Bertolt Brecht

Eugen Bertolt Friedrich Brecht (/brɛkt/; 10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956) was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director of the 20th century. He made contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter through the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble – the post-war theatre company operated by Brecht and his wife, long-time collaborator and actress Helene Weigel.

Life and career

Bavaria (1898–1924)

Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (as a child known as Eugen) was born in February 1898 in Augsburg, Bavaria, the son of Berthold Friedrich Brecht (1869–1939) and his wife Sophie, née Brezing (1871–1920). Brecht's mother was a devout Protestant and his father a Catholic (who had been persuaded to have a Protestant wedding). The modest house where he was born is today preserved as a Brecht Museum. His father worked for a paper mill, becoming its managing director in 1914. Thanks to his mother's influence, Brecht knew the Bible, a familiarity that would have a lifelong effect on his writing. From her, too, came the "dangerous image of the self-denying woman" that recurs in his drama. Brecht's home life was comfortably middle class, despite what his occasional attempt to claim peasant origins implied. At school in Augsburg he met Caspar Neher, with whom he formed a lifelong creative partnership, Neher designed many of the sets for Brecht's dramas and helped to forge the distinctive visual iconography of their epic theatre.

Brecht, Germany

Brecht is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany.

References


Brecht (name)

Brecht is both a surname and a masculine given name. Notable people with the name include:

Surname:

  • Arnold Brecht (1884–1977), German jurist and government official
  • Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), German poet, playwright, and theatre director
  • Eugen Brecht (1912–1944), German military officer
  • George Brecht (1926–2008), American chemist and artist
  • Jürgen Brecht (born 1940), German fencer
  • Kurt Brecht (born 1961), American singer and writer
  • Leo Brecht (born 1962), German organizational theorist, consultant and professor
  • Martin Brecht (born 1932), German academic and biographer
  • Stefan Brecht (1924–2009), German-born American poet and scholar of theater
  • Given name:

  • Brecht Capon (born 1988), Belgian footballer
  • Brecht Dejaegere (born 1991), Belgian footballer
  • Brecht Rodenburg (born 1967), Dutch volleyball player
  • Brecht Verbrugghe (born 1982), Belgian footballer
  • Brecht Wallis (born 1977), Belgian kickboxer
  • Podcasts:

    PLAYLIST TIME:

    Latest News for: brecht

    The Threepenny Opera: Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Weill

    New York Observer 11 Apr 2025
    Peachum would know, as he does in Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s early masterpiece, that sympathy in an attention economy is easily lost ... Berliner Ensemble was founded by Brecht himself and his wife, ...

    Barrie Kosky On Why ‘The Threepenny Opera’ Still Cuts Deep

    New York Observer 28 Mar 2025
    Kosky’s revival of The Threepenny Opera reclaims Brecht and Weill’s satire for an era that feels just as corrupt as the one that inspired the original ... “Firstly, Brecht and Weill were experimenting with theatrical and musical language.
    • 1
    ×