1918 and the Nazi seizure of power in 1933; its history seen mainly in terms of politics and as an arena of flawed decisions and failed compromises. However, a flourishing of interdisciplinary scholarship on Weimar political culture is uncovering arenas of conflict and change that had not been studied closely before, such as gender, body politics, masculinity, citizenship, empire and borderlands, visual culture, popular culture and consumption. This collection offers new perspectives from leading scholars in the disciplines of history, art history, film studies, and German studies on the vibrant political culture of Germany in the 1920s. From the traumatic ruptures of defeat, revolution, and collapse of the Kaiser’s state, the visionaries of Weimar went on to invent a republic, calling forth new citizens and cultural innovations that shaped the republic far beyond the realms of parliaments and political parties.

Kathleen Canning is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of History, Women’s Studies, and German at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Languages of Labor and Gender: Female Factory Work in Germany, 1850-1914 (2nd ed., University of Michigan Press 2002) and Gender History in Practice: Historical Perspectives on Bodies, Class, and Citizenship (Cornell University Press 2006). She is currently a board member of Central European History and the Journal of Modern History.

Kerstin Barndt is Associate Professor of German Studies at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Sentiment und Sachlichkeit. Der Roman de Neuen Frau in der Weimarer Republik (Böhlau 2004) and several articles on German modernism, gender theory, and the history of reading. Her current book project Exhibition Time. History, Memory, and Aesthetics in Germany focuses on contemporary exhibition culture against the backdrop of national unification, migration, and deindustrialization.

Kristin McGuire is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan and co-Director of the Global Feminisms Project based at the University of Michigan. She is the co-author of Global Feminisms through a Virtual Archive (SIGNS 2010). She is currently working on a book manuscript, Activism, Intimacy and Selfhood which offers a comparative historical analysis of women activists in Germany and Poland from 1890-1918; and co-editing a volume of translated essays entitled Women on Nietzsche, Gender, and Sexuality: An Anthology of European Women’s Writings, 1880-1920. Cover image: Marianne Brandt, Es wird marschiert(1928)

"The interpretative and methodological pluralism, which is evident throughout [this volume]is a major strength, rendering the volume ideally suited for graduate courses in modern European and German history. By covering an extraordinary range of topics and analytical perspectives, the book opens up a fascinating panoramic view onto ‘the landscapes of ambition and hope, promise and disappointment that galvanized new publics during the Weimar era.’” · Journal of Modern History

“…taken together [these articles] provide an excellent and stimulating introduction to current ways of thinking and writing about the Weimar Republic since the ‘cultural turn’. A common theme running through each contribution is the role of individual consciousness and its striving to be heard and expressed in an age when notions of community and collective struggle were also high up on the artistic and political agenda.“  ·  German History

“These essays are interesting and useful for the material they present…the efforts it presents in rethinking the existing scholarship and adding new material has much to offer scholars of the Weimar era.”  ·  European History Quarterly