Stunning Vintage Photos That Capture Everyday Life in Berlin During the 1920s
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Berlin in the 1920s was a city of many social contrasts. While a large part of the population continued to struggle with high unemployment and deprivations in the aftermath of World War I, the upper class of society, and a growing middle class, gradually rediscovered prosperity and turned Berlin into a cosmopolitan city.
During this decade, Berlin became the intellectual and creative center of Europe, doing pioneering work in the modern movements of literature, theater, and the arts, and also in the fields of psychoanalysis, sociology, and science.
Germany’s economy and political affairs were suffering at the time, but cultural and intellectual life was flourishing. This period in German history is often referred to as the ‘Weimar Renaissance’ or the country’s ‘Golden Years’.
The most important artists of the time met in the Romanisches Café on Kurfürstendamm (Bertolt Brecht, Otto Dix, Max Liebermann, Erich Kästner, Joachim Ringelnatz, Billy Wilder and many others) and Josephine Baker introduced the new Charleston dance sensation to Germany with her performance in 1926 in the Nelson Theatre on Kurfürstendamm.
1928 saw the premiere of Brecht's “Threepenny Opera” in the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, from where it went on to sweep the world.