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

Party | Music | Reading | Performance | Guided Tour

Bertolt Brecht in New York, 124 East 57th Street, 1946

Brecht didn't always have it easy in the USA, where he had fled from fascism in 1941. Having arrived in a country whose dazzling splendour he had once sung about with fascination in the 1920s, he now found himself looking for “a little price tag on every hilltop or every lemon tree”. Amidst Hollywood stars and executioners, mafiosi and monopolists, he soon discovered the limits of his regained freedom. After being interrogated before the US Congress in October 1947, he escaped from his rescuers with one final act of escape: back to Europe.

This year’s summer festival programme explores these events through poetic interventions, guided tours of the museum, 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 more on stage: plenty of Marx, more Groucho than Karl. Afterwards, during the “witching hour” at the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof (Dorotheenstadt Cemetery), reading mentors will recite texts by artists buried there.

An event organised by the Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus, the Brecht-Weigel Museum and the Bertolt Brecht Archive, in collaboration with the Evangelischer Friedhofsverband Berlin Stadtmitte.

The traditional Summer Festival at the Brecht House welcomes visitors with poetry readings, guided tours of the museum, music, performances and little-known treasures from the archives, all on the theme of “(un)American activities”. During the “witching hour” at the neighbouring Dorotheenstadt Cemetery, texts by prominent figures buried there will be recited.

With students from the HfS Ernst Busch, Esther Esche, Bettina Wegner, Kristin Schulz, Grischa Meyer, Peter von Becker, Peter Badel et al.

Booking: Free admission, timed tickets available on site

Next date:

• Date Saturday, 13/June/2026 15:00 bis 23:00
• Venue Brecht-Weigel-Gedenkstätte
• Address Chausseestraße 125, 10115 Berlin-Mitte