Jump to content

Ruth Berlau: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→Writings: linking
AnomieBOT (talk | contribs)
Bots
6,478,317 edits
m Dating maintenance tags: {{How?}}
 
(28 intermediate revisions by 17 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Danish actress, director, photographer and writer}}
⚫
'''Ruth Berlau''' (24 August 1906, [[Charlottenlund]] – 15 January 1974 in [[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. [[File:Tombstone Ruth Berlau.jpg|thumb|135px|Headstone in the [[Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof]] [[list of cemeteries in Berlin|Berlin]]]]
{{Onesource|date=April 2022}}
⚫
'''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]]<ref>
{{Cite web|title=Bertolt Brecht Archive|url=https://www.adk.de/en/archives/archives-departments/bertolt-brecht-archiv/index.htm|access-date=2020-09-13|website=www.adk.de|language=en}}</ref> in Berlin. [[File:Tombstone Ruth Berlau.jpg|thumb|135px|Headstone in the [[Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof]] [[list of cemeteries in Berlin|Berlin]]]]


Born to a merchant family, she learned French at a convent school, but had to drop out due to a pregnancy at the age of thirteen. She studied acting and established her Danish reputation playing Anna in Brecht's ''[[Drums in the Night]]''. During her teenage years, she financed a bicycle tour of France, by writing up a somewhat fictionalized account of her travels for a Danish newspaper. In 1930, she toured the [[Soviet Union]] by bicycle, and on her return joined the [[Communist Party of Denmark|communist party]]. Later she took part behind the front lines in the [[Spanish civil war]].
Born to a merchant family, she learned French at a convent school, but had to drop out due to a pregnancy at the age of thirteen. She studied acting and established her Danish reputation playing Anna in Brecht's ''[[Drums in the Night]]''. During her teenage years, she financed a bicycle tour of France, by writing up a somewhat fictionalized account of her travels for a Danish newspaper. In 1930, she toured the [[Soviet Union]] by bicycle, and on her return joined the [[Communist Party of Denmark]]. Later she took part behind the front lines in the [[Spanish Civil War]].{{cn|date=April 2022}}


In 1933, she presented herself to the newly arrived Brecht and his wife [[Helene Weigel]], then staying on the island of [[Funen|Fyn]],<ref>maybe Thurø instead; see [http://www.fembio.org/biographie.php/frau/biographie/ruth-berlau/ here]</ref> and within two years had become his lover. In 1936,<ref>or 1939 [http://www.fembio.org/biographie.php/frau/biographie/ruth-berlau/ ibid.]</ref> she divorced the doctor Robert Lund and threw herself into a collaboration with Brecht, acting as a secretary as well as writing, translating, photographing and directing. With Brecht, Berlau published the short story collection ''Jedes Tier kann es'', considered obscene in its time. In 1940, she followed the Brecht clan to Sweden, Finland, the USSR and finally to the United States, where a rupture with Brecht took place in 1944. In New York,<ref>or Los Angeles, [http://www.fembio.org/biographie.php/frau/biographie/ruth-berlau/ ibid]</ref> she gave birth to her only child, who was premature and only lived for a few days.
In 1933, she presented herself to the newly arrived Brecht and his wife [[Helene Weigel]], then staying on [[Funen|Fyn]] or [[Thurø]]<ref name="auto">{{cite web | title=Ruth Berlau | website=fembio.org | date=2019-09-01 | url=http://www.fembio.org/biographie.php/frau/biographie/ruth-berlau/ | access-date=2022-04-02}}</ref> and within two years had become his lover. In 1936 or 1939,<ref name="auto"/> she divorced her husband, Dr Robert Lund, and threw herself into a collaboration{{how?|date=February 2024}} with Brecht, acting as a secretary as well as writing, translating, photographing and directing. With Brecht, Berlau published the short story collection ''Jedes Tier kann es'', considered obscene in its time.{{cn|date=April 2022}}


In 1940, she followed the Brecht clan to Sweden, Finland, the USSR and finally to the United States, where a rupture with Brecht took place in 1944.<ref name="auto"/> In New York, she gave birth to her only child, who was born premature and only lived for a few days.{{cn|date=April 2022}}
⚫
After the war, she followed the Brechts to Berlin, but was blacklisted from the [[Berliner Ensemble]] by Weigel, after Brecht's death in 1956. She died in the [[Charité]] hospital after setting her bed alight with a cigarette.

⚫
After the war, she followed the Brechts to Berlin, but was blacklisted from the [[Berliner Ensemble]] by Weigel after Brecht's death in 1956.{{cn|date=April 2022}}

==Death==
She died at age 67 in the [[Charité]] hospital after setting her bed alight with a cigarette.{{cn|date=April 2022}}


==Writings==
==Writings==
* ''Brechts Lai-Tu''. Erinnerungen und Notate. Hrsg. und mit einem Nachwort von [[Hans Bunge]]. Gudrun Bunge (Mitarbeit). Sammlung [[Luchterhand Literaturverlag|Luchterhand]]. Bd 698, Darmstadt, Neuwied, Luchterhand 1987, ISBN 3-472-61698-9
* ''Brechts Lai-Tu''. Erinnerungen und Notate. Hrsg. und mit einem Nachwort von [[Hans Bunge]]. Gudrun Bunge (Mitarbeit). Sammlung [[Luchterhand Literaturverlag|Luchterhand]]. Bd 698, Darmstadt, Neuwied, Luchterhand 1987, {{ISBN|3-472-61698-9}}
* ''Jedes Tier kann es''. Erzählungen. Mit einem Nachwort von Klaus Völker. Mannheim, Persona-Verlag 1989, ISBN 3-924652-12-0 (originally published as Maria Sten (pseud.): ''Ethvert dyr kan det'', København, Arthur Jensens Forlag, 1940)
* ''Jedes Tier kann es''. Erzählungen. Mit einem Nachwort von Klaus Völker. Mannheim, Persona-Verlag 1989, {{ISBN|3-924652-12-0}} (originally published as Maria Sten (pseud.): ''Ethvert dyr kan det'', København, Arthur Jensens Forlag, 1940)


== References ==
== References ==
Line 15: Line 23:


==External links==
==External links==
* {{IMDb name|nm0075535|name=Ruth Berlau}}
*[http://www.fembio.org/biographie.php/frau/biographie/ruth-berlau/ sketch at fembio] (in German)
*[http://www.fembio.org/biographie.php/frau/biographie/ruth-berlau/ sketch at fembio] (in German)
*[http://www.mith.umd.edu/flare/redruth/index.html Red Ruth] a film documentary
*[http://www.mith.umd.edu/flare/redruth/index.html Red Ruth] a film documentary
Line 21: Line 30:
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Berlau, Ruth
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Danish actor
| DATE OF BIRTH = 24 August 1906
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH = 15 January 1974
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlau, Ruth}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlau, Ruth}}
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1906 births]]
Line 35: Line 35:
[[Category:People from Gentofte Municipality]]
[[Category:People from Gentofte Municipality]]
[[Category:Danish communists]]
[[Category:Danish communists]]
⚫
[[Category:Danish dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Danish literary critics]]
[[Category:Danish literary critics]]
[[Category:Danish women literary critics]]
[[Category:Modernist theatre]]
[[Category:Modernist theatre]]
[[Category:Danish women writers]]
[[Category:Danish women short story writers]]
[[Category:Danish expatriates in Germany]]
[[Category:Danish expatriates in Germany]]
[[Category:Danish expatriates in the United States]]
[[Category:Danish expatriates in the United States]]
[[Category:Danish emigrants to East Germany]]
[[Category:Danish emigrants]]
[[Category:Immigrants to East Germany]]
[[Category:Women critics]]
[[Category:Danish women dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Women dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish short story writers]]
[[Category:Communist women writers]]
[[Category:Communist women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish dramatists and playwrights]]
⚫
[[Category:Danish women photographers]]
[[Category:Burials at the Dorotheenstadt Cemetery]]

Latest revision as of 00:45, 26 February 2024

Ruth Berlau (24 August 1906, Charlottenlund – 15 January 1974, East Berlin) was a Danish actress, director, photographer and writer, known for her collaboration with Bertolt Brecht and for founding the Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv[1] in Berlin.

Headstone in the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof Berlin

Born to a merchant family, she learned French at a convent school, but had to drop out due to a pregnancy at the age of thirteen. She studied acting and established her Danish reputation playing Anna in Brecht's Drums in the Night. During her teenage years, she financed a bicycle tour of France, by writing up a somewhat fictionalized account of her travels for a Danish newspaper. In 1930, she toured the Soviet Union by bicycle, and on her return joined the Communist Party of Denmark. Later she took part behind the front lines in the Spanish Civil War.[citation needed]

In 1933, she presented herself to the newly arrived Brecht and his wife Helene Weigel, then staying on Fyn or Thurø[2] and within two years had become his lover. In 1936 or 1939,[2] she divorced her husband, Dr Robert Lund, and threw herself into a collaboration[how?] with Brecht, acting as a secretary as well as writing, translating, photographing and directing. With Brecht, Berlau published the short story collection Jedes Tier kann es, considered obscene in its time.[citation needed]

In 1940, she followed the Brecht clan to Sweden, Finland, the USSR and finally to the United States, where a rupture with Brecht took place in 1944.[2] In New York, she gave birth to her only child, who was born premature and only lived for a few days.[citation needed]

After the war, she followed the Brechts to Berlin, but was blacklisted from the Berliner Ensemble by Weigel after Brecht's death in 1956.[citation needed]

Death

[edit]

She died at age 67 in the Charité hospital after setting her bed alight with a cigarette.[citation needed]

Writings

[edit]
  • Brechts Lai-Tu. Erinnerungen und Notate. Hrsg. und mit einem Nachwort von Hans Bunge. Gudrun Bunge (Mitarbeit). Sammlung Luchterhand. Bd 698, Darmstadt, Neuwied, Luchterhand 1987, ISBN 3-472-61698-9
  • Jedes Tier kann es. Erzählungen. Mit einem Nachwort von Klaus Völker. Mannheim, Persona-Verlag 1989, ISBN 3-924652-12-0 (originally published as Maria Sten (pseud.): Ethvert dyr kan det, København, Arthur Jensens Forlag, 1940)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Bertolt Brecht Archive". www.adk.de. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  2. ^ a b c "Ruth Berlau". fembio.org. 2019-09-01. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ruth_Berlau&oldid=1210310970"