Helene Weigel

Helene Weigel (German: [heˈleːnə ˈvaɪɡl̩] ^ⓘ; 12 May 1900 – 6 May 1971)^[1] was an Austrian actress and artistic director.^[2] She was the second and last wife of Bertolt Brecht until his death in 1956; together they had two children.

Helene Weigel
Weigel in 1967, as "Mother" in Bertolt Brecht's play The Mother
Born	Helene Weigel (1900-05-12)12 May 1900 Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died	6 May 1971(1971-05-06) (aged 70) East Berlin, East Germany
Occupations	Actress Artistic director
Spouse	Bertolt Brecht ​ ​ (m. 1930; died 1956)​
Children	2

Personal life

Weigel was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, the daughter of Leopoldine (née Pollak) and Siegfried Weigel, an accountant-general in a textile factory.^[1] Her family was Jewish.^[1] She and husband Brecht had two children, Stefan Brecht and Barbara Brecht-Schall. Weigel was a Communist Party member from 1930.^[1]

Career

Weigel became the artistic director of the Berliner Ensemble on 16 February 1949.^{[citation needed]} She is best remembered for creating several Brecht roles, including: Pelagea Vlassova, The Mother of 1932; Antigone in Brecht's version of the Greek tragedy; the title role in his civil war play, Señora Carrar's Rifles; and the iconic Mother Courage.^{[citation needed]}

Between 1933 and 1947, as a refugee from Adolf Hitler's Germany, she was seldom able to pursue her acting craft, even during the family's six-year period in Los Angeles.^{[citation needed]} It was only with the foundation of the Berliner Ensemble in East Germany in 1949 that Brecht's theatre began to be recognized worldwide.^{[citation needed]} She died in 1971, still at the helm of the company, and many of the roles that she created with Brecht are still in the theatre's repertoire today.^{[citation needed]}

Death

East German commemorative stamp for Helene Weigel

Weigel died in East Berlin on 6 May 1971, six days before her 71st birthday.^[1]

Notable understudies

• Ingrid Pitt, British-Polish actress