International Museum Day at the Brecht-Weigel Museum

The proximity to the theater

Shortly after moving into the rear building at Chausseestraße 125, Brecht wrote to his publisher Peter Suhrkamp: “It is truly advisable to live in houses and with furniture that are at least 120 years old—that is, in a former capitalist environment—until one has a later socialist one.”

Bertolt Brecht lived in his first-floor apartment from October 1953 until his death on August 14, 1956. He was primarily drawn to the apartment by its proximity to the Berliner Ensemble, the Academy of Arts, and the historic cemeteries next door. It offered him ample space for his work—the indispensable large tables, conversations, and his library.

During Brecht’s lifetime, Helene Weigel lived in rooms on the second floor, which she made available after Brecht’s death to the Bertolt Brecht Archive, which she had founded. She had a veranda leading to the garden added and moved to the ground floor in 1957, where she lived as an actress and artistic director until her death in 1971.

With Brecht and Weigel, the Berliner Ensemble—viewed with suspicion by its own government—achieved world fame.

On International Museum Day, the museum invites visitors to free guided tours of the artist couple’s apartments, which have been preserved in their original state.

To mark the occasion, free guided tours of the authentically preserved apartments of Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel will explore the artistic couple’s work with the Berliner Ensemble.

• Guided tours every half hour from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Free admission, limited number of participants
• Tickets available on-site

IN GERMAN