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Brecht-Weigel Memorial Centre
Brecht-Weigel Memorial Centre Photograph: Sibylle Bergemann
The Brecht-Weigel Memorial Centre is situated in the side wing of the Brecht House in Chausseestrasse 125. Immediately next door lie the French and Dorotheenstadt Cemeteries, in which Huguenot generals, writers, composers, sculptors, philosophers and actors have their graves.
Bertolt Brecht lived in his apartment on the first floor of the side wing and rear building from October 1953 until his death on 14 August 1956. The close vicinity of the Berlin Ensemble and Academy, and the historical cemeteries next door, had led him in particular to take this “jolly roomy” apartment, as he wrote to his publisher, Peter Suhrkamp. The size of the rooms provided Brecht with sufficient space for a number of work desks and for meetings with his pupils. The apartment is also home to his surviving library, containing some 4,000 books, which is available to users of the Bertolt Brecht Archive.
During Brecht’s lifetime Helena Weigel occupied rooms on the second floor of the side wing, and after Brecht’s death, she made them available to the Bertolt Brecht Archive, which she had set up. She had a veranda built, leading into the garden, and in 1957 moved into the ground floor. She lived in this apartment until her death on 6 May 1971. The Brecht-Weigel Memorial Centre was opened on Brecht’s eightieth birthday, 10 February 1978. Three rooms in each of the apartments are maintained in their original condition. They may be visited only as part of a guided tour (maximum eight persons).
Further features of the Brecht House are the Bertolt Brecht Archive, with the Helene Weigel Archive, which likewise belong to the Academy of Arts, plus the Literary Forum in the Brecht House, and a cellar restaurant.
The work and living rooms may only be visited as part of a guided tour (maximum 8 persons) at the following times:
Tuesdays
10.00 a.m., 10.30 a.m., 11.00 a.m., 11.30 a.m., 2.00 p.m., 2.30 p.m., 3.00 p.m., 3.30 p.m.
Monday and Friday
10.00 a.m., 10.30 a.m., 11.00 a.m., 11.30 a.m.
Thursday
10.00 a.m., 10.30 a.m., 11.00 a.m., 11.30 a.m., 5.00 p.m., 5.30 p.m., 6.00 p.m., 6.30 p.m.
Saturday
10.00 a.m., 10.30 a.m., 11.00 a.m., 11.30 a.m., 12.00 midday, 1.00 p.m., 1.30 p.m., 2.00 p.m., 2.30 p.m., 3.00 p.m., 3.30 p.m.
Sunday
11.00 a.m., 12.00 midday, 1.00 p.m., 2.00 p.m., 3.00 p.m., 4.00 p.m., 5.00 p.m., 6.00 p.m.
The Memorial Centre is closed on Mondays and public holidays.
Address
Archive of the Academy of Arts
Brecht-Weigel-Gedenkstätte
Chausseestrasse 125
D-10115 Berlin-Mitte
Telephone +49(0)30-20057-1844
e-mail: brechtweigelgedenkstaette@adk.de
(Stand 20.09.2011)
