1920s: Cinemas, stadiums and department stores

The content-related as well as (infra-) structural basis for “mass cultures” was laid in the fin de siècle, and then developed further in the 1920s. Stages and stadiums, pubs, and cinemas, but also coffee houses soon proved themselves to be too few and too small. Ostensibly, despite the still difficult everyday situation of broad sections of the population, the social achievements of the young Republic formed the necessary conditions for this development. This led to an amazing push for modernisation, at least in the urban centres.

A new fast-paced consumer culture, characterised by speed, glamour, and dynamism, took hold of many people’s lives. Under the motto of Americanisation, it was not only the cityscape that became more colourful, but life altogether: the rationalisation of work, the acceleration of communication, and the questioning of identities contrasted the politically charged climate of the time. Entertainment became the omnipresent antithesis of the everyday. Although fulfilment and promise often diverged widely, consumption and pleasure became the leitmotifs of life and levelled out the contrast between high culture and everyday culture.