Cultural History Seminar: Jochen Hung, Rewriting the History of the Weimar Republic

Jochen Hung

On 6 October 2016 Jochen Hung will present a lecture in the Cultural History Seminar series on “Bad” Politics and “Good” Culture? Rewriting the History of the Weimar Republic. The seminar will take place at Kromme Nieuwegracht 80 in room 1.06 at 15.30 and there will be drinks at Cafe Hofman afterwards. We look forward to seeing you there!

Tempo newspaper

Abstract: The Weimar Republic belongs to the most thoroughly researched periods in German and European history. However, the prevailing historical image of the Weimar era has remained surprisingly stable over the last five decades. Most historians have accepted the sharp juxtaposition of “bad” politics and “good” culture” as the master narrative of the time, describing it as an explosive mix of spectacular cultural achievements, such as the Bauhaus, Dada, the film Metropolis and Brechtian theatre, and social and political chaos and decline that culminated in Hitler’s regime. I argue that playing Weimar politics and Weimar culture off against each other in such a way keeps us from fully understanding the fluid nature of both and thus the fundamental nature of the period. In my talk I will propose a different approach to the history of the Weimar Republic grounded in the idea of “alternative modernities” and illustrate this with the case study of Tempo, a tabloid newspaper published from 1928-33.