Golden 20s? The Weimar Republic in the Province

The First World War and its ignominious end left a traumatised society in its wake. Scarcity, political radicalisation and economic hardship characterised the difficult early years of the Weimar Republic.

Almost 200,000 Bavarian soldiers lost their lives in the First World War. Countless men returned home as war invalids. Wooden barracks were erected on the grounds of the former Fürstenfeld Monastery to care for the wounded. On the night of 7 to 8 November 1918, Kurt Eisner proclaimed the Free State of Bavaria. Workers' and soldiers' councils were also formed in Fürstenfeldbruck.

1923 is considered the year of horror and turning point of the Weimar Republic: hyperinflation, the occupation of the Ruhr and the Hitler coup shook the young republic to its foundations. On 9 November 1923, Hitler and Ludendorff attempted to violently change the political balance of power with a putsch. Sixteen people from Fürstenfeldbruck were also among the putschists. The uprising was put down, inflation was overcome with the creation of the Rentenmark. The crisis was overcome, followed by an economic upswing and an incomparable cultural flourishing, the "Golden Twenties" became proverbial.

The Bruck Artists' Association was founded, artists such as Adolf Voll or Jean Perzel had their finger on the pulse of the times. Literary figures and artists settled here. Numerous villas in the so-called Heimatstil were built. The establishment of the police school in 1924 was an economic silver lining for Fürstenfeldbruck, and the Ettal monks moved into the former Cistercian monastery, which had belonged to the Wittelsbach Equalisation Fund since 1923.

The exhibition explores the questions: How did the short phase of the Weimar Republic take shape in the province? How did a small-town population in the shadow of the "capital of the movement" react to big politics?

Last edited on 05.06.2025