Berliner Ensemble
Kaiser made his stage début in 1941 at the Stadtheater in Jihlava, Czechoslovakia, when that country was occupied by Germany. This led to Kaiser's engagement at the Volksbühne in Berlin from 1942 until 1945. Kaiser then had engagements in Frankfurt am Main, Munich and the Schauspiel Leipzig. In 1950 Kaiser returned to Berlin, where Bertolt Brecht recruited him to the Deutsches Theater and the Berliner Ensemble. Kaiser starred as Mack the Knife in Brecht and Weill's "The Threepenny Opera" in more than 450 times. Kaiser stayed with the Berliner Ensemble until 1967, becoming one of East Germany's foremost stage actors.