Brecht Biography/Context

Chronology of Brechts Life

Notable Plays/Works

1898 born in Augsburg

World History

1914 Die Bibel

1917 begins to study

theatre history
1918 military service as a
medic
1919 Paula Benholzer
gives birth to Brechts first
child, Frank; works as a
theatre critic
1920 mother dies
1921 visits Berlin for 1st
time; affair with opera
singer Marianne Zoff
1922 directs The Patricide;
Drums in the Night produced
in Munich and Berlin;
awarded Kleist prize;
marries Marianne Zoff
1923 In the Jungle of Cities
produced in Munich; Baal
produced in Leipzig; hired as
Dramaturg at the Munich
Kammerspiel; daughter
Hanne born
1924 Eduard II opens in
Munich; moves to Berlin to
work as a Dramaturg for
Max Reinhardt; relationship
with Helene Weigel begins
and she gives birth to a son,
Stefan
1926 produces Baal in
Berlin; A Mans a Man
produced in Darmstadt;
begins reading Communist

1918 The Legend of

the Dead Soldier; Baal
1919 Drums in the
Night

1922 In the Jungle of

Cities

1923 Eduard II

1924 A Mans a Man

1926 first volume of

Brechts poems
appears

1914 Archduke
Ferdinand assassinated
1917 Germany uses
unrestricted submarine
warfare
1918 WWI ends

1919 Treaty of
Versailles

1921 Hitler becomes

leader of National
Socialisty (Nazi) Party

1923 Hitlers Beer Hall

Putsch (start of the Nazi
revolution)

1925 Mein Kampf

published

1927 divorce from

Marianne Zoff

1929 marries Helene

Weigel

1930 The Threepenny

Opera film lawsuit; Helene
Weigel gives birth to
Barbara

1932 relationship with

Margarete Steffin; police ban
performances of The Mother

1933 Brechts plays

interrupted by Hitler
supporters; Brecht flees to
Switzerland and moves to
Denmark; meets Ruth
Berlau

1934 travels Europe

speaking out against the
Nazi government
1935 visits New York to
supervise a production of
The Mother; stripped of
German citizenship by Nazis;
visits Moscow

1937 The Threepenny

Opera and The Rifles of Mrs.
Carrar produced in Paris
1938 scenes from The
Fear and Misery of the Third
Reich produced in Paris
1939 threatened by Nazis;
moves from Denmark to

1927 Schweyk;
Mahagonny
1928 The
Threepenny Opera
1929 Happy End
1930 Mahagonny
(final version); first
two volumes of his
essays; The Measures
Taken
1931 Kuhle Wampe
(film)
1932 The Mother

1934 most of his

work on Epic Theatre
1935 extensive
propaganda work
against Nazis & Third
Reich
1936 The
Roundheads and the
Peakheads
1937 The Rifles of
Mrs. Carrar
1938 The Fear and
Misery of the Third
Reih; Life of Galileo;
The Good Person of
Sezuan
1939 The Trial of
Lucullus (opera);
Mother Courage;

1941
1941
Mother
German
Courage
troops
produced
1929

U.S.
stock
invade
inSoviet
Zurich;Union
flees
market
crashto Moscow and
from
Sweden
1952
Berliner
Ensemble
1930
Nazis
become
then
to
San
Pedro,
tours
Poland;
Brecht
second largest
political
California;
joins German
produces
The
Rifles
of Mrs.
party
in
Germany
exile community in Los
Carrar
with
the
Berliner
1943
Hangmen
Also
Angeles
and
sells
filmisscripts
1943
Germany
Ensemble;
worker
rebellion
to make
Diea(film
living
bombed
byscript)
the U.S. and
in
East
Berlin;
Brecht
1943England;
The Good
ItalyPerson of
solidarity
with the
declares
1932
and
open
street
surrenders
1944
Galileo
The
Caucasian
Sezuan

1953

Korean
war
regime
fighting
between
produced
Chalk
in
Circle
Zurich;Paris
son is
1944
D-Day;
1954
considerable
endsfighting
Communists
and
Nazis;
Frank
killed
inof the
liberated;
Battle
propaganda
work
for
1954

the
1954
Berliner

KGB
FDR
elected
U.S.
Russia
Bulge
the
German
established
is given
the of
President
Ensemble
1944
birth
and death
1945
Berlin
is bombed
Democratic
Republic
am
Theater
1933
the
Hitler
becomes
Brecht
Ruth
Berlaus
by and
U.S.;
Vienna falls
Schiffbauerdamm;
Brecht
Chancellor
of
Germany;
son to Soviet troops;
Adolf
produces
The
Caucasian
burning
of
the
1945

The
Fear
and
Misery
Hitler commits suicide;
Chalk
Circle;first
Brechts
ofReichstag;
the
Germany
Third Reich
surrenders;
produced
Mother
Couragecamps
wins first
concentration
in New
atomic
York;bombs
works dropped
with
prize
at Nazis
the Festival
of Paris;
open;
boycott
Ferdinand
on Japan;
Reyher
Nuremberg
on an
Brecht
isshops
awarded
the
Stalin
Jewish
andof
burn
American
trials
begin
version
Galileo
Peace
Prize
books; Nazi party
1955
travels
to Moscow to
declared
Germanys
1946
works
with Charles
accept
Stalin Peace
Prize;
only political
Laughton
on anpart
English
Brechts
production
of The
version
1934 of
Hitler
becomes
Galileo;
Berlau
Caucasian
Circle wins
Fuhrer
of Chalk
Germany
put
in a mental
hospital in
a
prize
at
the
Festival
New
1935
German
Jews of
York
and later
Paris
1948ofinto
rights
Days
of the
stripped
discharged
Brechts
1956 Commune;
rehearsalsShort
begin for
care
a Berlin production of
1947 Oragnum
Galileo produced in
Galileo;
Brecht
dies August
and
1948
Berlin
L.A.
New
York;Blockade
Brecht
14th
called
1936

German
Gestapo
begins
to testify before
placed
above
HUAC;
flies
backthe
to law
Europe
with
begins
1937
1949
his
NATO
ratified;
allofStalin
texts
on
purge
RedWest
Army
microfilm
Eastofand
soon
afterGermany
generals
testifying
officially split
1948 produces Antigone
with
1938
Kristallnacht
Helene
Weigel as the
lead in Chur, Switzerland;
1950
Joe McCarthy
visits
East Berlin
Communist
1949begins
produces
Mother
witch-hunt;
Korean
war
Courage
1939
Germany
in East Berlin with
invades
Poland;
England
Helene
Weigel
as the
lead;
& France declare
war on
establishes
the Berliner
Germany;with
beginning
of
Ensemble
no home
theater and Helene Weigel
as artistic director

Works Cited
Alchin, Linda. "Cold War Timeline." Dates and Events. Siteseen Ltd, 1
Mar. 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Fuegi, John. The Essential Brecht. Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls,
1972. 181-184. Print.
Hayman, Ronald. Brecht: A Biography. New York: Oxford UP, 1983.
Print.
"Timeline of World War One." History Learning Site. History Learning
Site, 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
"World War II in Europe Timeline." The History Place. The History Place,
1 Jan. 1996. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
"World War II Timeline." National Geographic. National Geographic
Society, 1 Jan. 2001. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.