The German author, born in 1898 in Augsburg, is not as well known outside of Germany and Leftist circles as he should be. I will attempt to use his hearing in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to showcase his works, politics and life.
His work started in the early years of the Weimar republic, while studying medicine and philosophy in Munich, and he steadily turned toward communism over the 1920s while publishing his first small works while writing theater reviews for a USPD newspaper, the party split off from the German social democrats and aiming for revolution over reforms. With the late 1920s came his popularity and ability to direct his own plays, which were frequent targets of the Nazis as early as 1930. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, Brecht was put on the “Schwarze Liste”, the list of books to be burned due to being ideologically opposed to the Nazis, and Brecht went into exile, ending up in Denmark, then with the beginning War moving over Helsinki and Moscow to the US in 1941. During this time, he still wrote new plays, articles, and songs, especially his collaborations with Hanns Eisler to produce “Worker’s Songs”. During his time in the US, Brecht was not able to get work as a playwright despite living in Hollywood, but was surveiled by the FBI.
On the 30th of October 1947, Brecht was interviewed by the HUAC over his suspected communist leanings. While there is seemingly no full audio version available, there is an Excerpt with a Transcript. It’s interesting to listen to this, since Brecht wrote about Galilei in 1938, and imagined a not too dissimilar trial that would change shape over the years, influenced by the realities of the Nazi government, and him facing his own Inquisition now. Brecht believed he didn’t do well enough, so he fled to Paris the next day, then Zürich, spending the rest of his life in the GDR, where he died in 1956.
If this hearing left a good impression on you, you might want to give one of his plays, such as Saint Joan of the Stockyards a try.
É verdade, eu vivo em tempos sombrios!
A palavra inocente é tolice. Uma testa sem rugas
Indica insensibilidade. Aquele que ri
Apenas não recebeu ainda
A terrível notícia.
.
Que tempos são esses, em que
Falar de árvores é quase um crime
Pois implica silêncio sobre tantas barbaridades?
Aquele que anda na rua tranquilo
Não está mais ao alcance de seus amigos
Necessitados?
.
Sim, ainda ganho meu sustento
Mas acreditem: é puro acaso. Nada do que faço
Me dá direito a comer até me fartar.
Por acaso fui poupado. (Se minha sorte acaba, estou perdido.)
.
As pessoas me dizem: Coma e beba! Alegre-se porque tem!
Mas como posso comer e beber, se
Tiro o que como de que tem fome
E meu copo d’água falta a que tem sede?
E no entanto eu como e bebo.
.
Eu bem gostaria de ser sábio.
Nos velhos livros se encontra o que é sabedoria:
Manter-se afastado dos conflitos do mundo, a breve vida
Levar sem medo
E seguir seu caminho sem violência
Pagando o mal com o bem.
Não satisfazer os desejos, mas esquecê-los
Isto é sábio.
Nada disso posso fazer:
É verdade, eu vivo em tempos sombrios!
Primero se llevaron a los comunistas, pero a mi no me importó porque yo no era.
.
Enseguida se llevaron a unos obreros, pero a mi no me importó porque yo tampoco era.
.
Después detuvieron a los sindicalistas, pero a mí no me importó, porque yo tampoco lo era.
.
Luego apresaron a unos curas pero como yo no soy religioso tampoco me importó.
.
Ahora me llevan a mí, pero ya es tarde.
.
Martin Niemöller
.
Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,
habe ich geschwiegen ;
ich war ja kein Kommunist.
Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
habe ich geschwiegen ;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.
Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
habe ich geschwiegen,
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.
Als sie die Juden holten,
habe ich nicht protestiert ;
ich war ja kein Jude.
Als sie mich holten, gab es keinen mehr,
der protestieren konnte.
Step foward: we hear
That you are a good man.
You cannot be bought, but the lightning
Which strikes the house, also
Cannot be bought.
You hold to what you said.
But what did you say?
You are honest, you say your opinion.
Which opinion?
You are brave.
Against whom?
You are wise.
For whom?
You do not consider personal advantages.
Whose advantages do you consider then?
You are a good friend
Are you also a good friend of the good people?
Hear us then: we know
You are our enemy. This is why we shall
Now put you in front of a wall.
But in consideration of
your merits and good qualities
We shall put you in front of a good wall and shoot you
With a good bullet from from a good gun and bury you
With a good shovel in the good earth.
WHEN IT COMES TO MARCHING MANY DO NOT KNOW
That their enemy is marching at their head.
The voice which gives them their orders
Is their enemy's voice and
The man who speaks of the enemy
Is the enemy himself.
Deutsch:
WENN ES ZUM MARSCHIEREN KOMMT, WISSEN VIELE NICHT
Daß ihr Feind an ihrer Spitze marschiert.
Die Stimme, die sie kommandiert
Ist die Stimme ihres Feindes.
Der da vom Feind spricht
Ist selbst der Feind.
Here's song we've written for guitar, piano and vocals. It's called Decay - i guess it's trying to reflect a depressed view of the state of the world with flashes of light and admiration for how people resist it. I'd love some feedback on any aspect of the song.
It comes as part of our 'Stolen Goods' project where we smash together words from poems we like and add our own and put them to music we write to make something new. This one features words from Frances Kruk, 'A series of perceptual failures and reckless reckless cutting', Bertold Brecht, 'Against Deception', Rainer Maria Rilke, 'Elegies'.
Here's the link: https://youtu.be/mI_0av_OGOw
I'm playing as Germany with Bertold Brecht as a leader. Germany has national spirit of "forced isolation" that raises world tension needed to fabricate wargoals to 90% and it makes me unable to make any wargoals and path I took doesn't give me any wargoals from focuses. Is there any way to get rid of this national spirit? I can't find any focus that will let me attack my neighbours and I have to wait until they attack me.
Hi AskLiteraryStudies, apologies if this is the wrong forum for this kind of post.
My mother-in-law is looking for a place on the internet to share her essay on the German playwright and philosopher Bertold Brecht, and his play ‘Mutter courage und ihrer Kinder’, and why we still engage in wars.
Could anyone point us in the right direction?
Ps she was born in Germany and emigrated to rural Australia, where she worked as a languages teacher. I think she is keen to engage with others interested in literature and society.
Thanks!
I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.
Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.
Alot of great jokes get posted here! However just because you have a joke, doesn't mean it's a dad joke.
THIS IS NOT ABOUT NSFW, THIS IS ABOUT LONG JOKES, BLONDE JOKES, SEXUAL JOKES, KNOCK KNOCK JOKES, POLITICAL JOKES, ETC BEING POSTED IN A DAD JOKE SUB
Try telling these sexual jokes that get posted here, to your kid and see how your spouse likes it.. if that goes well, Try telling one of your friends kid about your sex life being like Coca cola, first it was normal, than light and now zero , and see if the parents are OK with you telling their kid the "dad joke"
I'm not even referencing the NSFW, I'm saying Dad jokes are corny, and sometimes painful, not sexual
So check out r/jokes for all types of jokes
r/unclejokes for dirty jokes
r/3amjokes for real weird and alot of OC
r/cleandadjokes If your really sick of seeing not dad jokes in r/dadjokes
Punchline !
Edit: this is not a post about NSFW , This is about jokes, knock knock jokes, blonde jokes, political jokes etc being posted in a dad joke sub
Edit 2: don't touch the thermostat
Do your worst!
How the hell am I suppose to know when it’s raining in Sweden?
Ants don’t even have the concept fathers, let alone a good dad joke. Keep r/ants out of my r/dadjokes.
But no, seriously. I understand rule 7 is great to have intelligent discussion, but sometimes it feels like 1 in 10 posts here is someone getting upset about the jokes on this sub. Let the mods deal with it, they regulate the sub.
They were cooked in Greece.
I'm surprised it hasn't decade.
Now that I listen to albums, I hardly ever leave the house.
Don't you know a good pun is its own reword?
Two muffins are in an oven, one muffin looks at the other and says "is it just me, or is it hot in here?"
Then the other muffin says "AHH, TALKING MUFFIN!!!"
For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.
I said "hey look, an escaPEA"
No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!
Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂
It really does, I swear!
He lost May
And now I’m cannelloni
Because she wanted to see the task manager.
And boy are my arms legs.
But that’s comparing apples to oranges
Put it on my bill
Heard they've been doing some shady business.
