Bertolt Brecht

(born ;* 10. February 1898 in Augsburg; + 14. August 1956 in Berlin) was a German poet and dramatist.
Life
Brecht went to school in Augsburg, where his father was the director of a paper factory.
He completed his degree in 1917.
Afterwards he studied sciences, medicine and literature at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. He had to take a break in his studies because he had to join the army.
In the 1920s, Brecht went to Berlin and became a part of the cultural scene. He met his second wife Helene Weigel in Berlin and married her, after divorcing his first wife. It was with his second wife that Brecht had another son.
In Berlin he met a lot of artists and intellectuals of the Weimar Republic.
His works became very critical about the capitalistic society (e.g. "Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny" (1930)). Many of his friends were communists, but he never joined the KPD.
His most famous work was from that time, the "Dreigroschenoper".
In 1933 the Nazis prohibited playing some of his works and arrested some of his friends.
After the Reichstag fire, he travelled from Germany to Prague, Vienna, Switzerland and Denmark.
For the next five years he lived in Denmark. In 1938 he wrote "Das Leben des Galilei" (The Life of Galilei) about Galileo Galilei, who was hunted by the Holy Inquisition because he wanted to tell the scientific truth.
When Germany occupied Denmark he had to flee once again.
He went to Sweden, then to Finland and finally to Moscow in the Soviet Union.
Even under Stalin he was not safe. He therefore flew through China to the United States.
He lived and worked in California and translated a lot of text.
In 1947, in the McCarthy era, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigated him, because they suspected him of being a communist.
He gave a statement and said that he had never been a member of the communist party.
He then flew back to Switzerland - the only place he could go to at the time.
In 1948 he was allowed to return to Berlin, East Berlin.
He was an important writer and director for the young East Germany.
After the workers' protest on June 17 1953, Brecht complained about the Eastern German government which landed him into some trouble. From that point on he got more and more isolated.
Brecht died of a heart attack in 1956 at the age of 58 years in Berlin.
Works
Dramas (chronological)
Baal
Trommeln in der Nacht
Im Dickicht der Stadte
Leben Eduards des Zweiten von England
Mann ist Mann
Die Dreigroschenoper
Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Opernlibretto)
Der Ozeanflug, auch Der Lindberghflug, auch Der Flug der Lindberghs
Das Badener Lehrstuck vom Einverstandnis, auch Lehrstuck
Der Jasager. Der Neinsager (Opernlibretti / Lehrstucke [Schuloper])
Die Massnahme (Lehrstuck)
Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthofe
Die Ausnahme und die Regel (Lehrstuck)
Die Mutter
Die Rundkopfe und die Spitzkopfe
Die Horatier und die Kuriatier (Lehrstuck)
Furcht und Elend des Dritten Reiches
Leben des Galilei
Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder
Das Verhor des Lukullus, auch Lukullus vor Gericht, auch Die Verurteilung des Lukullus (Horspiel, spater Opernlibretto)
Der gute Mensch von Sezuan
Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti
Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui
Die Gesichte der Simone Machard auch Die Stimmen (vgl. Lion Feuchtwanger Simone)
Schweyk im Zweiten Weltkrieg
Der kaukasische Kreidekreis
Die Tage der Commune
Turandot oder Der Kongress der Weisswascher
Bearbeitung der Antigone (1947)
Bearbeitung des Coriolanus von Shakespeare (1952/53)
One act dramas
Die Bibel
Die Gewehre der Frau Carrar
Die Hochzeit, auch Die Kleinburgerhochzeit
Der Bettler oder Der tote Hund
Prarie (Opernlibretto)
Er treibt einen Teufel aus
Lux in Tenebris
Der Fischzug
Dansen
Was kostet das Eisen?
Die sieben Todsunden, auch Die sieben Todsunden der Kleinburger (Ballettlibretto)
Lyrics
Lyric cycles
Lieder zur Klampfe von Bert Brecht und seinen Freunden (1918)
Psalmen (1920)
Bertolt Brechts Hauspostille (1916-1925)
Die Augsburger Sonette (1925-1927)
Die Songs der Dreigroschenoper (1928)
Aus dem Lesebuch fur Stadtebewohner (1926-1927)
Die Nachtlager (1931)
Geschichten aus der Revolution (1932)
Sonette (1932-1934)
Englische Sonette (1934)
Lieder Gedichte Chore (1933)
Chinesische Gedichte (1938-1949)
Studien (1934-1938)
Svendborger Gedichte ([1926]-1937)
Steffinsche Sammlung (1939-1942)
Hollywoodelegien (1942)
Gedichte im Exil ([1944])
Deutsche Satiren (1945)
Kinderlieder (1950)
Buckower Elegien (1953)
Lyirics and songs (not complete)
Choral vom Manne Baal
Ballade von den Seeraubern
Die Legende vom toten Soldaten
Die Liebenden, auch Terzinen uber die Liebe
Der Schneider von Ulm
An die Nachgeborenen
Die Losung
Mein Bruder war ein Flieger
Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters
Erinnerung an die Marie A.
Schlechte Zeit fur Lyrik
Resolution der Kommunarden
Morgens und abends zu lesen
Kinderhymne
Prosa
Bargan lasst es sein
Geschichten vom Herrn Keuner
Dreigroschenroman
Der Augsburger Kreidekreis
Fluchtlingsgesprache
Kalendergeschichten
Die unwurdige Greisin
Die Geschafte des Herrn Julius Casar
Ausgaben
Samtliche Stucke in einem Band. Komet, 2002,
Die Gedichte in einem Band. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2002,
Grosse kommentierte Berliner und Frankfurter Ausgabe. Aufbau Verlag u. a., Berlin u. a. 1988-2000, , 30 Bande [1]
Geschichten vom Herrn Keuner. Zurcher Fassung. Herausgegeben von Erdmut Wizisla. Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt am Main 2004. (Enthalt erstmals veroffentlichte Geschichten aus einem Zurcher Fund im Jahr 2000.)
1898 births
1956 deaths
Deaths from myocardial infarction
Disease-related deaths in Bavaria
East German people
German poets
People from Augsburg
Writers from Bavaria