CBS

Between World War I and World War II, Germany faced a veritable economic crisis. The Reichsmark moved from just over four to the dollar in July 1914 to around four trillion to the dollar in November 1923. Though a trillion marks equated roughly to only one American quarter, the average German's rise in income did not come close to matching the accelerating rate of inflation. After the American stock market crashed in 1929, Germany was plunged into a Great Depression of its own, with the unemployment rate reaching 25%.

During this time, cabaret was at the height of its popularity. A reflection of its time, this form of live entertainment relied heavily on both political and social satire. Concurrently, political factions were emerging across Germany, all of which promised they had the remedy to what ailed the country. For instance, Hitler and The National Socialist German Workers (or "Nazi") Party, maintained, among other things, that the Jews were to blame for the crippled economy and the inability of the non-Jewish German to earn a living wage, and should therfore be driven out of the country. Such extremist ideas provided excellent fodder for cabaret.

However, when the Nazis came into power, they legally restricted freedom of expression under what was called "The Enabling Act," and persecuted anyone who dared to speak out against them. Like the newspapers who had critized the Nazis on their rise, Hitler had the theaters that had presented cabaret closed and many of their owners arrested and killed.