What was the Weimar Republic?
MA, Sociology (Freie Universität Berlin)
Date Published: 07.10.2024,
Last Updated: 07.10.2024
Share this article
Defining the Weimar Republic
Officially known at the time as the German Reich, the Weimar Republic (1918–1933) was Germany’s first constitutional federal republic. As Mary Fulbrook elaborates in A History of Germany 1918-2020,
The Weimar Republic was Germany’s first attempt at parliamentary democracy. Born in 1918 of military defeat and domestic revolution, it was riddled with compromises and burdened with difficulties. After turbulent beginnings, from 1924 to 1928 there was a period of at least apparent stabilization, yet between 1929 and 1933, concerted attacks on democracy in the context of mounting economic difficulties culminated in the collapse of the regime and the appointment of Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP or Nazi Party), as Germany’s Chancellor. (2021)
Mary Fulbrook
The Weimar Republic was Germany’s first attempt at parliamentary democracy. Born in 1918 of military defeat and domestic revolution, it was riddled with compromises and burdened with difficulties. After turbulent beginnings, from 1924 to 1928 there was a period of at least apparent stabilization, yet between 1929 and 1933, concerted attacks on democracy in the context of mounting economic difficulties culminated in the collapse of the regime and the appointment of Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP or Nazi Party), as Germany’s Chancellor. (2021)
Indeed, the Weimar Republic’s many trials and tribulations have been subject to much fixation. Particularly as its troubles were contrasted with a brief period of apparent progress and prosperity known as the hedonistic and decadent “Golden Twenties" when culture flourished, and women experienced a wave of relative liberation. The Weimar Republic has also been examined so much because it served as the precursor to the fascist Nazi regime known as the Third Reich. Many historians look to the Weimar Republic to understand what went wrong and draw parallels between it and contemporary society.
In this study guide, we will explore the political, economic, and cultural conditions that distinguished the Weimar Republic—a time of dramatic upheaval polished with a golden veneer. Then, we’ll conclude with some reflections on its perilous demise.
Political conditions of the Weimar Republic
Cracks in the foundation: The German Revolution and Treaty of Versailles
The months following WWI were characterized by political upheaval, as seen in the German Revolution, which began in October 1918 and lasted into the following year. These uprisings, which started with a sailors’ mutiny in Kiel, accelerated the collapse of the German Empire. Leftwing factions, most notably the Spartacus League—with Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin, and Franz Mehring among its members—took advantage of the instability in an attempt to establish a socialist society similar to what had recently been achieved in Russia. Yet, due to divisions between the more radical Spartacus League and the more moderate social democrats—who wanted to set up a constitutional republic—the revolution was ultimately unsuccessful.
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) sought to compromise with the conservatives in order to achieve their more moderate aims, thus betraying the more radical revolutionaries. As Karen Schaefer writes in German Military and the Weimar Republic,
Friedrich Ebert [of the SPD] became Reich Chancellor due to his being appointed as such by [conservative acting Chancellor] Max von Baden. One consequence of this appointment was that the future system of government did not take the form of the Bolshevist-style councils system, as had been demanded by the First German Congress of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils in Berlin in November 1918. (2020)
Karen Schaefe
Friedrich Ebert [of the SPD] became Reich Chancellor due to his being appointed as such by [conservative acting Chancellor] Max von Baden. One consequence of this appointment was that the future system of government did not take the form of the Bolshevist-style councils system, as had been demanded by the First German Congress of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils in Berlin in November 1918. (2020)
Indeed, the way the German Revolution played out to bring about compromises with the opposition would continue to impact the Weimar Republic, as SPD’s appeasements of the military and conservatives would leave the government vulnerable. For example, key institutions —including the military and judiciary—remained unreformed and, therefore, hostile to the new democratic system. (This is elaborated upon in The Weimar Republic by Eberhard Kolb and P. S. Falla, [2004])
Thus began the Weimar Republic, Germany’s first foray into democratic statehood. It was officially formed in November of 1918—just two days before the end of WWI— when it became clear that the German defeat was imminent. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the throne, leading to the collapse of the German monarchy, which culminated in,
“a quiet revolution” in Germany, when the monarchy had been forced to introduce the parliamentary form of government. (Dr. Walter Kaufmann, Monarchism in the Weimar Republic, 2018)
Dr. Walter Kaufmann
“a quiet revolution” in Germany, when the monarchy had been forced to introduce the parliamentary form of government. (Dr. Walter Kaufmann, Monarchism in the Weimar Republic, 2018)
What might appear on the surface as a turning point of political progress, however, had a more sinister undertone. Military leaders, among them Generals Ludendorff and Hindenburg, pushed for these constitutional reforms with the intention of shifting blame onto the newly-formed parliamentary government—then controlled by the Social Democratic Party (SPD)—for the failures and fallouts of the lost war. (For more on this, check out historian Fritz Fischer’s From Kaiserreich to Third Reich, 1986, [2019])
In addition to the political change and upheaval, the loss of the war itself would hang heavy over the new republic. On top of the wreckage, German leaders of the time signed the notorious Treaty of Versailles in 1919, which demanded many sanctions against the country. These included the loss of territories to France, Poland, and Belgium—along with the secession of its colonial holdings—the obligation to pay reparations, disarmament, and a promise never again to start another war. The signing of the treaty was subject to much embitterment among the German population. These sentiments were stoked by the conservative and rightwing factions in the country who (falsely) insisted that Germany had not lost the war, but had simply been betrayed by the parliament under the social-democratic leadership.
The political sphere under the Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic was established on a constitution, which was written in the city of Weimar and officiated in 1919. The constitution included several notable features. The government was set up as a parliamentary democracy that emphasized proportional representation, which allowed a wide range of political parties to enter the parliament—known in Germany as the Reichstag— relatively easily, in an effort to include the broad political spectrum that existed at the time. Written in the wake of immense political instability at the founding of the republic, Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution enabled the German president to rule unilaterally under an emergency decree without parliamentary approval.
The Constitution also reflected the relatively progressive views of the government, as Colin Storer points out in A Short History of the Weimar Republic,
The Weimar constitution achieved much that was ahead of its time: it established a parliamentary democracy and introduced a welfare state, guaranteed fundamental human rights and attempted to address some of the political and social problems that had bedevilled Germany under the Kaiserreich. (2013)
Colin Storer
The Weimar constitution achieved much that was ahead of its time: it established a parliamentary democracy and introduced a welfare state, guaranteed fundamental human rights and attempted to address some of the political and social problems that had bedevilled Germany under the Kaiserreich. (2013)
Moreover, the Weimar Republic had universal suffrage (the right to vote) —for both men and women—over the age of 20. The government also had a progressive character, as it implemented a range of social welfare programs, including workers’ rights protections, unemployment insurance, and affordable housing initiatives.
In the international arena, things also got off to a rocky start. Germany emerged from WWI as a pariah state. Within just a few years, however, the nation did see gradual and steady improvement in its diplomatic standing. This was particularly so under the leadership of Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann, who orchestrated the Locarno Treaties in 1925, which reaffirmed Germany’s promise to respect its post-WWI borders and established notably better relations with its neighbors. By 1926, Germany reentered the League of Nations, an intergovernmental organization, marking a high point in the country’s diplomatic rehabilitation.
Enduring polarization: Nazis, communists, and more
It is important to note that the Weimar Republic was also tasked with navigating the rising effects of political polarization and strife—particularly between the communists and the Nazis (i.e., the National Socialist German Workers’ Party or NSDAP). As George S. Vascik and Mark R. Sadler eloquently summarize in The Stab-in-the-Back Myth and the Fall of the Weimar Republic,
As the immediacy of the traumatic events of November 1918—January 1919 receded into memory, Germans of all political persuasions and faiths needed to create a personal narrative that could explain what they had witnessed. Their conclusions varied, as had their lived experience. For many, a sense of betrayal took root. At one extreme, supporters of the imperial regime who thought that the army and navy had been stabbed in the back by domestic traitors; at the other, Communists and Independent Social Democrats who believed that Friedrich Ebert and the Majority Social Democrats had betrayed the cause of proletarian revolution. ("Introduction," 2006)
Edited by George S. Vascik and Mark R. Sadler
As the immediacy of the traumatic events of November 1918—January 1919 receded into memory, Germans of all political persuasions and faiths needed to create a personal narrative that could explain what they had witnessed. Their conclusions varied, as had their lived experience. For many, a sense of betrayal took root. At one extreme, supporters of the imperial regime who thought that the army and navy had been stabbed in the back by domestic traitors; at the other, Communists and Independent Social Democrats who believed that Friedrich Ebert and the Majority Social Democrats had betrayed the cause of proletarian revolution. ("Introduction," 2006)
These rifts were often violent, with hundreds of political murders taking place in the first years of the republic alone. There were even planned and attempted paramilitary takeovers, which occurred twice during the short lifespan of the Weimar Republic—one under the anti-communist Freikorps and the other by the Sturmabteilung (SA), which was the armed wing of the Nazis.
The Communist Party (KPD) grew increasingly popular in a country plagued by economic woes due to the creeping influence of the Soviet Union at that time. Many Germans were disillusioned by the moderate Weimar government and were scorned by the SPD’s betrayal of the more radical left during the German Revolution.
Meanwhile, the NSDAP grew in popularity—largely capitalizing on the country’s bruised and battered self-image in the wake of WWI defeat and punishment in the Treaty of Versailles. The Nazis positioned themselves in staunch opposition to the communists and were also harshly critical of the Weimar Republic, which they regarded as weak and unstable. They promised the return of national pride, which was particularly seductive in the wake of defeat and growing economic turmoil. While the two groups battled bitterly and significantly contributed to political instability in the Weimar Republic, they weren’t the only ones. Other right-wing conservative factions such as the Freikorps, particularly those who supported the bygone German Empire, represented another degree of polarization.
To learn more about these groups, see Timothy Scott Brown’s Weimar Radicals, 2009.
Economic conditions in Germany 1918-1933
From the economic penalties of the Treaty of Versailles to the severe hyperinflation to the 1929 stock market crash, the Weimar Republic experienced incredible levels of economic turmoil. While there were a few years, from 1924-1929, where things appeared to be on the upswing, the financial ruin of the Great Depression (1929-1939) had particularly stark effects on Germany.
These, in turn, significantly fed the political instability in the country, giving rise to dark forces such as the ascent of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. In this section, we will break down these economic conditions in more depth, as they were a major dimension of life during this interwar period.
Turmoil in the wake of WWI
In addition to disarmament and the cession of German territories, a key aspect of the Treaty of Versailles was stringent economic reparations to the Allied powers for damages incurred during the war. In fact, these were considered the most controversial aspects of the treaty. Even English political economist John Maynard Keynes asserted that the terms were too harsh (see The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1919, [2017]). Largely due to the combined aftermath of WWI in Germany and the reparations it was expected to pay to powers abroad, the Weimar Republic experienced extremely high levels of hyperinflation, particularly between the years 1921 and 1923. Hyperinflation refers to the rapid and extreme increase of prices in a very short period of time, decreasing the value of a country’s currency. As Stephen J. Lee points out in The Weimar Republic,
Inflation became hyperinflation immediately after the announcement of the final amount of 132,000 million gold marks by the Reparations Commission in 1921: the government increased the printing of paper money to buy foreign currency in order to meet its obligations. The climax of hyperinflation occurred when the Reparations Commission declared Germany in default of one of the payments and the French invaded the Ruhr. The dramatic collapse of the mark was the direct result of this occupation and the passive resistance to it, which caused a severe dislocation of energy supplies to the rest of Germany and necessitated huge imports of coal from abroad — again financed by paper currency. (2013)
Stephen J. Lee
Inflation became hyperinflation immediately after the announcement of the final amount of 132,000 million gold marks by the Reparations Commission in 1921: the government increased the printing of paper money to buy foreign currency in order to meet its obligations. The climax of hyperinflation occurred when the Reparations Commission declared Germany in default of one of the payments and the French invaded the Ruhr. The dramatic collapse of the mark was the direct result of this occupation and the passive resistance to it, which caused a severe dislocation of energy supplies to the rest of Germany and necessitated huge imports of coal from abroad — again financed by paper currency. (2013)
This hyperinflation ultimately fell onto ordinary people who struggled to get by. To put the issue into perspective, in June of 1923 an egg cost about 800 marks, but by December of that same year, it cost 320 billion marks. The hyperinflation, in turn, fueled rising discontent with the Weimar Republic and its governance.
The Dawes Plan of 1924 aimed to address the freefalling Weimar economy. To mitigate the negative impacts of paying reparations and the resulting hyperinflation, it revised the reparations payment clauses and provided Germany with major loans from the United States. The Dawes Plan also led to the withdrawal of foreign forces from the Ruhr region—a key stronghold for the German economy—by bolstering confidence in Germany’s ability to pay back the newly adjusted reparations. The implementation of the Dawes Plan helped stabilize the German economy and was a major contributing factor to the golden years of the republic.
The Great Depression
Unfortunately, the stabilizing influence of the Dawes Plan was only temporary, as in the medium term, it actually made Germany more sensitive to the vicissitudes of the global economy. Because Germany was so dependent on loans from the United States, it was hit particularly hard by the 1929 stock market crash and subsequent Great Depression, as the US withdrew its loans. In addition, many across German society no longer had access to consumer credit, which was widespread during the golden years, and struggled to pay back their debts. By 1932, unemployment had reached upwards of 25%.
The effects of the Great Depression further exacerbated political divides and fueled political extremism. As Anthony McElligott observes in Rethinking the Weimar Republic,
From 1929 until the mid-1930s, hardly a country in Europe escaped the fallout from Wall Street’s ‘Black Friday’, characterized by falling production, contraction of markets, widespread cuts in welfare and mass unemployment. The Great Depression tested liberal democracy everywhere with the 1930s seeing a discernible shiſt to the right in Europe (with the exception of France which swung to the leſt in 1936). But while Italy and to a lesser extent Poland saw a radicalization in fascist and proto-fascist policies, there was not the same extreme version of racial fascism as espoused by Hitler’s regime especially from 1935… (2013)
Anthony McElligott
From 1929 until the mid-1930s, hardly a country in Europe escaped the fallout from Wall Street’s ‘Black Friday’, characterized by falling production, contraction of markets, widespread cuts in welfare and mass unemployment. The Great Depression tested liberal democracy everywhere with the 1930s seeing a discernible shiſt to the right in Europe (with the exception of France which swung to the leſt in 1936). But while Italy and to a lesser extent Poland saw a radicalization in fascist and proto-fascist policies, there was not the same extreme version of racial fascism as espoused by Hitler’s regime especially from 1935… (2013)
In particular, Jewish people were especially targeted as scapegoats, as many were economically successful up until this time as prominent owners of department stores and banks. The Nazis helped deepen this hatred by playing on old conspiracy theories that Jewish people, in cahoots with the communists, were behind the financial turmoil faced by so many in Germany. In addition, the Nazis promised the German people that they would restore prosperity to Germany and used the crisis to further discredit the Weimar Republic.
For more on Germany's economy during this period, see Hans-Joachim Braun's The German Economy in the Twentieth Century, 1990, 2010.
Weimar society and culture
Media and the arts
The Weimar Republic was a time of significant social and cultural change, due to the breakdown in social norms following WWI. In many ways, this enabled the arts to flourish during these years. As Storer writes,
The social changes wrought by modernity, together with the political and economic upheavals of the early years of the republic, combined to create a heightened sense of anxiety which was widely reflected in the culture of the period. German painters, architects and scientists were at the forefront of the European avant-garde, and Germany achieved a reputation as the fountainhead of new ideas and new technologies. (2013)
The Weimar Republic saw the emergence of artistic movements such as Expressionism, Dadaism, and the Bauhaus School of Design. These movements were connected through an attempt to grapple with the horrors and chaos people experienced during the war. Famous writers like Bertolt Brecht, Walter Benjamin, and Christopher Isherwood also rose to prominence during the Weimar years. Cinema, particularly the silent films of greats like Fritz Lang, was all the rage as a new form of cultural production. For more on culture and arts during this period, see John Alexander Williams’ edited collection Weimar Culture Revisited (2011).
Gender and sexuality
Women also enjoyed more rights and independence under the Weimar Republic. In addition to being given the right to vote in 1919, they also began to enter the workforce in large numbers. They donned bobbed haircuts and short skirts and smoked cigarettes along with their male counterparts. As Helen Boak notes in Women in the Weimar Republic,
Reproductive rights have been one area in which historians have seen great improvements in women’s lives during the Weimar Republic. Easier access to birth control, the relaxation in the abortion laws, the decriminalisation of prostitution, the openness about sexual matters, sex reformers’ desire to improve the nation’s knowledge about sexual pleasure and techniques and a thriving lesbian sub-culture all contributed. (2015)
Helen Boak
Reproductive rights have been one area in which historians have seen great improvements in women’s lives during the Weimar Republic. Easier access to birth control, the relaxation in the abortion laws, the decriminalisation of prostitution, the openness about sexual matters, sex reformers’ desire to improve the nation’s knowledge about sexual pleasure and techniques and a thriving lesbian sub-culture all contributed. (2015)
In Berlin, in particular, attitudes around sexual freedom and homosexuality began to relax and experience an unprecedented degree of openness. The first Institute for Sexual Science even opened its doors during the Weimar Republic in 1919, under the leadership of famed sexologist, Magnus Hirschfeld.
Decadence and hedonism (for some)
Particularly in metropolises like Berlin, where there was a consumer boom (funded by the widespread use of consumer credit), the Weimar Republic was also iconic for its hedonism and decadence. Cabarets, jazz clubs, and avant-garde theater were popular nightlife attractions in big cities where such establishments often raged into the early hours. Alcohol, along with other illicit substances like cocaine and morphine were widely consumed, and organized crime was rampant. In this sense, there was a culture of short-sighted escapism prevalent in the Weimar Republic, as the liberalization of social mores was intertwined with a desire to run from the traumas that ravaged Germany during World War I.
Moreover, these qualities were not without their critiques and backlash. For example, Storer highlights that famed Expressionist painter,
Otto Dix’s Groβstadt Triptych (1927–28) illustrates the social conscience of the Verists well, with its contrast between the hedonism of the wealthy and the poverty of crippled war veterans at society’s margins. (2013)
(For more on Dix’s Groβstadt Triptych see Artsy's overview and Ann Murray's Otto Dix and the Memorialization of World War I in German Visual Culture, 1914-1936, 2023).
While the middle classes and urban elites enjoyed the luxuries of the day, significant levels of inequality persisted, as the working class and those living in rural areas did not have the same access to the spoils of the Golden Twenties. This only contributed to the rising polarization and discontent with the Weimar Republic. Moreover, the Nazis staunchly condemned the atmosphere of hedonism, promiscuity, drug use, and homosexuality. They believed these trends were a sign of moral decay and blamed them for undermining the very core of respectable German society during a time when the nation was experiencing deep shame and social breakdown for its failures during the war. This resonated with the religious and conservative segments of society, along with all who were excluded from the decadence of the 1920s.
Inevitable collapse?
As we have explored in this study guide, the Weimar Republic was rife with instability. The public was intensely polarized, and many were distrustful of the liberal democratic order instated by the political elite. They lived with the trauma and humiliation of a devastating defeat in WWI, and some coped through escapism while others directed their outrage at what they perceived as moral decay. The economic turmoil that reached its climax in the stock market crash of 1929 only added fuel to the fire already brewing by the time the Weimar Republic entered the 1930s. All of this served as a breeding ground for the Nazi ideology to take hold, as the public was enticed by promises to bring the German nation to a place of power and glory—while giving them a convenient scapegoat for their problems.
Indeed, one of the reasons that the story of the Weimar Republic has gripped historians and audiences of all kinds is because we have the hindsight to know how it all came to an infamous end as Hitler ascended to power. Yet, there is a growing consensus among scholars of the period, that despite the conditions outlined above, the dissolution of the Weimar Republic was not inevitable from the outset. According to this perspective, the demise was contingent on factors such as the global economy and specific choices made by those in power. In particular, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor to appease his supporters while mistakenly thinking that the conservative elites could bring him to heel. But, because the Constitution allowed the chancellor to rule unilaterally under emergency decree, Hitler used his position to dissolve the Reichstag and begin his autocratic rule. Moreover, as McElligott argues,
The supposed failings and weaknesses of the republic’s institutions that made its end inevitable have provided generations of scholars with a seductive meta-narrative that is only now undergoing revision. Today, rather than viewing the republic as weak, compromised, fragmented and lacking in political authority, a new generation of historians have begun to liberate themselves from the old Weimar paradigm of failed politics offset by cultural experimentalism. Instead, it sees a polity whose parliamentary institutions were resilient; its republican culture assertive; its civic identity robust; and whose social policy was not simply an expression of benign welfarism, but also contained a strain of liberal authoritarianism. (2013)
If we heed this rising consensus that the Weimar Republic was not simply doomed from the outset, it opens up space to recognize some of its remarkable achievements. In a span of a few years, bringing about an economic comeback against difficult odds as well as rebounding Germany’s diplomatic standing on the international stage. Perhaps more than anyone, women also benefited from the Weimar period, among other things, enjoying the right to vote before most other Western nations. The republic also has left its mark on the collective imagination for its many thinkers, artists, and writers who managed to flourish, however briefly, during the Golden Twenties. No doubt, the Weimar Republic continues to hold many lessons for historians, sociologists, and political scientists alike, as they analyze how this seemingly progressive time period could be the predecessor to such a monstrosity as the Third Reich.
Further reading on Perlego
The German Right in the Weimar Republic (2014) by Larry Eugene Jones
Weimar Thought (2013) by Peter E. Gordon and John P. McCormick
The Nazi Seizure of Power (2018) by William Sheridan Allen
Gender and the Uncanny in Films of the Weimar Republic (2014) by Anjeana K. Hans
From Caligari to Hitler (2019) by Siegfried Kracauer
Weimar Republic FAQs
What was the Weimar Republic in simple terms?
What was the Weimar Republic in simple terms?
What was life like under the Weimar Republic?
What was life like under the Weimar Republic?
Why did the Weimar Republic collapse?
Why did the Weimar Republic collapse?
Bibliography
Boak, H. (2015) Women in the Weimar Republic. Manchester University Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1526301/women-in-the-weimar-republic
Braun, H-J. (2010) The German Economy in the Twentieth Century. Routledge. Available at:
Fischer, F. (2019) From Kaiserreich to Third Reich: Elements of Continuity in German History 1871-1945. Routledge. Available at:
Fulbrook, M. (2021) A History of Germany 1918 - 2020: The Divided Nation. Wiley-Blackwell. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2706491/a-history-of-germany-1918-2020-the-divided-nation
Kaufmann, W. (2018) Monarchism in the Weimar Republic. Arcole Publishing. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/3019628/monarchism-in-the-weimar-republic
Keynes, J. M. (2017) The Economic Consequences of the Peace. Available at:
https://www.perlego.com/book/1550195/the-economic-consequences-of-the-peace
Lee, S.J. (2013) The Weimar Republic. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1555148/the-weimar-republic
McElligott, A. (2013) Rethinking the Weimar Republic: Authority and Authoritarianism, 1916-1936. Bloomsbury Academic. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/392953/rethinking-the-weimar-republic-authority-and-authoritarianism-19161936
Murray, A. (2023) Otto Dix and the Memorialization of World War I in German Visual Culture, 1914-1936. Bloomsbury Visual Arts. Available at:
Schaefer, K. (2020) German Military and the Weimar Republic. Pen & Sword Military. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2459033/german-military-and-the-weimar-republic
Storer, C. (2013) A Short History of the Weimar Republic. I.B. Tauris. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/919528/a-short-history-of-the-weimar-republic
Vascik, G.S. and M.R. Sadler (2016) The Stab-in-the-Back Myth and the Fall of the Weimar Republic. Bloomsbury Academic. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/808134/the-stabintheback-myth-and-the-fall-of-the-weimar-republic-a-history-in-documents-and-visual-sources
MA, Sociology (Freie Universität Berlin)
Lily Cichanowicz has a master's degree in Sociology from Freie Universität Berlin and a dual bachelor's degree from Cornell University in Sociology and International Development. Her research interests include political economy, labor, and social movements. Her master's thesis focused on the labor shortages in the food service industry following the Covid-19 pandemic.