Summer Festival at the Brecht House. (Un)American Activities
13 Jun 2026, 3 – 11 pm

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 Brecht-Weigel 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.

3 pm, Courtyard stage

Welcome
Christian Hippe, Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus
Stefanie Thomas, Brecht-Weigel Museum
Noah Willumsen, Bertolt Brecht Archive

from 3:30 pm, Courtyard stage

Piano music
Simon Grote

4 pm, Hall of the Literaturforum

„Kalle und Ziffel reisen nach Amerika“ (Kalle and Ziffel travel to America)
A conversation with Grischa Meyer and Holger Teschke on the exhibition “Bertolt Brechts Papierkrieg” (Bertolt Brecht’s Paper War)

6 pm, Courtyard stage

Concert
Jakob Dobers

7:30 pm, Hall of the Literaturforum

“(Un)American Activities”: Brecht before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA)
Dramatic reading with Noé Lausch, Jakob Lundblad and Florian Müller

9 pm, Dorotheenstadt and French Cemeteries

“Witching Hour”
Readings accompanied by music, featuring, among others, Peter von Becker, Christoph Dieckmann, Esther Esche, Christian Filips, Wera Herzberg, Ekkehard Maaß, Robert Mießner, Kristin Schulz, Carola Wiemers and students from the HfS Ernst Busch
Concept: Kerstin Hensel, music: Simon Grote

10 pm, Courtyard

Winding down

Guided tours of the Brecht-Weigel Museum take place every 30 minutes until 8 pm.

Themed tours of the Dorotheenstadt Cemetery take place at 3:30 pm (theme: “Famous women”) and at 5:30 pm (theme: “Brecht and his people”).

From 3.30 pm to 7 pm, the Bertolt Brecht Archive presents documents and little-known treasures relating to Brecht’s complex relationship with the USA, as well as the exhibition “Bertolt Brechts Papierkrieg. Zeitunglesen im Exil Amerika 1941–1947” (Bertolt Brecht’s Paper War: Reading Newspapers in Exile in America, 1941–1947) by Grischa Meyer and Holger Teschke.