The German Weimar Republic in power following World War I and preceding Hitler and the Nazi rise to power in 1933 experienced a progressive cultural renaissance that left behind the more conservative German ideologies of the past. Not all Germans supported this liberal movement because they considered it a drastic betrayal of traditional German values. Those who did align with this forward-thinking movement made great strides in German culture. One aspect of this German cultural renaissance that is still relevant in modern society is the sexual revolution and the rise of the “New Woman” that accompanied it. Developments the realm of sexuality and women’s’ rights such as sexual openness, the question of abortion and the acceptance of homosexuality
…show more content…
One of the major political debates in Germany was over a woman’s right to abortion. Paragraph 218 of the criminal code of the Weimar Republic made abortion illegal. This law was highly contested by several political groups; both social democratic parties sought to change or entirely eliminate this section of the criminal code. They understood that there were many valid reasons for women to seek an abortion, including health, economic, and personal reasons (Georg 201). Almost one million women got illegal abortions annually in the Weimar Republic. Poor women often died from shoddy back-alley abortions while rich women paid off doctors or sought abortions abroad to avoid persecution. The political reason for preventing abortion was to ensure the growth of the German population. Some, like Manfred Georg, argued that childcare and maternal care are areas “in which a country should not strive to be economical” but rather should strive to provide the best care possible (Georg 202). Abortion was not thought of as a right for individual women, but rather in terms of what would be best for Germany. Thus rose a debate around which was more important: the life of a woman and her right to her own body, or the future of the
One of the major political debates in Germany was over a woman’s right to abortion. Paragraph 218 of the criminal code of the Weimar Republic made abortion illegal. This law was highly contested by several political groups; both social democratic parties sought to change or entirely eliminate this section of the criminal code. They understood that there were many valid reasons for women to seek an abortion, including health, economic, and personal reasons (Georg 201). Almost one million women got illegal abortions annually in the Weimar Republic. Poor women often died from shoddy back-alley abortions while rich women paid off doctors or sought abortions abroad to avoid persecution. The political reason for preventing abortion was to ensure the growth of the German population. Some, like Manfred Georg, argued that childcare and maternal care are areas “in which a country should not strive to be economical” but rather should strive to provide the best care possible (Georg 202). Abortion was not thought of as a right for individual women, but rather in terms of what would be best for Germany. Thus rose a debate around which was more important: the life of a woman and her right to her own body, or the future of the