Weimar Republic

Night Ghost- Rudolph Nelson

People don't want to waste time with the beginning,
they'd rather skip straight to the end.
In this day and age, you fall in love in the evening, are engaged at night,
and get married the next morning.

At noon you have a fight; by night you're divorced.

Man moecht am liebsten, ja das soll’s geben, das Ende noch vor Beginne leben.

Heut verliebt man sich abends, verlobt sich bei Nacht und vermaehlt in der Frueh sich zufriede und am Mittag da hat man bereits sich verkracht und am Abend ist man wieder geschieden.

I think this song basically reflects what goes on in society with all our lives. We are consumed by all that’s happening around us, we are always in a hurry no one takes the time to “stop and smell the roses anymore”.  I chose this song because I see this everyday especially in the city we pass each other without taking a second glance. We all hurry about our business to keep up with the fast pace times we live in.

Chuck out of men-Freidrich Hollaender

Hula girls and housemaids and wives in Maribou
hear all our voices thunder in protest
Anything that men do women can do too
and more that that we women do it best

überall will das Weib auf den Thron.
Vin Hawai-Neger bis zur Berliner Range
braust ein Ruf wie Donnerhall daher:
Was die Männer können, können wir schon lange
und vielleicht ’ne ganze Ecke mehr.

These verses were in protest against the limitations placed on women by men in those societies. Culturally it was accepted that a woman’s place was in the home and seen as second or beneath men.

I chose this particular part of the song as it expresses the feminist view of equality among men and women. If you were a housemaid or hula girls you needed to protest again these limitations and become a career woman much like the men because, women had the ability not only to be equal to men but to outdo them.

Paragraph 175

This is basically condemning homosexuality, it is divided into different categories and one may have been imprisoned anywhere from 3 months to 10 yrs. Sodomy  fell in 4 categories (1) If a male forces another male to commit sexual acts with him. (2) A male abusing the relationship of service or employment compels the other to have sex with him. (3) Male over 21 seduces a younger male to engage in sexual acts. (4) Male’s who openly engages in sexual activities with other males. Additionally, if one commits sexual acts against animals would not only be imprisoned but loses civil rights. This relates to the lecture in that it revealed the hidden side of the society back then. Men were engaging in these sadomasochistic acts which needed to be punished. Nietzsche believed men were driven by pleasure so paragraph 175 was a way to expose ones homosexual pleasures and make them punishable by law.