Paula Banholzer (6 August 1901 – 25 February 1989) was an educator and first love of

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

, who was born in

Markt Wald Markt Wald is a municipality in the district of Unterallgäu in Bavaria, Germany. Christoph Scheiner Christoph Scheiner (25 July 1573 (or 1575) – 18 June 1650) was a Jesuit priest, physicist and astronomer in Ingolstadt. Biography Augsburg/D ...

and died 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 ...

Life

The daughter of the physician Carl Banholzer, she was born and grew up in the Middle-Swabian Markt Wald in the present-day district of

Unterallgäu Unterallgäu (, ) is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) Neu-Ulm, Günzburg, Augsburg, Ostallgäu, Oberallgäu, and the districts Ravensburg und Biberach in Baden-Württ ...

. Later, she attended a higher girls' school, the Augsburger Maria-Theresia-Schule (now Maria-Theresia-Gymnasium). Banholzer and Brecht met in Augsburg in the spring of 1917. Brecht also called Paula "Bi" or called her by the English word "Bittersweet". He took this nickname from the drama ''Der Tausch'' by

Paul Claudel Paul Claudel (; 6 August 1868 – 23 February 1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism. Early lif ...

. Banholzer became pregnant by Brecht at the end of 1918. Brecht therefore sought her father to get his consent to a marriage, but Carl Banholzer declined this and sent his pregnant daughter from the district, to Kimratshofen in what is now the district of Oberallgäu. There, her son Frank was born in July 1919, named after Brecht's then role-model

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 ...

; he died on November 13, 1943, as a corporal in Porkhov (Porchow) on the Eastern Front. After the birth, Banholzer resumed her love affair with Brecht, who now lived in Munich. Another pregnancy ended in November 1921, possibly through an abortion. Brecht continued the relationship, but at the same time had a relationship with

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 ...

and medical student Hedda Kuhn. In July 1921 Banholzer took a first distancing step, when she accepted a position as an educator in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

. When Brecht, now married to Marianne Zoff, learned in February 1924 of Banholzer's marriage intentions with her future husband, the Augsburg merchant Hermann Gross, he sent Helene Weigel to Augsburg to fetch "Bi" to Berlin. Paula Banholzer did not come. In 1981 she wrote her memoirs, which were published as a book. 29 letters from Brecht to Banholzer were found in the estate of his brother Walter Brecht. They appeared in 1992 in book form.Bertolt Brecht, ''Liebste Bi: Briefe an Paula Banholzer'', ed. by Helmut Gier and Jürgen Hillesheim (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1992), .

Bibliography

* Paula Banholzer, ''Paula Banholzer, so viel wie eine Liebe: der unbekannte Brecht (Erinnerungen u. Gespräche)'', ed. by Axel Poldner and Willibald Eser (München: Universitas, 1981) (repr. as ''Paula Banholzer, meine Zeit mit Bert Brecht'' (München: Goldmann, 1984), . * Bertolt Brecht, ''Liebste Bi: Briefe an Paula Banholzer'', ed. by Helmut Gier and Jürgen Hillesheim (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1992), . * Jürgen Hillesheim, ''Paula Banholzer'', in ''Augsburger Brecht-Lexikon. Personen – Institutionen – Schauplätze'' (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2000), pp
38–40
* Jürgen Hillesheim, ''Bertolt Brecht – Erste Liebe und Krieg'' (Augsburg 2008).

References

External links

* *
Paula Banholzer in the Augsburg-Wiki
*
Der ist klein, man glaubt es kaum
, ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

'' (22 June 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Banholzer, Paula 1901 births 1989 deaths