Elisabeth Hauptmann: Brecht's Silent Collaborator

Elisabeth Hauptmann, contributing author to Bertolt Brecht's Three Penny Opera, the opera Mahagonny, as well as to a series of Chinese poems and the «Lehrstücke» Der Jasager and Die Maßnahme and many others, has been absent from most Brecht scholarships. Manuscripts from the «Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv» and «Literaturarchiv der Akademie der Künste» substantiate Hauptmann's influence. Her reticence in matters of credit served to obfuscate her importance to Brecht's production. This work examines Brecht's and Hauptmann's lifelong collaboration and attempts to adjust Hauptmann's image of secretary to her rightful place as editor and fellow author.