Summer Festival at the Brecht House. (Un)American Activities

During the “Witching Hour” at the neighboring Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof, texts by prominent figures buried there will be recited.

Brecht did not always have it easy in the U.S., where he had fled from fascism in 1941. Having arrived in a country whose dazzling splendor he had celebrated with fascination in the 1920s, he now sought “a little price tag on every hill range or every lemon tree.” Amid Hollywood stars and executioners, mafiosi and monopolists, he soon came to realize the limits of his regained freedom. After being interrogated before the U.S. Congress in October 1947, he escaped from his rescuers with one final act of flight: back to Europe.

This year’s summer festival program explores these events through lyrical interventions, museum tours, music, and unknown treasures from the archives.

In the evening, Brecht’s cunning appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee can be experienced once again on stage: plenty of Marx, more Groucho than Karl. Following that, during the “witching hour” at the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof, reading mentors will recite texts by artists buried there.

An event organized by the Literaturforum at the Brecht House, the Brecht-Weigel Museum, and the Bertolt Brecht Archive, in collaboration with the Evangelical Cemetery Association of Berlin City Center.

Featuring students from the HfS Ernst Busch: Esther Esche, Bettina Wegner, Kristin Schulz, Grischa Meyer, Peter von Becker, Peter Badel, and others.