Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht was born on the 10th of February 1898 in Augsburg, Germany. His father worked for a paper mill and became its managing director in 1914. The modest house where he grew up is now preserved as a museum. His mother was a devout Protestant while his father was Roman Catholic. They had a Protestant wedding after his father was persuaded to convert. His maternal grandparents lived next door and were Pietists. They influenced Bertolt Brecht and his brother Walter considerably during their childhood. From them came a lifelong familiarity with the Bible that shaped his writing. A dangerous image of the self-denying woman from his mother recurred in his dramas. At school in Augsburg he met Caspar Neher who formed a life-long creative partnership. Neher designed many sets for Brecht's dramas later.
World War I broke out when Brecht was sixteen years old. He initially felt enthusiastic about the conflict but changed his mind quickly. He watched his classmates get swallowed by the army. In 1915 he nearly got expelled from school for writing an essay. The essay responded to the line Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori from Horace. He called it cheap propaganda for a specific purpose. Only an empty-headed person could be persuaded to die for their country according to him. Romuald Sauer intervened as a priest and substitute teacher at the school. This prevented his expulsion. On his father's recommendation he sought to avoid conscription into the army. He exploited a loophole allowing medical students to defer service. He enrolled at Munich University in 1917. There he studied drama with Arthur Kutscher. Kutscher inspired admiration for Frank Wedekind in the young man. Wedekind had worked as a ballad singer and accompanied himself on the lute.
Brecht moved to Berlin in 1924 after working in Munich. He wrote The Threepenny Opera with Elisabeth Hauptmann and Kurt Weill that year. Herbert Ihering reviewed Drums in the Night in the Berliner Börsen-Courier on the 5th of October 1922. He enthused that Brecht had changed Germany's literary complexion overnight. A new tone and melody appeared in the work. It was a language you could feel on your tongue and gums. In November 1922 he won the prestigious Kleist Prize for his first three plays. The award citation insisted his language was vivid without being deliberately poetic. Symbolical elements were present but not over literary. That same year he married Marianne Zoff who was a Viennese opera singer. Their daughter Hanne Hiob was born in March 1923. She became a successful German actress later. Between November 1921 and April 1922 he made acquaintance with many influential people in Berlin. Arnolt Bronnen established a joint venture called the Arnolt Bronnen Bertolt Brecht Company. Brecht changed the spelling of his first name to Bertolt to rhyme with Arnolt.
In 1925 Brecht began developing Man Equals Man as part of the New Objectivity movement. This project became the first product of what he called the Brecht collective. The group included Emil Burri, Slatan Dudow, Caspar Neher, Bernhard Reich, and Elisabeth Hauptmann. They decided to call themselves The Brecht Collective. The collective's work mirrored the artistic climate of the middle 1920s. They attended fights together absorbing terminology and ethos that permeated Man Equals Man. In 1926 a series of short stories appeared under Brecht's name though Hauptmann wrote them closely. He studied Marxism and socialism in earnest under her supervision. When I read Marx's Capital a note by Brecht reveals I understood my plays. Marx was the only spectator for my plays he added. In 1927 he collaborated with Kurt Weill on Mahagonny. They produced Little Mahagonny for a music festival in July. It served as a stylistic exercise preparation for the large-scale piece. From that point on Caspar Neher became an integral part of the collaborative effort. Words music and visuals were conceived in relation to one another from the start.
Brecht fled Nazi Germany in February 1933 just after Hitler took power. He moved to Southern California upon receiving his U.S. visa in May 1941. The family rented a two-story home at 1063 26th Street in Santa Monica. By the late 1930s West Side Los Angeles had become a thriving expatriate colony called Weimar on the Pacific. Salka Viertel hosted frequent tea parties where European intellectuals mingled with Hollywood luminaries. Brecht first met actor Charles Laughton at a Viertel party. This led to collaboration on the English-language version of Life of Galileo. He co-wrote Hangmen Also Die! which was directed by Fritz Lang. The film was loosely based on the 1942 assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich was known as The Hangman of Prague. For this film Hanns Eisler received an Academy Award nomination for Best Music Score. The money earned enabled him to write The Visions of Simone Machard later. During the Third Reich he expressed opposition through plays like Mother Courage and Her Children.
In September 1947 Brecht was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee. He testified before the committee on the 30th of October 1947. He stated he had never been a member of the Communist Party. He made wry jokes throughout the proceedings while translators transformed his German statements into English. These translations were unintelligible to himself due to language barriers. HUAC vice-chairman Karl Mundt thanked him for cooperation. The remaining unfriendly witnesses who appeared before the committee declined to answer about their affiliations. They cited First Amendment grounds and were cited for contempt. Brecht's decision to be cooperative led to criticism from many contemporaries. Some accused him of betrayal. The day after his testimony he fled to Europe and never returned to the United States. He lived in Zurich Switzerland for a year before moving to East Berlin in 1949.
Brecht established the Berliner Ensemble theatre company in 1949. He retained Austrian nationality which was granted in 1950. His overseas bank accounts provided valuable hard currency remittances. The copyrights on his writings were held by a Swiss company. He dedicated himself to directing plays and developing young talents like Manfred Wekwerth and Benno Besson. In 1953 he supported measures taken against the East German uprising initially. A letter to Walter Ulbricht stated history would pay respects to revolutionary impatience. However months later he wrote Die Lösung poem offering a different assessment. After the uprising of the 17th of June the Secretary distributed leaflets stating people had forfeited confidence. Would it not be easier for the government to dissolve the people and elect another? The poem appeared first in West-German newspaper Die Welt in 1959. It was published in GDR only in 1969 after Helene Weigel insisted on its inclusion. Brecht died on the 14th of August 1956 from a heart attack at age 58.
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Common questions
When and where was Bertolt Brecht born?
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht was born on the 10th of February 1898 in Augsburg, Germany. His parents were a devout Protestant mother and a Roman Catholic father who converted for their wedding.
What major political event caused Bertolt Brecht to flee Nazi Germany?
Brecht fled Nazi Germany in February 1933 just after Hitler took power. He moved to Southern California upon receiving his U.S. visa in May 1941.
Who did Bertolt Brecht collaborate with to create The Threepenny Opera?
Bertolt Brecht wrote The Threepenny Opera with Elisabeth Hauptmann and Kurt Weill that year. Herbert Ihering reviewed Drums in the Night in the Berliner Börsen-Courier on the 5th of October 1922.
Why did Bertolt Brecht testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee?
In September 1947 Bertolt Brecht was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee. He testified before the committee on the 30th of October 1947 stating he had never been a member of the Communist Party.
When did Bertolt Brecht die and what was the cause of death?
Bertolt Brecht died on the 14th of August 1956 from a heart attack at age 58. He lived in East Berlin after moving there from Zurich Switzerland in 1949.