Development of the Social Security System in Germany from the World War One to the Waimar Republic

Research Project

Project/Area Number	10630076
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Economic history
Research Institution	KYUSHU UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator	KAKU Sachio Kyushu Univ., Fac. of Economics prot., 経済学部, 教授 (30024988)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	加来祥男九州大学, 経済学部, 教授 (30024988)
Project Period (FY)	1998 – 1999
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1999)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000) Fiscal Year 1999: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000) Fiscal Year 1998: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Keywords	Germany / World War One / social policy in war time / social security system / 社会保険 / 救貧制度 / 社会保障 / 社会保健 / エルバーフェルト制度
Research Abstract	The First World War began in August 1914 and ended in November 1918 : It continued for more than four years, much longer than expected, and brought about problems which threatened the subsistence of the people in the combatants, especially in Germany. In order to solve them, various measures were taken in Germany, because the social security systems of Imperial Germany, I. e. the social insurance system and the poor relief system, were revised little in the wartime, and they alone could not cope with those problems. In the field of labor market policy, relief of the unemployment was introduced immediately after the break of the war, but the priority of the policy gradually moved to the control of allocation of labor forces. In carrying out the wartime economy, it was necessary to work together with workers, and the combination of them was also recognized for that purpose. On the other hand, the relief systems for soldiers families, wounded soldiers and next-of-kin of war casualties were introduced, and the idea of them was different from that of the poor relief system. Furthermore, the subsidy for rent was adopted, and special credit was extended to minor enterprises. Thus, the war time social policy in Germany were very diverse in contents and had to be regulated each other in some cases. In all strata of society, however, different ideas existed together with regard to the social order which they thought should be built up. The Weimar Republic, which came out in the disorder after the defeat of the War, had such serious problems to be solved.