The Weimar Republic, also known as the German Republic, was the German government from mid 1919 to early 1933. They struggled throughout their run with issues such as hyperinflation, largely due to the Great Depression, and political unrest, including political murders and attempted power seizures from opposing parties.

With all these problems, people needed a break from reality. Doing as humans do, they decided to create escapism in the form of art, in this case film. This is how the Classic German Expressionist Movement began. Filmmakers used real life as a imitation by distorting it, creating unusual cityscapes with stranger stories. These stories reflected real trials and tribulations in some bizarre way, for example The Cabinet of Dr Caligari warns of controlling figures and being forced to commit terrible acts, which was a bit ahead of its time.