Bertholt Brecht
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Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German
theatre practitioner A theatre practitioner is someone who creates theatrical performances and/or produces a theoretical discourse that informs their practical work. A theatre practitioner may be a director, dramatist, actor, designer or a combination of these tradi ...
, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...
, he had his first successes as a playwright in Munich and moved to Berlin in 1924, where he wrote ''
The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François V ...
'' with
Elisabeth Hauptmann Elisabeth Hauptmann (20 June 1897, Peckelsheim, Westphalia, German Empire – 20 April 1973, East Berlin) was a German writer who worked with fellow German playwright and director Bertolt Brecht. She got to know Brecht in 1922, the same year sh ...
and
Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...
and began a life-long collaboration with the composer
Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was a German-Austrian composer. He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artistic association with Bertolt Brecht, and for the scores he wrote for films. The ...
. Immersed in
Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
thought during this period, Brecht wrote didactic ''
Lehrstücke The (; singular ) are a radical and experimental form of Modernism, modernist theatre developed by Bertolt Brecht and his collaborators from the 1920s to the late 1930s. The ''Lehrstücke'' stem from Brecht's epic theatre techniques but as a c ...
'' and became a leading theoretician of
epic theatre Epic theatre () is a theatrical movement that arose in the early to mid-20th century from the theories and practice of a number of theatre practitioners who responded to the political climate of the time through the creation of new political ...
(which he later preferred to call "dialectical theatre") and the . When the
Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
came to power in Germany in 1933, Brecht fled his home country, initially to Scandinavia. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
he moved to
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
where he established himself as a screenwriter, while also being surveilled by the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
. In 1947, he was part of the first group of Hollywood film artists to be subpoenaed by the
House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...
for alleged Communist Party affiliations. The day after testifying, he returned to Europe, eventually settling in
East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...
where he co-founded the theatre company
Berliner Ensemble The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langh ...
with his wife and long-time collaborator, actress
Helene Weigel Helene Weigel (; 12 May 19006 May 1971) was an Austrian actress and artistic director. She was the second and last wife of Bertolt Brecht until his death in 1956; together they had two children. Personal life Weigel was born in Vienna, Austria ...
.


Life and career


Bavaria (1898–1924)

Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (as a child known as Eugen) was born on 10 February 1898 in
Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...
, Germany, the son of Berthold Friedrich Brecht (1869–1939) and his wife Sophie, née Brezing (1871–1920). Brecht's mother was a devout
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
and his father a
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
(who had been persuaded to have a Protestant wedding). The modest house where he was born is today preserved as a Brecht Museum. His father worked for a paper mill, becoming its managing director in 1914. At Augsburg, his maternal grandparents lived in the neighbouring house. They were Pietists and his grandmother influenced Bertolt Brecht and his brother
Walter Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–19 ...
considerably during their childhood. Due to his grandmother's and his mother's influence, Brecht knew the Bible, a familiarity that would have a life-long effect on his writing. From his mother came the "dangerous image of the self-denying woman" that recurs in his drama. Brecht's home life was comfortably middle class, despite what his occasional attempt to claim peasant origins implied. At school in Augsburg he met
Caspar Neher Caspar Neher (born Rudolf Ludwig Caspar Neher; 11 April 1897 – 30 June 1962) was an Austrian-German scenographer and Libretto, librettist, known principally for his career-long working relationship with Bertolt Brecht. Neher was born in Augs ...
, with whom he formed a life-long creative partnership. Neher designed many of the sets for Brecht's dramas and helped to forge the distinctive visual iconography of their
epic theatre Epic theatre () is a theatrical movement that arose in the early to mid-20th century from the theories and practice of a number of theatre practitioners who responded to the political climate of the time through the creation of new political ...
. When Brecht was 16,
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
broke out. Initially enthusiastic, Brecht soon changed his mind on seeing his classmates "swallowed by the army". Brecht was nearly expelled from school in 1915 for writing an essay in response to the line '' Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori'' from the Roman poet
Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...
, calling it ''Zweckpropaganda'' ("cheap propaganda for a specific purpose") and arguing that only an empty-headed person could be persuaded to die for their country. His expulsion was only prevented by the intervention of Romuald Sauer, a priest who also served as a substitute teacher at Brecht's school. On his father's recommendation, Brecht sought to avoid being conscripted into the army by exploiting a loophole which allowed for medical students to be deferred. He subsequently registered for a medical course at
Munich University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...
, where he enrolled in 1917. There he studied drama with Arthur Kutscher, who inspired in the young Brecht an admiration for the iconoclastic dramatist and
cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
star
Frank Wedekind Benjamin Franklin Wedekind (July 24, 1864 – March 9, 1918) was a German playwright. His work, which often criticizes bourgeois attitudes (particularly towards sex), is considered to anticipate expressionism and was influential in the developme ...
. From July 1916, Brecht's newspaper articles began appearing under the new name "Bert Brecht" (his first theatre criticism for the '' Augsburger Volkswille'' appeared in October 1919). Brecht was drafted into military service in the autumn of 1918, only to be posted back to Augsburg as a medical orderly in a military VD clinic; the war ended a month later. In July 1919, Brecht and
Paula Banholzer Paula Banholzer (6 August 1901 – 25 February 1989) was an educator and first love of Bertolt Brecht, who was born in Markt Wald and died in Augsburg. Life The daughter of the physician Carl Banholzer, she was born and grew up in the Middle-Swabi ...
(who had begun a relationship in 1917) had a son, Frank. Frank died in 1943, as a
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
conscript on the Eastern Front. In 1920 Brecht's mother died. Some time in either 1920 or 1921, Brecht took a small part in the political cabaret of the Munich comedian
Karl Valentin Karl Valentin (, born Valentin Ludwig Fey; 4 June 1882 – 9 February 1948) was a Bavarian comedian. He had significant influence on German Weimar culture. Valentin starred in many silent films in the 1920s, and was sometimes called the "Cha ...
. Brecht's diaries for the next few years record numerous visits to see Valentin perform. Brecht compared Valentin to
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...
, for his "virtually complete rejection of mimicry and cheap psychology". Writing in his ''
Messingkauf Dialogues ''The Messingkauf Dialogues'' () is an incomplete theoretical work by the twentieth-century German theatre practitioner Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Br ...
'' years later, Brecht identified Valentin, along with Wedekind and Büchner, as his "chief influences" at that time: Brecht's first full-length play, ''
Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...
'' (written 1918), arose in response to an argument in one of Kutscher's drama seminars, initiating a trend that persisted throughout his career of creative activity that was generated by a desire to counter another work (both others' and his own, as his many adaptations and re-writes attest). "Anyone can be creative," he quipped, "it's rewriting other people that's a challenge." Brecht completed his second major play, ''
Drums in the Night ''Drums in the Night'' (German language, German: ''Trommeln in der Nacht'') is a Play (theatre), play by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. Brecht wrote it between 1919 and 1920, and it received its first theatrical production in 1922. It is i ...
'', in February 1919. Between November 1921 and April 1922 Brecht made acquaintance with many influential people in the Berlin cultural scene. Amongst them was the playwright
Arnolt Bronnen Arnolt Bronnen (19 August 1895 – 12 October 1959) was an Austrian playwright and director. Life and career Bronnen was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of the Austrian-Jewish writer Ferdinand Bronner and his Christian wife Martha Bronner. B ...
with whom he established a joint venture, the Arnolt Bronnen / Bertolt Brecht Company. Brecht changed the spelling of his first name to Bertolt to rhyme with Arnolt. In 1922 while still living in Munich, Brecht came to the attention of an influential Berlin critic, Herbert Ihering: "At 24 the writer Bert Brecht has changed Germany's literary complexion overnight"—he enthused in his review of Brecht's first play to be produced, ''Drums in the Night''—" ehas given our time a new tone, a new melody, a new vision. ..It is a language you can feel on your tongue, in your gums, your ear, your spinal column." In November it was announced that Brecht had been awarded the prestigious
Kleist Prize The Kleist Prize is an annual German literature prize. The prize was first awarded in 1912, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Heinrich von Kleist. The Kleist Prize was the most important literary award of the Weimar Rep ...
(intended for unestablished writers and probably Germany's most significant literary award, until it was abolished in 1932) for his first three plays (''Baal'', ''Drums in the Night'', and '' In the Jungle'', although at that point only ''Drums'' had been produced). The citation for the award insisted that: " recht'slanguage is vivid without being deliberately poetic, symbolical without being over literary. Brecht is a dramatist because his language is felt physically and in the round." That year he married the Viennese opera singer
Marianne Zoff Marianne Josephine Zoff (30 June 1893 – 22 November 1984) was an Austrian actress and opera singer (mezzo-soprano). Zoff was born in Hainfeld, Lower Austria. Starting in 1919 at the Staatstheater Augsburg, she sang at several German opera ho ...
. Their daughter,
Hanne Hiob Hanne Hiob (12 March 1923 – 23 June 2009) was a German actress. Early life Hiob was born on 12 March 1920 as Hanne Marianne Brecht in Munich, the daughter of the writer Bertolt Brecht and his then wife, the opera singer and actress Marianne Z ...
, born in March 1923, was a successful German actress. In 1923, Brecht wrote a scenario for what was to become a short
slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as ...
film, ''
Mysteries of a Barbershop ''Mysteries of a Barbershop'' () is a Comics, comic, slapstick German film of 33 minutes, created by Bertolt Brecht, directed by Erich Engel, and starring the Munich cabaret clown Karl Valentin and leading stage actor Erwin Faber. Brecht repor ...
'', directed by
Erich Engel Erich Gustav Otto Engel (14 February 1891 – 10 May 1966) was a German film and theatre director.He is often confused with another German film director called Erich Engels (with an s), who specialised in comedy, and crime films. Biography ...
and starring Karl Valentin. Despite a lack of success at the time, its experimental inventiveness and the subsequent success of many of its contributors have meant that it is now considered one of the most important films in German film history. In May of that year, Brecht's ''In the Jungle'' premiered in Munich, also directed by Engel. Opening night proved to be a "scandal"—a phenomenon that would characterize many of his later productions during the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...
—in which
Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
blew whistles and threw stink bombs at the actors on the stage. In 1924 Brecht worked with the novelist and playwright
Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Republic, Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. ...
(whom he had met in 1919) on an adaptation of
Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe ( ; Baptism, baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the English Renaissance theatre, Eli ...
's ''
Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also known as Edward of Caernarfon or Caernarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne follo ...
'' that proved to be a milestone in Brecht's early theatrical and dramaturgical development. Brecht's ''
Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also known as Edward of Caernarfon or Caernarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne follo ...
'' constituted his first attempt at collaborative writing and was the first of many classic texts he was to adapt. As his first solo directorial début, he later credited it as the germ of his conception of "
epic theatre Epic theatre () is a theatrical movement that arose in the early to mid-20th century from the theories and practice of a number of theatre practitioners who responded to the political climate of the time through the creation of new political ...
". That September, a job as assistant
dramaturg A dramaturge or dramaturg (from Ancient Greek δραματουργός – dramatourgós) is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and pr ...
at
Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his radically innovative and avant-gard ...
's Deutsches Theater—at the time one of the leading three or four theatres in the world—brought him to Berlin.


Weimar Republic Berlin (1925–1933)

In 1923 Brecht's marriage to Zoff began to break down (though they did not divorce until 1927). Brecht had become involved with both
Elisabeth Hauptmann Elisabeth Hauptmann (20 June 1897, Peckelsheim, Westphalia, German Empire – 20 April 1973, East Berlin) was a German writer who worked with fellow German playwright and director Bertolt Brecht. She got to know Brecht in 1922, the same year sh ...
and Helene Weigel. Brecht and Weigel's son, Stefan, was born in October 1924. In his role as dramaturg, Brecht had much to stimulate him but little work of his own. Reinhardt staged Shaw's '' Saint Joan'',
Goldoni Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni (, also , ; 25 February 1707 – 6 February 1793) was an Italian playwright and librettist from the Republic of Venice. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays ...
's ''
Servant of Two Masters ''The Servant of Two Masters'' () is a comedy by the Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni written in 1746. Goldoni originally wrote the play at the request of actor Antonio Sacco, one of the great Harlequins in history. His earliest drafts had larg ...
'' (with the improvisational approach of the ''
commedia dell'arte Commedia dell'arte was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Theatre of Italy, Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is a ...
'' in which the actors chatted with the prompter about their roles), and Pirandello's ''
Six Characters in Search of an Author ''Six Characters in Search of an Author'' ( ) is an Italian play by Luigi Pirandello, written and first performed in 1921. An absurdist metatheatric play about the relationship among authors, their characters, and theatre practitioners, it p ...
'' in his group of Berlin theatres. A new version of Brecht's third play, now entitled '' Jungle: Decline of a Family'', opened at the Deutsches Theater in October 1924, but was not a success. At this time Brecht revised his important "transitional poem", "Of Poor BB". In 1925, his publishers provided him with Elisabeth Hauptmann as an assistant for the completion of his collection of poems, ''Devotions for the Home'' ('' Hauspostille'', eventually published in January 1927). She continued to work with him after the publisher's commission ran out. In 1925 in
Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...
the artistic exhibition ''Neue Sachlichkeit'' ("
New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in ) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against German Expressionism, expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle Mannheim, Kunsthalle' ...
") had given its name to the new post-
Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
movement in the German arts. With little to do at the Deutsches Theater, Brecht began to develop his ''
Man Equals Man ''Man Equals Man'' (), or ''A Man's a Man'', is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. One of Brecht's earlier works, it explores themes of war, human fungibility, and identity. It is one of the agitprop works inspired by ...
'' project, which was to become the first product of "the 'Brecht collective'—that shifting group of friends and collaborators on whom he henceforward depended." This collaborative approach to artistic production, together with aspects of Brecht's writing and style of theatrical production, mark Brecht's work from this period as part of the ''Neue Sachlichkeit'' movement. The collective's work "mirrored the artistic climate of the middle 1920s", Willett and Manheim argue:
with their attitude of ''Neue Sachlichkeit'' (or New Matter-of-Factness), their stressing of the collectivity and downplaying of the individual, and their new cult of
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
imagery and sport. Together the "collective" would go to fights, not only absorbing their terminology and ethos (which permeates ''Man Equals Man'') but also drawing those conclusions for the theatre as a whole which Brecht set down in his theoretical essay "Emphasis on Sport" and tried to realise by means of the harsh lighting, the boxing-ring stage and other anti-illusionistic devices that henceforward appeared in his own productions.
In 1925, Brecht saw two films that had a significant influence on him:
Chaplin Chaplin may refer to: People * Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), English comedy film actor and director * Chaplin (name), other people named Chaplin Films * ''Unknown Chaplin'' (1983) * Chaplin (film), ''Chaplin'' (film) (1992) * Chaplin (2011 fi ...
's ''
The Gold Rush ''The Gold Rush'' is a 1925 American silent comedy film written, produced, and directed by Charlie Chaplin. The film also stars Chaplin in his The Tramp, Little Tramp persona, Georgia Hale, Mack Swain, Tom Murray (actor), Tom Murray, Henry Ber ...
'' and Eisenstein's ''
Battleship Potemkin '' Battleship Potemkin'' (, ), sometimes rendered as ''Battleship Potyomkin'', is a 1925 Soviet silent epic film produced by Mosfilm. Directed and co-written by Sergei Eisenstein, it presents a dramatization of the mutiny that occurred in 1905 ...
''. Brecht had compared
Valentin Valentin is a male given name meaning "strong, healthy, power, rule". It comes from the Latin name ''Valentinus'', as in Saint Valentin. Commonly found in Argentina, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Romania, Russia, Scandinavia, Ukraine, Latin A ...
to Chaplin, and the two of them provided models for Galy Gay in ''Man Equals Man''. Brecht later wrote that Chaplin "would in many ways come closer to the
epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...
than to the dramatic theatre's requirements." They met several times during Brecht's time in the United States, and discussed Chaplin's ''
Monsieur Verdoux ''Monsieur Verdoux'' is a 1947 American black comedy film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, who plays a bigamist wife killer inspired by serial killer Henri Désiré Landru. The supporting cast includes Martha Raye, William Frawley, and ...
'' project, which it is possible Brecht influenced. In 1926 a series of short stories was published under Brecht's name, though Hauptmann was closely associated with writing them. Following the production of ''Man Equals Man'' in Darmstadt that year, Brecht began studying
Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
and socialism in earnest, under the supervision of Hauptmann. "When I read
Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
's ''
Capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...
''", a note by Brecht reveals, "I understood my plays." Marx was, it continues, "the only spectator for my plays I'd ever come across." Inspired by the developments in
USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, Brecht wrote a number of
agitprop Agitprop (; from , portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in the Soviet Union where it referred to popular media, such as literatu ...
plays, praising the
bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
collectivism In sociology, a social organization is a pattern of relationships between and among individuals and groups. Characteristics of social organization can include qualities such as sexual composition, spatiotemporal cohesion, leadership, struct ...
(replaceability of each member of the collective in ''Man Equals Man'') and the
Red Terror The Red Terror () was a campaign of political repression and Mass killing, executions in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia which was carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police ...
( ''The Decision''). In 1927 Brecht became part of the " dramaturgical collective" of
Erwin Piscator Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator (17 December 1893 – 30 March 1966) was a German theatre director and Theatrical producer, producer. Along with Bertolt Brecht, he was the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio- ...
's first company, which was designed to tackle the problem of finding new plays for its "epic, political, confrontational, documentary theatre". Brecht collaborated with Piscator during the period of the latter's landmark productions, ''
Hoppla, We're Alive! ''Hoppla, We're Alive!'' () is a ''Neue Sachlichkeit'' (or "New Objectivity") play by the German playwright Ernst Toller. Its second production, directed by the seminal epic theatre director Erwin Piscator in 1927, was a milestone in the history of ...
'' by
Toller Toller is a ward within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council of West Yorkshire, England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great B ...
, ''Rasputin'', '' The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik'', and ''Konjunktur'' by
Lania Lania may refer to: * Łania, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland * Laneia, a village in Cyprus * "-lania", a suffix used in taxonomy. {{geodis ...
. Brecht's most significant contribution was to the adaptation of the unfinished episodic comic novel ''Schweik'', which he later described as a "montage from the novel". The Piscator productions influenced Brecht's ideas about staging and design, and alerted him to the radical potentials offered to the "
epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...
" playwright by the development of stage technology (particularly projections). What Brecht took from Piscator "is fairly plain, and he acknowledged it" Willett suggests:
The emphasis on Reason and didacticism, the sense that the new subject matter demanded a new dramatic form, the use of songs to
interrupt In digital computers, an interrupt (sometimes referred to as a trap) is a request for the processor to ''interrupt'' currently executing code (when permitted), so that the event can be processed in a timely manner. If the request is accepted ...
and comment: all these are found in his notes and essays of the 1920s, and he bolstered them by citing such Piscatorial examples as the step-by-step narrative technique of ''Schweik'' and the oil interests handled in ''Konjunktur'' ('Petroleum resists the five-act form').
Brecht was struggling at the time with the question of how to dramatize the complex economic relationships of modern capitalism in his unfinished project ''Joe P. Fleischhacker'' (which Piscator's theatre announced in its programme for the 1927–28 season). It wasn't until his ''
Saint Joan of the Stockyards ''Saint Joan of the Stockyards'' () is a play written by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht between 1929 and 1931, after the success of his musical ''The Threepenny Opera'' and during the period of his radical experimental work with th ...
'' (written between 1929 and 1931) that Brecht solved it. In 1928 he discussed with Piscator plans to stage
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
's ''
Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
'' and Brecht's own ''
Drums in the Night ''Drums in the Night'' (German language, German: ''Trommeln in der Nacht'') is a Play (theatre), play by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. Brecht wrote it between 1919 and 1920, and it received its first theatrical production in 1922. It is i ...
'', but the productions did not materialize. The year 1927 also saw the first collaboration between Brecht and the young composer
Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...
. Together they began to develop Brecht's '' Mahagonny'' project, along thematic lines of the biblical Cities of the Plain but rendered in terms of the ''
Neue Sachlichkeit The New Objectivity (in ) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, who used it as the title of ...
s ''Amerikanismus'', which had informed Brecht's previous work. They produced '' The Little Mahagonny'' for a music festival in July, as what Weill called a "stylistic exercise" in preparation for the large-scale piece. From that point on
Caspar Neher Caspar Neher (born Rudolf Ludwig Caspar Neher; 11 April 1897 – 30 June 1962) was an Austrian-German scenographer and Libretto, librettist, known principally for his career-long working relationship with Bertolt Brecht. Neher was born in Augs ...
became an integral part of the collaborative effort, with words, music and visuals conceived in relation to one another from the start. The model for their mutual articulation lay in Brecht's newly formulated principle of the " separation of the elements", which he first outlined in " The Modern Theatre Is the Epic Theatre" (1930). The principle, a variety of montage, proposed by-passing the "great struggle for supremacy between words, music and production" as Brecht put it, by showing each as self-contained, independent works of art that adopt attitudes towards one another. In 1930 Brecht married Weigel; their daughter Barbara Brecht was born soon after the wedding. She also became an actress and would later share the
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
s of Brecht's work with her siblings. Brecht formed a writing collective which became prolific and very influential.
Elisabeth Hauptmann Elisabeth Hauptmann (20 June 1897, Peckelsheim, Westphalia, German Empire – 20 April 1973, East Berlin) was a German writer who worked with fellow German playwright and director Bertolt Brecht. She got to know Brecht in 1922, the same year sh ...
,
Margarete Steffin Margarete Emilie Charlotte Steffin (21 March 1908, Rummelsburg – 4 June 1941, Moscow) was a German actress and writer, one of Bertold Brecht's closest collaborators, as well as a prolific translator from Russian and Scandinavian languages. B ...
, Emil Burri,
Ruth Berlau Ruth Berlau (24 August 1906, Charlottenlund – 15 January 1974, East Berlin) was a Denmark, Danish actress, director, photographer and writer, known for her collaboration with Bertolt Brecht and for founding the Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv in Berlin. ...
and others worked with Brecht and produced the multiple teaching plays, which attempted to create a new
dramaturgy Dramaturgy is the study of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. The role of a dramaturg in the field of modern dramaturgy is to help realize the multifaceted world of the play for a production u ...
for participants rather than passive audiences. These addressed themselves to the massive worker arts organisation that existed in Germany and Austria in the 1920s. So did Brecht's first great play, ''
Saint Joan of the Stockyards ''Saint Joan of the Stockyards'' () is a play written by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht between 1929 and 1931, after the success of his musical ''The Threepenny Opera'' and during the period of his radical experimental work with th ...
'', which attempts to portray the drama in financial transactions. This collective adapted
John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peach ...
's ''
The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of sati ...
'', with Brecht's lyrics set to music by
Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...
. Retitled ''
The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François V ...
'' (''Die Dreigroschenoper'') it was the biggest hit in Berlin of the 1920s and a renewing influence on the musical worldwide. One of its most famous lines underscored the hypocrisy of conventional morality imposed by the Church, working in conjunction with the established order, in the face of working-class hunger and deprivation: The success of ''The Threepenny Opera'' was followed by the quickly thrown together ''Happy End''. It was a personal and a commercial failure. At the time the book was purported to be by the mysterious Dorothy Lane (now known to be Elisabeth Hauptmann, Brecht's secretary and close collaborator). Brecht only claimed authorship of the song texts. Brecht would later use elements of ''Happy End'' as the germ for his ''Saint Joan of the Stockyards'', a play that would never see the stage in Brecht's lifetime. ''Happy Ends score by Weill produced many Brecht/Weill hits like "Der Bilbao-Song" and "Surabaya-Jonny". The masterpiece of the Brecht/Weill collaborations, ''
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny ''Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' () is a political-satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht. It was first performed on 9 March 1930 at the in Leipzig. Some interpreters have viewed the play as a ...
'' (''Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny''), caused an uproar when it premiered in 1930 in Leipzig, with Nazis in the audience protesting. The ''Mahagonny'' opera would premier later in Berlin in 1931 as a triumphant sensation. Brecht spent the last years of the Weimar-era (1930–1933) in Berlin working with his "collective" on the ''Lehrstücke''. These were a group of plays driven by morals, music and Brecht's budding epic theatre. The ''Lehrstücke'' often aimed at educating workers on Socialist issues. '' The Measures Taken'' (''Die Massnahme'') was scored by
Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was a German-Austrian composer. He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artistic association with Bertolt Brecht, and for the scores he wrote for films. The ...
. In addition, Brecht worked on a script for a semi-documentary feature film about the human impact of mass unemployment, ''
Kuhle Wampe ''Kuhle Wampe'' (full title: ''Kuhle Wampe, oder: Wem gehört die Welt?'', translated in English as ''Kuhle Wampe or Who Owns the World?'', and released in the USA as ''Whither Germany?'' by Kinematrade Inc.) is a 1932 German feature film abo ...
'' (1932), which was directed by
Slatan Dudow Slatan Theodor Dudow (, Zlatan Dudov; 30 January 1903 – 12 July 1963) was a Bulgarian-born German film director and screenwriter who made a number of films during the Weimar Republic and in East Germany. Biography Early life and career Dud ...
. This striking film is notable for its subversive humour, outstanding
cinematography Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...
by
Günther Krampf Günther Krampf (8 February 1899 – 4 August 1950) was an Austrian cinematographer who later settled and worked in the UK. Krampf has been described as a "phantom of film history" because of his largely forgotten role working on a number of imp ...
, and Hanns Eisler's dynamic musical contribution. It still provides a vivid insight into Berlin during the last years of the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...
.


California and World War II (1933–1945)

Fearing persecution, Brecht fled
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
in February 1933, just after
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
took power. Following brief spells in Prague, Zurich and Paris, he and Weigel accepted an invitation from journalist and author
Karin Michaëlis Karin Michaëlis (20 March 1872 – 11 January 1950) was a Danish journalist and author. She is best known for her novels, short stories, and children's books. Over the course of 50 years, Karin Michaëlis wrote more than 50 books in Danish, Ger ...
to move to Denmark. The Brechts first stayed with Michaëlis at her house on the small island of Thurø close to the island of
Funen Funen (, ), is the third-largest List of islands of Denmark, island of Denmark, after Zealand and North Jutlandic Island, Vendsyssel-Thy, with an area of . It is the List of islands by area, 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in th ...
. They later bought their own house in
Svendborg Svendborg () is a town on the island of Funen in south-central Denmark, and the seat of Svendborg Municipality. With a population of 27,616 (1 January 2025), Svendborg is Funen's second largest city.Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin ( ; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German-Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Jewish mysticism, Western M ...
,
Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was a German-Austrian composer. He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artistic association with Bertolt Brecht, and for the scores he wrote for films. The ...
and
Ruth Berlau Ruth Berlau (24 August 1906, Charlottenlund – 15 January 1974, East Berlin) was a Denmark, Danish actress, director, photographer and writer, known for her collaboration with Bertolt Brecht and for founding the Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv in Berlin. ...
. Brecht also travelled frequently to Copenhagen, Paris, Moscow, New York and London for various projects and collaborations. When war seemed imminent in April 1939, he moved to Stockholm, where he remained for a year. After Germany invaded Norway and
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
, Brecht left Sweden for Helsinki, Finland, where he awaited a pending visa to the United States. During this time he co-wrote the play ''
Mr Puntila and His Man Matti ''Mr Puntila and His Man Matti'' () is an epic comedy by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. It was written in 1940 and first performed in 1948. The story describes the aristocratic land-owner Puntila's relationship to his servant, Ma ...
'' (''Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti'') with
Hella Wuolijoki Hella Wuolijoki (née Ella Marie Murrik; 22 July 1886Hella Wuolijoki biography
, e ...
, with whom he lived in the Marlebäck manor house in
Iitti Iitti (; ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density ...
. Upon receipt of the U.S. visa in May 1941, the Brecht family relocated to
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
. They rented a two-story wooden bungalow in the
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
beach suburb of
Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
. By the late 1930s, the West Side of Los Angeles had become a thriving expatriate colony of European intellectuals and artists. Because the colony included so many writers, directors, actors, and composers from German-speaking countries, it has been referred to as "Weimar on the Pacific". At the center of the émigré community was Brecht's old friend Salka Viertel, whom he had known in the Berlin theatre world of the 1920s. From her house in Santa Monica Canyon, Viertel hosted frequent tea parties and salons where European intellectuals could mingle with Hollywood luminaries. Brecht first met actor
Charles Laughton Charles Laughton (; 1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British and American actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play wi ...
at a Viertel party, and it led to the two men collaborating on the English-language version of ''
Life of Galileo ''Life of Galileo'' (), also known as ''Galileo'', is a Play (theatre), play by the 20th century Germany, German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and collaborator Margarete Steffin with incidental music by Hanns Eisler. The play was written in 1938 and re ...
''. Although Brecht was not enamored of life in the movie capital, he worked hard to find a place for himself as a screenwriter. He co-wrote the screenplay for the
Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituari ...
-directed film ''
Hangmen Also Die! ''Hangmen Also Die!'' is a 1943 war film directed by the Austrian director Fritz Lang and written by John Wexley from a story by Bertolt Brecht (credited as Bert Brecht) and Lang. The film stars Brian Donlevy, with Walter Brennan, Anna Lee, and ...
'' (1943) which was loosely based on the 1942 assassination of
Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...
, the Nazi Deputy Reich Protector of the German-occupied
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was a partially-annexation, annexed territory of Nazi Germany that was established on 16 March 1939 after the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945), German occupation of the Czech lands. The protector ...
. Heydrich had been
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...
's right-hand man in the SS and a chief architect of the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
; he was known as "The Hangman of Prague" (). For this film, Brecht's fellow expatriate, composer
Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was a German-Austrian composer. He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artistic association with Bertolt Brecht, and for the scores he wrote for films. The ...
, was nominated for an
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
in the category of Best Music Score. The fact that three refugee artists from Nazi Germany – Lang, Brecht and Eisler – collaborated to make the film exemplified the influence this generation of German exiles had on American culture. ''Hangmen Also Die!'' turned out to be Brecht's only script that became a Hollywood film. The money he earned from selling the script enabled him to write ''
The Visions of Simone Machard ''The Visions of Simone Machard'' () is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. Written in 1942, the play is the second of three treatments of the Joan of Arc story that Brecht created (after '' Saint Joan of the Stockyards'' (wri ...
'', ''
Schweik in the Second World War ''Schweyk in the Second World War'' (German language, German: ''Schweyk im Zweiten Weltkrieg'') is a play (theatre), play by Germany, German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht. It was written by Brecht in 1943 while in exile in California, and is a ...
'' and an adaptation of Webster's ''
The Duchess of Malfi ''The Duchess of Malfi'' (originally published as ''The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy'') is a Jacobean revenge tragedy written by English dramatist John Webster in 1612–1613. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theat ...
''. During the reign of the
Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
, Brecht was a prominent practitioner of the
Exilliteratur German (, ''exile literature'') is the name for works of German literature written in the German diaspora by refugee authors who fled from Nazi Germany, Nazi Austria, and the occupied territories between 1933 and 1945. These dissident writers, ...
. He expressed his opposition to the
National Socialist Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...
and
Fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
movements in his famous plays: ''
Life of Galileo ''Life of Galileo'' (), also known as ''Galileo'', is a Play (theatre), play by the 20th century Germany, German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and collaborator Margarete Steffin with incidental music by Hanns Eisler. The play was written in 1938 and re ...
'', ''
Mother Courage and Her Children ''Mother Courage and Her Children'' () is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin. Four theatrical productions were produced in Switzerland and ...
'', ''
The Good Person of Szechwan ''The Good Person of Szechwan'' (, first translated less literally as ''The Good Man of Setzuan'') is a play written by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, in collaboration with Margarete Steffin and Ruth Berlau. The play was begun in 1938 but no ...
'', ''
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui ''The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui'' (), subtitled "A parable play", is a 1941 play by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. It chronicles the rise of Arturo Ui, a fictional 1930s Chicago mobster, and his attempts to control the cauliflower ra ...
'', ''
The Caucasian Chalk Circle ''The Caucasian Chalk Circle'' () is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother than the baby's wealthy b ...
'', ''Fear and Misery of the Third Reich'', and many others. However, his refusal to speak in support of Carola Neher, who died in the Gulag after being arrested during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge, was harshly criticised by White émigré, Russian émigrés living in the West.


Cold War and final years in East Germany (1945–1956)

At the onset of the Cold War and "Second Red Scare" in the U.S., Brecht was Hollywood blacklist, blacklisted by movie studio bosses and investigated by the
House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...
(HUAC).:File:Brecht HUAC hearing (1947-10-30).ogg, Brecht HUAC hearing Along with more than 40 other Hollywood writers, directors, actors and producers, he was subpoenaed in September 1947 by the HUAC. Although he was one of the 19 "unfriendly" witnesses who had declared ahead of time they would not cooperate with the House investigation, Brecht eventually decided to go before the committee and answer questions. He later explained he was following the advice of attorneys and did not want to delay his planned trip to Europe. On 30 October 1947, Brecht testified to the HUAC that he had never been a member of the Communist Party. He made wry jokes throughout the proceedings, punctuating his inability to speak English well with continuous references to the translators present, who transformed his German statements into English ones unintelligible to himself. HUAC vice-chairman Karl Mundt thanked Brecht for his cooperation. The remaining unfriendly witnesses who appeared before the HUAC at that time, the so-called Hollywood blacklist#Hollywood Ten and beyond, Hollywood Ten, declined on First Amendment to the United States Constitution, First Amendment grounds to answer about their Communist Party affiliations and were cited for contempt. Brecht's decision to be a "cooperative" witness—albeit in an evasive way and providing no useful information—led to criticism of him, including accusations of betrayal. The day after his testimony, Brecht fled to Europe and never returned to the U.S. He lived in Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland, for a year. In February 1948 in the Swiss town of Chur, Brecht staged an adaptation of Sophocles' ''Antigone (Sophocles), Antigone'', based on a translation by Friedrich Hölderlin, Hölderlin. The play was published under the title ''Antigonemodell 1948'', accompanied by an essay on the importance of creating a "Non-Aristotelian drama, non-Aristotelian" form of theatre. In 1949 he moved to
East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...
and established his theatre company there, the
Berliner Ensemble The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langh ...
. He retained Austrian nationality law, Austrian nationality which was granted in 1950, and his overseas bank accounts from which he received valuable hard currency remittances. The copyrights on his writings were held by a Swiss company. Though he was never a member of the Communist Party, Brecht had been schooled in
Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
by the dissident communist Karl Korsch. Korsch's version of the Dialectic#Marxist dialectic, Marxist dialectic influenced Brecht greatly, both his aesthetic theory and theatrical practice. Brecht received the Stalin Peace Prize in 1954. His proximity to Marxist thought made him controversial in Austria, where his plays were Brecht boycott in Vienna, boycotted by directors and not performed for more than ten years. Brecht wrote very few plays in his final years in East Berlin, none of them as famous as his previous works. He dedicated himself to directing plays and developing the talents of the next generation of young directors and dramaturgs, such as Manfred Wekwerth, Benno Besson and Carl Weber (theatre director), Carl Weber. At this time he wrote some of his most celebrated poems, including the '':de:Buckower Elegien, Buckow Elegies''. At first, Brecht apparently supported the measures taken by the East German government against the East German uprising of 1953, which included the use of Soviet military force. In a letter from the day of the uprising to Socialist Unity Party of Germany, SED First Secretary Walter Ulbricht, Brecht wrote: "History will pay its respects to the revolutionary impatience of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The great discussion [exchange] with the masses about the speed of socialist construction will lead to a viewing and safeguarding of the socialist achievements. At this moment I must assure you of my allegiance to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany." Brecht's subsequent commentary on those events, however, offered a very different assessment. In one of the poems in the ''Elegies'', "Die Lösung" (The Solution), a disillusioned Brecht wrote a few months later:
After the uprising of the East German uprising of 1953, 17th of June The Secretary of the Deutscher Schriftstellerverband, Writers Union Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee Stating that the people Had forfeited the confidence of the government And could win it back only By increased work quotas. Would it not be easier In that case for the government To dissolve the people And elect another?
Brecht's involvement in
agitprop Agitprop (; from , portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in the Soviet Union where it referred to popular media, such as literatu ...
and his lack of clear condemnation of purges resulted in criticism from many contemporaries who became disillusioned with communism earlier. Fritz J. Raddatz, Fritz Raddatz, who knew Brecht for a long time, described his friend's attitude as "broken", "escaping the problem of Stalinism", ignoring his friends being murdered in the USSR, and keeping silent during Show trials in the Soviet Union, show trials such as the Slánský trial. After Khrushchev's "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, Secret Speech"—the report read on the 20th Congress of the CPSU, which brought the crimes of Stalinism to the public—Brecht wrote poems critical of Stalin and his cult, unpublished during Brecht's lifetime. In the best-known of them, "The Tsar Spoke to Them" (''Der Zar hat mit ihnen gesprochen''), Brecht mocked the epithets applied to Stalin as "the honoured murderer of the people" and compared his state terror policies with the ones of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II, famous for violent suppression of a peaceful demonstration on "Bloody Sunday (1905), Bloody Sunday" and later protests which resulted in the Russian Revolution of 1905.
the sun of the peoples burned its worshippers. ... when young he was conscientious when old he was cruel young he was not god who becomes god becomes dumb.


Death

Brecht died on 14 August 1956 of a heart attack at the age of 58. He is buried in the Dorotheenstadt Cemetery on Chausseestraße in the Mitte neighbourhood of Berlin, overlooked by the residence he shared with Helene Weigel. According to Stephen Parker, who reviewed Brecht's writings and unpublished medical records, Brecht contracted rheumatic fever as a child, which led to an enlarged heart, followed by life-long chronic heart failure and Sydenham's chorea. A report of a radiograph taken of Brecht in 1951 describes a badly diseased heart, enlarged to the left with a protruding aortic knob and with seriously impaired pumping. Brecht's colleagues characterized him as being very nervous, and sometimes shaking his head or moving his hands erratically. This can be reasonably attributed to Sydenham's chorea, which is also associated with emotional lability, personality changes, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and hyperactivity, which matched Brecht's behavior. "What is remarkable," wrote Parker, "is his capacity to turn abject physical weakness into peerless artistic strength, arrhythmia into the rhythms of poetry, chorea into the choreography of drama."


Theory and practice of theatre

Brecht developed the combined theory and practice of his
epic theatre Epic theatre () is a theatrical movement that arose in the early to mid-20th century from the theories and practice of a number of theatre practitioners who responded to the political climate of the time through the creation of new political ...
movement by synthesizing and extending the experiments of
Erwin Piscator Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator (17 December 1893 – 30 March 1966) was a German theatre director and Theatrical producer, producer. Along with Bertolt Brecht, he was the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio- ...
and Vsevolod Meyerhold to explore the theatre as a Political drama, forum for political ideas and the creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism. Epic Theatre proposed that a play should not cause the spectator to identify emotionally with the characters or action before him or her, but should instead provoke rational self-reflection and a critical view of the action on the stage. Brecht thought that the experience of a Climax (narrative), climactic catharsis of emotion left an audience complacent. Instead, he wanted his audiences to adopt a critical perspective in order to recognize social injustice and exploitation and to be moved to go forth from the theatre and effect change in the world outside. For this purpose, Brecht employed the use of techniques that remind the spectator that the play is a Metatheatre, representation of reality and not reality itself. By highlighting the constructed nature of the theatrical event, Brecht hoped to communicate that the audience's reality was equally constructed, and as such, was changeable. Brecht's Modernism, modernist concern with drama-as-a-Medium specificity, medium led to his refinement of the "Non-Aristotelian drama, epic form" of the drama. This dramatic form is related to similar modernist innovations in other The arts, arts, including the strategy of divergent chapters in James Joyce's novel ''Ulysses (novel), Ulysses'', Sergei Eisenstein's evolution of a Constructivism (art), constructivist " montage" in the cinema, and Pablo Picasso, Picasso's introduction of Cubism, cubist "collage" in the visual arts. One of Brecht's most important principles was what he called the ''Verfremdungseffekt'' (translated as "defamiliarization effect", "distancing effect", or "estrangement effect", and often mistranslated as "alienation effect"). This involved, Brecht wrote, "stripping the event of its self-evident, familiar, obvious quality and creating a sense of astonishment and curiosity about them". To this end, Brecht employed techniques such as the actor's direct address to the audience, harsh and bright stage lighting, the use of songs to
interrupt In digital computers, an interrupt (sometimes referred to as a trap) is a request for the processor to ''interrupt'' currently executing code (when permitted), so that the event can be processed in a timely manner. If the request is accepted ...
the action, explanatory placards, the transposition of text to the Grammatical person, third person or past tense in rehearsals, and speaking the stage directions out loud. In contrast to many other avant-garde approaches, however, Brecht had no desire to Anti-art, destroy art as an institution; rather, he hoped to "Refunctioning, re-function" the theatre to a new social use. In this regard he was a vital participant in the Aesthetics, aesthetic debates of his era—particularly over the "High culture, high art/popular culture" dichotomy—vying with the likes of Theodor W. Adorno, György Lukács, Ernst Bloch, and developing a close friendship with
Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin ( ; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German-Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Jewish mysticism, Western M ...
. Brechtian theatre articulated popular themes and forms with avant-garde formal experimentation to create a modernist realism that stood in sharp contrast both to its Realism (theatre), psychological and Socialist realism, socialist varieties. "Brecht's work is the most important and original in European drama since Henrik Ibsen, Ibsen and August Strindberg, Strindberg," Raymond Williams argues, while :de:Peter Bürger (Literaturwissenschaftler), Peter Bürger dubs him "the most important Materialism, materialist writer of our time." Brecht was also influenced by Chinese theatre, and used its aesthetic as an argument for ''Verfremdungseffekt''. Brecht believed, "Traditional Chinese acting also knows the alienation [sic] effect, and applies it most subtly. The [Chinese] performer portrays incidents of utmost passion, but without his delivery becoming heated." Brecht attended a Chinese opera performance and was introduced to the famous Chinese opera performer Mei Lanfang in 1935. However, Brecht was sure to distinguish between Epic and Chinese theatre. He recognized that the Chinese style was not a "transportable piece of technique", and that epic theatre sought to historicize and address social and political issues. Brecht used his poetry to criticize European culture, including Nazis, and the German bourgeoisie. Brecht's poetry is marked by the effects of the First World War, First and Second World Wars. Throughout his theatric production, poems are incorporated into his plays with music. In 1951, Brecht issued a recantation of his apparent suppression of poetry in his plays with a note titled ''On Poetry and Virtuosity''. He writes:
We shall not need to speak of a play's poetry ... something that seemed relatively unimportant in the immediate past. It seemed not only unimportant, but misleading, and the reason was not that the poetic element had been sufficiently developed and observed, but that reality had been tampered with in its name ... we had to speak of a truth as distinct from poetry ... we have given up examining works of art from their poetic or artistic aspect, and got satisfaction from theatrical works that have no sort of poetic appeal ... Such works and performances may have some effect, but it can hardly be a profound one, not even politically. For it is a peculiarity of the theatrical medium that it communicates awarenesses and impulses in the form of pleasure: the depth of the pleasure and the impulse will correspond to the depth of the pleasure.
Brecht's most influential poetry is featured in his ''Manual of Piety (Devotions)'', establishing him as a noted poet.


Legacy

Brecht's widow, the actress
Helene Weigel Helene Weigel (; 12 May 19006 May 1971) was an Austrian actress and artistic director. She was the second and last wife of Bertolt Brecht until his death in 1956; together they had two children. Personal life Weigel was born in Vienna, Austria ...
, continued to manage the Berliner Ensemble until her death in 1971. The theatre company was primarily devoted to performing Brecht's plays. His plays were a focus of the Schauspiel Frankfurt when Harry Buckwitz was general manager, including the world premiere of ''The Visions of Simone Machard, Die Gesichte der Simone Machard'' in 1957. Brecht's son, Stefan Brecht, became a poet and theatre critic interested in New York's Experimental theatre, avant-garde theatre. Besides being a prominent dramatist and poet, Bertolt Brecht has also been cited by scholars for making significant original contributions to social and political philosophy. The aesthetic theories of Brecht had a major influence on radical cinema in the 1960s and 1970s. Jean-Luc Godard, Alexander Kluge, Alexandre Kluge, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Nagisa Ōshima and Straub–Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub and Danielle Huillet are often cited as the principal exponents of "Brechtian cinema". Brecht's collaborations with Kurt Weill influenced the evolution of rock music, rock. The "Alabama Song" for example, originally published as a poem in Brecht's ''Hauspostille'' (1927) and set to music by Weill in ''Mahagonny'', was recorded by The Doors on their self-titled debut album, as well as by David Bowie and various other bands and soloists since the 1960s. In his memoir, Bob Dylan wrote about the huge impact that "Pirate Jenny" from ''The Threepenny Opera'' had on him. He first heard the song in a New York theatrical show that featured compositions by Brecht and Weill. At the time, Dylan was performing traditional folk music and had barely ventured into his own songwriting. But the "outrageous power" of "Pirate Jenny" was an epiphany which prompted him to start experimenting with the storytelling possibilities of song.


Collaborators and associates

Collective and collaborative working methods were inherent to Brecht's approach, as Fredric Jameson (among others) stresses. Jameson describes the creator of the work not as Brecht the individual, but rather as 'Brecht': a collective subject that "certainly seemed to have a distinctive style (the one we now call 'Brechtian') but was no longer personal in the bourgeois or Individualism, individualistic sense." During the course of his career, Brecht sustained many long-lasting creative relationships with other writers, composers, scenographers, directors, dramaturgs and actors; the list includes:
Elisabeth Hauptmann Elisabeth Hauptmann (20 June 1897, Peckelsheim, Westphalia, German Empire – 20 April 1973, East Berlin) was a German writer who worked with fellow German playwright and director Bertolt Brecht. She got to know Brecht in 1922, the same year sh ...
,
Helene Weigel Helene Weigel (; 12 May 19006 May 1971) was an Austrian actress and artistic director. She was the second and last wife of Bertolt Brecht until his death in 1956; together they had two children. Personal life Weigel was born in Vienna, Austria ...
,
Margarete Steffin Margarete Emilie Charlotte Steffin (21 March 1908, Rummelsburg – 4 June 1941, Moscow) was a German actress and writer, one of Bertold Brecht's closest collaborators, as well as a prolific translator from Russian and Scandinavian languages. B ...
,
Ruth Berlau Ruth Berlau (24 August 1906, Charlottenlund – 15 January 1974, East Berlin) was a Denmark, Danish actress, director, photographer and writer, known for her collaboration with Bertolt Brecht and for founding the Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv in Berlin. ...
,
Slatan Dudow Slatan Theodor Dudow (, Zlatan Dudov; 30 January 1903 – 12 July 1963) was a Bulgarian-born German film director and screenwriter who made a number of films during the Weimar Republic and in East Germany. Biography Early life and career Dud ...
,
Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...
,
Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was a German-Austrian composer. He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artistic association with Bertolt Brecht, and for the scores he wrote for films. The ...
, Paul Dessau,
Caspar Neher Caspar Neher (born Rudolf Ludwig Caspar Neher; 11 April 1897 – 30 June 1962) was an Austrian-German scenographer and Libretto, librettist, known principally for his career-long working relationship with Bertolt Brecht. Neher was born in Augs ...
, Teo Otto, Karl von Appen, Ernst Busch (actor), Ernst Busch, Lotte Lenya, Peter Lorre, Therese Giehse, Angelika Hurwicz, Carola Neher and
Charles Laughton Charles Laughton (; 1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British and American actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play wi ...
. This is "theatre as collective experiment ..as something radically different from theatre as expression or as experience."


List of collaborators and associates

* Karl von Appen *
Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin ( ; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German-Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Jewish mysticism, Western M ...
* Eric Bentley * Ruth Berghaus *
Ruth Berlau Ruth Berlau (24 August 1906, Charlottenlund – 15 January 1974, East Berlin) was a Denmark, Danish actress, director, photographer and writer, known for her collaboration with Bertolt Brecht and for founding the Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv in Berlin. ...
*
Berliner Ensemble The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langh ...
* Benno Besson *
Arnolt Bronnen Arnolt Bronnen (19 August 1895 – 12 October 1959) was an Austrian playwright and director. Life and career Bronnen was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of the Austrian-Jewish writer Ferdinand Bronner and his Christian wife Martha Bronner. B ...
* Emil Burri * Ernst Busch (actor), Ernst Busch * Paul Dessau *
Slatan Dudow Slatan Theodor Dudow (, Zlatan Dudov; 30 January 1903 – 12 July 1963) was a Bulgarian-born German film director and screenwriter who made a number of films during the Weimar Republic and in East Germany. Biography Early life and career Dud ...
*
Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was a German-Austrian composer. He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artistic association with Bertolt Brecht, and for the scores he wrote for films. The ...
*
Erich Engel Erich Gustav Otto Engel (14 February 1891 – 10 May 1966) was a German film and theatre director.He is often confused with another German film director called Erich Engels (with an s), who specialised in comedy, and crime films. Biography ...
* Erwin Faber *
Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Republic, Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. ...
* Therese Giehse * Alexander Granach *
Elisabeth Hauptmann Elisabeth Hauptmann (20 June 1897, Peckelsheim, Westphalia, German Empire – 20 April 1973, East Berlin) was a German writer who worked with fellow German playwright and director Bertolt Brecht. She got to know Brecht in 1922, the same year sh ...
* John Heartfield * Paul Hindemith * Oskar Homolka * Angelika Hurwicz * Herbert Ihering * Fritz Kortner *
Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituari ...
* Wolfgang Langhoff *
Charles Laughton Charles Laughton (; 1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British and American actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play wi ...
* Lotte Lenya * Theo Lingen * Peter Lorre * Joseph Losey * Ralph Manheim * Carola Neher *
Caspar Neher Caspar Neher (born Rudolf Ludwig Caspar Neher; 11 April 1897 – 30 June 1962) was an Austrian-German scenographer and Libretto, librettist, known principally for his career-long working relationship with Bertolt Brecht. Neher was born in Augs ...
* Teo Otto * G. W. Pabst *
Erwin Piscator Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator (17 December 1893 – 30 March 1966) was a German theatre director and Theatrical producer, producer. Along with Bertolt Brecht, he was the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio- ...
*
Margarete Steffin Margarete Emilie Charlotte Steffin (21 March 1908, Rummelsburg – 4 June 1941, Moscow) was a German actress and writer, one of Bertold Brecht's closest collaborators, as well as a prolific translator from Russian and Scandinavian languages. B ...
* Salka Viertel * Carl Weber (theatre director), Carl Weber *
Helene Weigel Helene Weigel (; 12 May 19006 May 1971) was an Austrian actress and artistic director. She was the second and last wife of Bertolt Brecht until his death in 1956; together they had two children. Personal life Weigel was born in Vienna, Austria ...
*
Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...
* John Willett *
Hella Wuolijoki Hella Wuolijoki (née Ella Marie Murrik; 22 July 1886Hella Wuolijoki biography
, e ...


Works


Fiction

* ''Stories of Mr. Keuner'' ('':de:Geschichten vom Herrn Keuner, Geschichten vom Herrn Keuner'') * ''Threepenny Novel'' (''Dreigroschenroman'', 1934) * ''The Business Affairs of Mr. Julius Caesar'' ('':de:Die Geschäfte des Herrn Julius Caesar, Die Geschäfte des Herrn Julius Caesar'', 1937–39, unfinished, published 1957) * ''Tales from the Calendar'' (short-story collection) * "The Job", alternate title "By The Sweat of Thy Brow Shalt Thou Fail to Earn Thy Bread"


Plays and screenplays

Entries show: ''English-language translation of title'' (''German-language title'') [year written] / [year first produced] * ''
Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...
'' 1918/1923 * ''
Drums in the Night ''Drums in the Night'' (German language, German: ''Trommeln in der Nacht'') is a Play (theatre), play by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. Brecht wrote it between 1919 and 1920, and it received its first theatrical production in 1922. It is i ...
'' (''Trommeln in der Nacht'') 1918–20/1922 * ''The Beggar'' (''Der Bettler oder Der tote Hund'') 1919/? * ''A Respectable Wedding'' (''Die Kleinbürgerhochzeit'') 1919/1926 * ''Driving Out a Devil'' (''Er treibt einen Teufel aus'') 1919/? * ''Light in the Darkness'' ('':de:Lux in Tenebris (Brecht), Lux in Tenebris'') 1919/? * ''The Catch'' (''Der Fischzug'') 1919?/? * ''
Mysteries of a Barbershop ''Mysteries of a Barbershop'' () is a Comics, comic, slapstick German film of 33 minutes, created by Bertolt Brecht, directed by Erich Engel, and starring the Munich cabaret clown Karl Valentin and leading stage actor Erwin Faber. Brecht repor ...
'' (''Mysterien eines Friseursalons'') (screenplay) 1923 * ''In the Jungle of Cities'' (''Im Dickicht der Städte'') 1921–24/1923 * ''The Life of Edward II of England'' (''Leben Eduards des Zweiten von England'') 1924/1924 * ''Downfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer'' (''Der Untergang des Egoisten Johnann Fatzer'') (fragments) 1926–30/1974 * ''
Man Equals Man ''Man Equals Man'' (), or ''A Man's a Man'', is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. One of Brecht's earlier works, it explores themes of war, human fungibility, and identity. It is one of the agitprop works inspired by ...
'' also ''A Man's A Man'' (''Mann ist Mann'') 1924–26/1926 * ''The Elephant Calf'' (''Das Elefantenkalb'') 1924–26/1926 * ''Mahagonny-Songspiel, Little Mahagonny'' (''Mahagonny-Songspiel'') 1927/1927 * ''
The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François V ...
'' (''Die Dreigroschenoper'') 1928/1928 * ''The Flight Across the Ocean'' (''Der Ozeanflug''); originally ''Lindbergh's Flight'' (''Lindberghflug'') 1928–29/1929 * ''The Baden-Baden Lesson on Consent'' (''Badener Lehrstück vom Einverständnis'') 1929/1929 * ''Happy End (musical), Happy End'' (''Happy End'') 1929/1929 * ''Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' (''Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny'') 1927–29/1930 * ''Der Jasager, He Said Yes'' / ''Der Neinsager, He Said No'' (''Der Jasager''; ''Der Neinsager'') 1929–30/1930–? * ''The Decision (play), The Decision''/''The Measures Taken'' (''Die Maßnahme'') 1930/1930 * ''
Saint Joan of the Stockyards ''Saint Joan of the Stockyards'' () is a play written by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht between 1929 and 1931, after the success of his musical ''The Threepenny Opera'' and during the period of his radical experimental work with th ...
'' (''Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe'') 1929–31/1959 * ''The Exception and the Rule'' (''Die Ausnahme und die Regel'') 1930/1938 * ''The Mother (Brecht play), The Mother'' (''Die Mutter'') 1930–31/1932 * ''
Kuhle Wampe ''Kuhle Wampe'' (full title: ''Kuhle Wampe, oder: Wem gehört die Welt?'', translated in English as ''Kuhle Wampe or Who Owns the World?'', and released in the USA as ''Whither Germany?'' by Kinematrade Inc.) is a 1932 German feature film abo ...
'' (screenplay, with Ernst Ottwalt) 1931/1932 * ''The Seven Deadly Sins (ballet chanté), The Seven Deadly Sins'' (''Die sieben Todsünden der Kleinbürger'') 1933/1933 * ''Round Heads and Pointed Heads'' (''Die Rundköpfe und die Spitzköpfe'') 1931–34/1936 * ''The Horatians and the Curiatians'' (''Die Horatier und die Kuriatier'') 1933–34/1958 * ''Fear and Misery of the Third Reich'' (''Furcht und Elend des Dritten Reiches'') 1935–38/1938 * ''Señora Carrar's Rifles'' (''Die Gewehre der Frau Carrar'') 1937/1937 * ''
Life of Galileo ''Life of Galileo'' (), also known as ''Galileo'', is a Play (theatre), play by the 20th century Germany, German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and collaborator Margarete Steffin with incidental music by Hanns Eisler. The play was written in 1938 and re ...
'' (''Leben des Galilei'') 1937–39/1943 * ''How Much Is Your Iron?'' (''Was kostet das Eisen?'') 1939/1939 * ''Dansen'' (''Dansen'') 1939/? * ''
Mother Courage and Her Children ''Mother Courage and Her Children'' () is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin. Four theatrical productions were produced in Switzerland and ...
'' (''Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder'') 1938–39/1941 * ''The Trial of Lucullus'' (''Das Verhör des Lukullus'') 1938–39/1940 * ''The Judith of Shimoda'' (''Die Judith von Shimoda'') 1940 * ''
Mr Puntila and His Man Matti ''Mr Puntila and His Man Matti'' () is an epic comedy by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. It was written in 1940 and first performed in 1948. The story describes the aristocratic land-owner Puntila's relationship to his servant, Ma ...
'' (''Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti'') 1940/1948 * ''
The Good Person of Szechwan ''The Good Person of Szechwan'' (, first translated less literally as ''The Good Man of Setzuan'') is a play written by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, in collaboration with Margarete Steffin and Ruth Berlau. The play was begun in 1938 but no ...
'' (''Der gute Mensch von Sezuan'') 1939–42/1943 * ''
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui ''The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui'' (), subtitled "A parable play", is a 1941 play by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. It chronicles the rise of Arturo Ui, a fictional 1930s Chicago mobster, and his attempts to control the cauliflower ra ...
'' (''Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui'') 1941/1958 * ''
Hangmen Also Die! ''Hangmen Also Die!'' is a 1943 war film directed by the Austrian director Fritz Lang and written by John Wexley from a story by Bertolt Brecht (credited as Bert Brecht) and Lang. The film stars Brian Donlevy, with Walter Brennan, Anna Lee, and ...
'' (credited as Bert Brecht) (screenplay) 1942/1943 * ''
The Visions of Simone Machard ''The Visions of Simone Machard'' () is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. Written in 1942, the play is the second of three treatments of the Joan of Arc story that Brecht created (after '' Saint Joan of the Stockyards'' (wri ...
'' (''Die Gesichte der Simone Machard'') 1942–43/1957 * ''
The Duchess of Malfi ''The Duchess of Malfi'' (originally published as ''The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy'') is a Jacobean revenge tragedy written by English dramatist John Webster in 1612–1613. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theat ...
'' 1943/1943 * ''
Schweik in the Second World War ''Schweyk in the Second World War'' (German language, German: ''Schweyk im Zweiten Weltkrieg'') is a play (theatre), play by Germany, German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht. It was written by Brecht in 1943 while in exile in California, and is a ...
'' (''Schweyk im Zweiten Weltkrieg'') 1941–43/1957 * ''
The Caucasian Chalk Circle ''The Caucasian Chalk Circle'' () is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother than the baby's wealthy b ...
'' (''Der kaukasische Kreidekreis'') 1943–45/1948 * ''Antigone (Brecht play), Antigone'' (''Die Antigone des Sophokles'') 1947/1948 * ''The Days of the Commune'' (''Die Tage der Commune'') 1948–49/1956 * ''The Tutor (Brecht), The Tutor'' (''Der Hofmeister'') 1950/1950 * ''Die Verurteilung des Lukullus, The Condemnation of Lucullus'' (''Die Verurteilung des Lukullus'') 1938–39/1951 * ''Report from Herrnburg'' (''Herrnburger Bericht'') 1951/1951 * ''Coriolanus (Brecht), Coriolanus'' (''Coriolan'') 1951–53/1962 * ''The Trial of Joan of Arc at Rouen, 1431'' (''Der Prozess der Jeanne D'Arc zu Rouen, 1431'') 1952/1952 * ''Turandot (Brecht), Turandot'' (''Turandot oder Der Kongreß der Weißwäscher'') 1953–54/1969 * ''Don Juan (Brecht), Don Juan'' (''Don Juan'') 1952/1954 * ''Trumpets and Drums'' (''Pauken und Trompeten'') 1955/1955


Theoretical works

* '' The Modern Theatre Is the Epic Theatre'' (1930) * ''The Threepenny Lawsuit'' (''Der Dreigroschenprozess'') (written 1931; published 1932) * ''The Book of Changes'' (fragment also known as ''Me-Ti''; written 1935–1939) * ''The Street Scene'' (written 1938; published 1950) * ''The Popular and the Realistic'' (written 1938; published 1958) * ''Short Description of a New Technique of Acting which Produces an Alienation Effect'' (written 1940; published 1951) * ''A Short Organum for the Theatre'' ("Kleines Organon für das Theater", written 1948; published 1949) * ''Messingkauf Dialogues, The Messingkauf Dialogues'' (''Dialoge aus dem Messingkauf'', published 1963)


Poetry

Brecht wrote hundreds of poems throughout his life. He began writing poetry as a young boy, and his first poems were published in 1914. His poetry was influenced by folk-ballads, French ''chansons'', and the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, Rimbaud and François Villon, Villon. The last collection of new poetry by Brecht published in his lifetime was the 1939 ''Svendborger Gedichte''.Bertolt Brecht, ''Poems 1913–1956'', ed. by John Willett, Ralph Manheim, and Erich Fried (London: Eyre Methuen, 1976), p. 507. Some of Brecht's poems * 1940 * A Bad Time for Poetry * Alabama Song * Children's Crusade * Kinderhymne (Children's Hymn) * Contemplating Hell * From a German War Primer * Germany * Honoured Murderer of the People * How Fortunate the Man with None * Hymn to Communism * I Never Loved You More * I Want to Go with the One I Love * I'm Not Saying Anything Against Alexander * In Praise of Communism * In Praise of Doubt * In Praise of Illegal Work * In Praise of Learning * In Praise of Study * In Praise of the Work of the Party * Legend of the Origin of the Book Tao Te Ching, Tao-Te-Ching on Laozi, Lao-Tsu's Road into Exile * Mack the Knife * Mary * My Young Son Asks Me * Not What Was Meant * O Germany, Pale Mother! * On Reading a Recent Greek Poet * On the Critical Attitude * Parting * :de:Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters, Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters (Questions from a Worker Who Reads) * Radio Poem * Reminiscence of Marie A. * Send Me a Leaf * Solidaritätslied (Solidarity Song) * Die Bücherverbrennung (The Book Burning, about the Nazi book burnings) * The Exile of the Poets * The Invincible Inscription * The Mask of Evil * The Sixteen-Year-Old Seamstress Emma Ries before the Magistrate * Die Lösung (The Solution) * To Be Read in the Morning and at Night * To Posterity * To the Students and Workers of the Peasants' Faculty * :de:An die Nachgeborenen, An die Nachgeborenen (To Those Born After) * Einheitsfrontlied (United Front Song) * War Has Been Given a Bad Name * What Has Happened?


See also

* Bertolt-Brecht-Literaturpreis * Brecht Forum * Ernst Josef Aufricht *List of refugees * Weimar culture * Western Marxism


Notes


References


Primary sources


Essays, diaries, and journals

* * *


Drama, poetry, and prose

* ''Seven Plays by Bertolt Brecht'', 1961. Ed. Eric Bentley. New York: Grove Press. ''In the Swamp, A Man's A Man, Saint Joan of the Stockyards, Mother Courage, Galileo, The Good Woman of Setzuan, The Caucasian Chalk Circle''. * Brecht, Bertolt. 1994a. ''Collected Plays: One''. Ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim. Bertolt Brecht: Plays, Poetry, Prose. London: Methuen. ''Baal, Drums in the Night, In the Jungle of Cities, The Life of Edward II in England'', and ''Five One-Act Plays''. . * 1994b. ''Collected Plays: Two''. Ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim. London: Methuen. ''Man Equals Man, the Elephant Calf, The Threepenny Opera, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'', and ''The Seven Deadly Sins''. . * 1997. ''Collected Plays: Three''. Ed. John Willett. London: Methuen. ''St Joan of the Stockyards, the Mother'', and ''Six Lehrstöcke'' (''Lindbergh's Flight, The Baden-Baden Lesson on Consent, He Said Yes / He Said No, The Decision, The Exception and the Rule'', and ''The Horatians and the Curiatians'') . * 2003b. ''Collected Plays: Four''. Ed. Tom Kuhn and John Willett. London: Methuen. ''Round heads and pointed heads, Dansen, How much is your iron?, The trial of Lucullus, Fear and misery of the Third Reich'', and ''Señora Carrar's rifles'' . * 1995. ''Collected Plays: Five''. Ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim. London: Methuen. ''Life of Galileo'' and ''Mother Courage and Her Children'' . * 1994c. ''Collected Plays: Six''. Ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim. London: Methuen. ''The Good Person of Szechwan, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui'', and ''Mr Puntila and His Man Matti'' . * 1994d. ''Collected Plays: Seven''. Ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim. London: Methuen. ''The Visions of Simone Machard, Schweyk in the Second World War, The Caucasian Chalk Circle'', and ''The Duchess of Malfi'' . * 2004. ''Collected Plays: Eight.'' Ed. Tom Kuhn and David Constantine. London: Methuen. ''The Antigone of Sophocles, The Days of the Commune'', and ''Turandot or the Whitewasher's Congress'' . * 1972. ''Collected Plays: Nine.'' Ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim. New York: Vintage. ''The Tutor; Coriolanus; The Trial of Joan of Arc at Rouen, 1431; Don Juan''; and ''Trumpets and Drums'' . * * 2019. ''The Collected Poems of Bertolt Brecht''. Ed. Tom Kuhn and David Constantine. New York: Liveright Publishing. * 1983. ''Short Stories: 1921–1946''. Ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim. Trans. Yvonne Kapp, Hugh Rorrison and Antony Tatlow. London and New York: Methuen. . * 2001. ''Stories of Mr. Keuner''. Trans. Martin Chalmers. San Francisco: City Lights. .


Secondary sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Translation of :de:Klaus Völker, Klaus Völker: ''Bertolt Brecht, Eine Biographie.'' Munich and Vienna: Carl Hanser Verlag. . * * * * * *


Further reading

* [Anon.] 1952. "Brecht Directs". In ''Directors on Directing: A Source Book to the Modern Theater''. Ed. Toby Cole and Helen Krich Chinoy. Rev. ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1963. . 291- [Account of Brecht in rehearsal from anonymous colleague published in ''Theaterarbeit''] * * * Demčišák, Ján. 2012. "Queer Reading von Brechts Frühwerk". Marburg: Tectum Verlag. . * Demetz, Peter, ed. 1962. "From the Testimony of Berthold Brecht: Hearings of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 30 October 1947". ''Brecht: A Collection of Critical Essays''. Twentieth Century Views Ser. Eaglewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. . 30–42. * Diamond, Elin. 1997. ''Unmaking Mimesis: Essays on Feminism and Theater''. London and New York: Routledge. . * Terry Eagleton, Eagleton, Terry. 1985. "Brecht and Rhetoric". ''New Literary History'' 16.3 (Spring). 633–638. * Eaton, Katherine B. "Brecht's Contacts with the Theater of Meyerhold". in ''Comparative Drama'' 11.1 (Spring 1977) 3–21. Reprinted in 1984. ''Drama in the Twentieth Century'' ed. C. Davidson. New York: AMS Press, 1984. . 203–221. 1979. "''Die Pionierin'' und ''Feld-Herren'' vorm ''Kreidekreis''. Bemerkungen zu Brecht und Tretjakow". in ''Brecht-Jahrbuch 1979''. Ed. J. Fuegi, R. Grimm, J. Hermand. Suhrkamp, 1979. 1985 19–29. ''The Theater of Meyerhold and Brecht''. Connecticut and New York: Greenwood Press. . * Eddershaw, Margaret. 1982. "Acting Methods: Brecht and Stanislavski". In ''Brecht in Perspective''. Ed. Graham Bartram and Anthony Waine. London: Longman. . 128–144. * Esslin, Martin. 1960. ''Brecht: The Man and His Work''. New York: Doubleday. , first published in 1959 as ''Brecht: A Choice of Evils''. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. * Fuegi, John. 1994. "The Zelda Syndrome: Brecht and Elisabeth Hauptmann". In Thomson and Sacks (1994, 104–116). * Fuegi, John. 2002. ''Brecht and Company: Sex, Politics, and the Making of the Modern Drama.'' New York: Grove. . * Giles, Steve. 1998. "Marxist Aesthetics and Cultural Modernity in ''Der Dreigroschenprozeß''". ''Bertolt Brecht: Centenary Essays.'' Ed. Steve Giles and Rodney Livingstone. German Monitor 41. Amsterdam and Atlanta, Georgia: Rodopi. . 49–61. * Giles, Steve. 1997. ''Bertolt Brecht and Critical Theory: Marxism, Modernity and the Threepenny Lawsuit''. Bern: Lang. . * Glahn, Philip, 2014. ''Bertolt Brecht''. London: Reaktion Books. . * Jacobs, Nicholas and Prudence Ohlsen, eds. 1977. ''Bertolt Brecht in Britain.'' London: IRAT Services Ltd and TQ Publications. . * Katz, Pamela. 2015. ''The Partnership: Brecht, Weill, Three Women, and Germany on the Brink''. New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday. . * Krause, Duane. 1995. "An Epic System". In ''Acting (Re)considered: Theories and Practices''. Ed. Phillip B. Zarrilli. 1st ed. Worlds of Performance Ser. London: Routledge. . 262–274. * Leach, Robert. 1994. "''Mother Courage and Her Children''". In . * Giuseppe Leone, "Bertolt Brecht, ripropose l'eterno conflitto dell'intellettuale fra libertà di ricerca e condizionamenti del potere", su "Ricorditi...di me" in "Lecco 2000", Lecco, June 1998. * * McBride, Patrizia. "De-Moralizing Politics: Brecht's Early Aesthetics." ''Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte'' 82.1 (2008): 85–111. * John Milfull, Milfull, John. 1974. ''From Baal to Keuner. The "Second Optimism" of Bertolt Brecht'', Bern and Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. * Mitter, Schomit. 1992. "To Be And Not To Be: Bertolt Brecht and Peter Brook". ''Systems of Rehearsal: Stanislavsky, Brecht, Grotowski and Brook''. London: Routledge. . 42–77. * Heiner Müller, Müller, Heiner. 1990. ''Germania''. Trans. Bernard Schütze and Caroline Schütze. Ed. Sylvère Lotringer. Semiotext(e) Foreign Agents Ser. New York: Semiotext(e). . * Jan Needle, Needle, Jan and Peter Thomson. 1981. ''Brecht''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; Oxford: Basil Blackwell. . * G. W. Pabst, Pabst, G. W. 1984. ''The Threepenny Opera''. Classic Film Scripts Series. London: Lorrimer. . * Parker, Stephen. 2014. ''Bertolt Brecht: A Literary Life''. London: Methuen Drama. . * Reinelt, Janelle. 1990. "Rethinking Brecht: Deconstruction, Feminism, and the Politics of Form". ''The Brecht Yearbook'' 15. Ed. Marc Silberman et al. Madison, Wisconsin: The International Brecht Society, University of Wisconsin Press. 99–107. * Reinelt, Janelle. 1994. "A Feminist Reconsideration of the Brecht/Lukács Debate". ''Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory'' 7.1 (issue 13). 122–139. * Rouse, John. 1995. "Brecht and the Contradictory Actor". In ''Acting (Re)considered: A Theoretical and Practical Guide''. Ed. Phillip B. Zarrilli. 2nd ed. Worlds of Performance Series. London: Routledge. . 248–259. * * * Sternberg, Fritz. 1963. ''Der Dichter und die Ratio: Erinnerungen an Bertolt Brecht''. Göttingen: Sachse & Pohl. * Péter Szondi, Szondi, Péter. 1965. ''Theory of the Modern Drama.'' Ed. and trans. Michael Hays. Theory and History of Literature Series. 29. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987. . * Taxidou, Olga. 2007. ''Modernism and Performance: Jarry to Brecht''. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. . * Thomson, Peter. 2000. "Brecht and Actor Training: On Whose Behalf Do We Act?" In ''Twentieth Century Actor Training''. Ed. Alison Hodge. London and New York: Routledge. . 98–112. * Carl Weber (theatre director), Weber, Carl. 1984. "The Actor and Brecht, or: The Truth Is Concrete: Some Notes on Directing Brecht with American Actors". ''The Brecht Yearbook'' 13: 63–74. * Weber, Carl. 1994. "Brecht and the Berliner Ensemble – the Making of a Model". In Thomson and Sacks (1994, 167–184). * * Witt, Hubert, ed. 1975. ''Brecht As They Knew Him''. Trans. John Peet. London: Lawrence and Wishart; New York: International Publishers. . * Wizisla, Erdmut. 2009. ''Walter Benjamin and Bertolt Brecht: The Story of a Friendship''. Translated by Christine Shuttleworth. London / New Haven: Libris / Yale University Press. Contains a complete translation of the newly discovered minutes of the meetings around the putative journal ''Krise und Kritik'' (1931). * Womack, Peter (1979), "Brecht: The Search for an Audience", in Bold, Christine (ed.), ''Cencrastus'', no. 1, Autumn 1979, pp. 24–28, * Youngkin, Stephen D. 2005. ''The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre''. University Press of Kentucky. . Contains a detailed discussion of the personal and professional friendship between Brecht and film actor Peter Lorre.


External links

* * * *
"Brecht's Works in English: A Bibliography"
University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries
"''The Brecht Yearbook''"
University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries
"''Communications from the International Brecht Society'' (1971–2014)"
University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries * hdl:1903.1/7849, International Brecht Society records, University of Maryland Libraries
FBI files on Bertolt Brecht


* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brecht, Bertolt Bertolt Brecht, 1898 births 1956 deaths Writers from Augsburg Writers from the Kingdom of Bavaria People from Svendborg Acting theorists East German writers German male poets East German poets German literary critics Protestants in the German Resistance German theatre critics German theatre directors Hollywood blacklist Kleist Prize winners Marxist theorists German Marxist writers Modernist theatre German opera librettists Exilliteratur writers Stalin Peace Prize recipients Theatre practitioners German male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century German dramatists and playwrights 20th-century German screenwriters German male screenwriters Burials at the Dorotheenstadt Cemetery Naturalised citizens of Austria