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Born
Born in Augsburg, Germany as Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht Mother: Sophie, née Brezing
father: Berthold Friedrich Brecht
Brother: Walter berchet His mother died in 1920 and his father died in 1943 fighting for the nazi germany on the eastern front. -
World War 1
Brecht was 16 when World War l broke out -
Education
Brecht enrolled as a medical student at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. -
Baal
Baal was Brecht's first full-length play at age 20 featuring the protagonist Baal, who is "a romantic anti-hero, a decrepit poet at war with bourgeois society and values." -
Influenced
Brecht was deeply influenced by Charlie Chaplin and Karl Marx. This strange combination of inspiration produced Brecht’s twisted sense of humor as well as the political beliefs within his plays. -
Second Play
Drums in the Night is Brecht's 2nd major play which was a surprising mainstream success.
Drums in the Night is about Anna Balicke, whose lover (Andreas) has left to fight in World War I. When the war is over Anna and her family have not heard from Andres for four years. Anna's parents try to convince her that he is dead and that she should forget him and marry a wealthy war materials manufacturer, Murk -
Period: to
Family's
Family:
Frank Banholzer Brecht's oldest son was born July 30, 1919
He married Marianne Zoff Berchet his first wife 3 years later in 1922, 1 year later in 1923 their marriage started falling apart yet they had Hanne Hob on March 13, 1923. They then divorced in 1927, 4 years later 2 years later in 1929, he married Helene Weigel whom he met in 1923 with whom he had already had a son on Nov. 3, 1924, named (Stefan). 1 year after his marriage on Oct. 28, 1930, he had Barbara. -
Epic theater
Epic theatre evolved by the playwright-director Bertolt Brecht in Germany from the 1920s till today. Its dramatic antecedents include the episodic structure and didactic nature of the pre-Expressionist drama -
Studying Beliefs
In the late 1920s, Brecht began studying Marxist beliefs. This influenced Brecht to sympathize with the communist cause. -
Period: to
Connections
Between November 1921 and April 1922, Brecht made acquaintance with many influential people in the Berlin cultural scene. Amongst them was the playwright Arnolt Bronnen with whom he established a joint venture, the Arnolt Bronnen / Bertolt Brecht Company -
Drums in the night
It received its first theatrical production in 1922 -
Kleist prize
Awarded the Kleist prize as the most promising young playwright of the year for his Drum in the Nights -
Third Play
Brecht's third play "In the Jungle of Cities" written between 1921- 1924, now entitled "Jungle: Decline of a Family", opened at the Deutsches Theater in October 1924, but was not a success. -
Three penny Opera
the same year in which he proclaimed himself a Marxist, Bertolt Brecht had his first international success with The Threepenny Opera -
Fled
Brecht fled Nazi Germany to Switzerland, then settled in Denmark in order to avoid persecution. His works were thrown into the flames shortly thereafter during the book burnings of 1933. -
Period: to
Life of Galileo
Received its first theatrical production (in German) at the Zurich Schauspielhaus, opening on the 9th of September 1943 -
Fear and Misery of the Third Reich
One of Brechet's most famous plays as well as his first anti-Nazi work. Shinning a light on showing the audience how "ordinary life under the Nazis was subtly permeated by suspicion and anxiety". -
Moved
moved to Sweden in 1939, then to Finland -
Invasion of Poland
When Nazi troops invaded Poland in 1939, it sparked a response from Brecht in the form of art. Mother Courage and Her Children was written within a month -
Period: to
World War 2
During the war, Brecht wrote many plays that showed his criticism of the National Socialist and Fascist movements. Among them were plays such as Mother Courage and Her Children, The Good Person of Szechwan, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and Fear and Misery of the Third Reich. -
Moved again
Brecht made it to the United States in 1941 where he was surveilled by the FBI. After the war, he was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee. -
Mother Courage and Her Children
Brecht wrote Mother Courage a play written in 1939 with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin one of Brecht's closest collaborators. Some directors consider it to be the greatest play of the 20th century. -
The Good Person of Szechwan
Brecht first started The Good Person of Szechwan in the late 1920s but wrote it primarily between 1939 and 1943, while he was living in Scandinavia and the United States during years of exile from Nazi Germany. Brecht's "The Good Person of Szechwan" is one of Brecht's major playrights, popular and regularly produced because of its universal themes. Many critics believe the play is one of the best examples of Brecht's Epic theater because it challenges the audience. -
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Premiere on October 7, 1954, it was a great success in theater it's one of the most regularly performed German plays. Brecht's most celebrated play -
Period: to
Boycotted
Brecht's work was boycotted for 10 years in Austria because of his ideologies. He embraced the Marxist ideology even after agreeing to adopt the 15th-century play “Jedermann”(everyman) -
Stalin Peace Prize
The Stalin Peace Prize was an award given by the Soviet government. Normally awarded to notable figures who they felt "strengthened peace" in the Soviet Union. -
Died
Brecht died at the age of 58 after suffering from cardiac arrest. It is believed that he suffered from an undiagnosed childhood illness that played a role in his health decline. His wife Helene was later buried next to him. He died having produced 31 plays and written more than 2,000 poems. -
Last Play
Saint Joan of the Stockyards was Brecht's last play before his death. Didn't appear on stage until 3 years after his death -
Sources ll
(https://www.criterion.com/films/834-the-threepenny-opera#:~:text=Set%20in%20the%20impoverished%20back,Peachum%20and%20elude%20the%20authorities.) (https://campuspress.yale.edu › modernismlab › the-three...) (https://denison.edu › ... › Theatre › What's Happening) (https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Life_of_Galileo) (https://homework.study.com › explanation › what-is-the-...) (https://annarborobserver.com › the-life-of-galileo) -
Sources
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bertolt-Brecht#:~:text=Bertolt%20Brecht%2C%20original%20name%20Eugen,a%20social%20and%20ideological%20forum) (https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Bertolt_Brecht) (https://www.suhrkamp.de/rights/nachricht/bertolt-brecht-125th-birthday-on-february-10-2023-b-3924#:~:text=From%201917%20to%201918%20he,writing%20plays%20as%20a%20student.) -
Sources 3
(BertoltB...s%20play%20revolves%20around%20Anna,war%2d Materials%20 manufacturer%C%20 Murk.) ((https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marxism.asp#:%7E:text=Marxism%20posits%20that%20the%20struggle,inevitably%20to%20a%20 communist%20revolution) (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org › content › article › bert…) ((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Jungle_of_Cities) ((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Misery_of_the_Third_Reich) -
Sources 4
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drums_in_the_Night#:~:text=Brecht'https://kids.britannica.com › students › article › ) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht) (https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/31/archives/fbi-spied-on-brecht-for-13-years-file-shows.html) (https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Mother_Courage_and_...) (https://annarborobserver.com › the-life-of-galileo) (https://source.wustl.edu › 2002/01 › brecht-the-good-per...) -
Sources 5
(https://www.encyclopedia.com › educational-magazines) (https://hillsdalecollegian.com/2016/02/mother-courage-and-her-children-a-history-bertolt-brechts-classic-drama-opening-feb-24-in-markel-offers-themes-relevant-to-todays-political/#:~:text=Brecht's%20message%20in%20%E2%80%9CMother%20Courage,allows%20that%20fire%20to%20burn.%E2%80%9D)