SECOND: You’re right, you just won’t let yourself be mollycoddled, Mrs Hall. Great things lie in store for this boy. – Just listen to what the swine wrote before they topped him.
OLDEST: I’d rather hear what they’re saying on the radio.
SECOND turns it off and reads from a crumpled letter: ‘My dear son!…’
[See letter from the scene ‘Consulting the people’.]
FIRST: What’s up, Anna?
The woman has sat down.
OLDEST: She’s just not feeling so well. He brings her a glass of water.
Don’t let it bother you.
FIRST: The letter wasn’t right for her.
SECOND: Rubbish. Why not? All I can say is: if you say A, you’ve got to be prepared to say B. He turns the radio back on. The cheers have given way to the Horst Wessel Song. As the Führer says: In the end, it’s the strongest who triumph.
Editorial Notes
There is no trace of any structural scheme for this work, whose scenes were individually conceived, arranged in different orders at different times, and eventually published in what seems to have been conceived as chronological order, following the dates given in the initial stage directions. The nucleus evidently consisted of five scenes – 1 The spy. 2 The Jewish wife. 3 A matter of justice. 4 Occupational disease. 5 The chalk cross – under the overall title Die Angst (Fear): and subtitled Spiritual Upsurge of the German People under Nazi Domination. This was dated 20th–24th August 1937 by Brecht’s collaborator Margarete Steffin. Three months later Brecht told Karl Korsch that he had written seven. By the spring of 1938 the number had grown to seventeen, at which point Brecht added the introductory ‘March-past’ poem and had copies made which he sent to Piscator, Dudow and no doubt others. He described this to Piscator as a ‘cycle of very short plays which might for performance purposes be called German Marchpast’ but had the overall title Fear and Misery of the Third Reich. Scenes in our text which were not included in this first full script were 2, 4, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20 and 22.
This was the script used for 99%, the version performed that May in Paris under Dudow’s direction, though only eight of its scenes were played.
But Brecht had evidently got the bit between his teeth, and he sent Dudow a number of additional scenes till by late May the total had risen to 27. This was the number included in the new duplicated script which served as a basis for the unrealised third volume of the Malik-Verlag edition of Brecht’s works, where the play was to be entitled Germany – an Atrocity Story; this went for type-setting in August 1938. A copy also went to Ferdinand Reyher who spent the first half of 1939 making a first American adaptation.
Several scenes were also published individually and in small groups in 1938 and 1939: in German in Das Wort, Internationale Literatur, Die neue Weltbühne and Mass und Wert, in French in La Nouvelle Revue Française, L’Europe and La Commune, and in English in New Writing. At some point too Brecht sent (or took) the play to Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga in Moscow, who, following the German invasion in 1941, published a selection of thirteen scenes: 1, 2, 5, 7, 10, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 22, 23 and ‘The vote’ – oddly enough omitting ‘The Jewish wife’ and ‘The chalk cross’.
By this time, however, the scenes had also provided the material for an even odder event. In December 1940 the BBC Home Service broadcast selections of four and five scenes in two programmes which were late repeated on the Overseas Service, thus providing Brecht, who knew nothing of the broadcasts, with perhaps his biggest wartime audience. The translation, with the title Under the Crooked Cross, was by Albert Lloyd and music was composed by Walter Goehr.
The wartime The Private Life of the Master Race version was originally made in May 1942 in German for Max Reinhardt, and now only survives in its translation by Eric Bentley, subtitled A Documentary Play. It is composed of 17 scenes divided into three parts, as detailed in the note on p. 328, with new introductory verses for the different parts and scenes. When in 1945 the Aurora-Verlag (successor to the Malik-Verlag) at last published a full German text – the 24-scene basis for the subsequent Gesammelte Werke and for our own translation – it restored the pre-war verses and loose chronological form, relegating the wartime version to Brecht’s note (as above). For the first time it included ‘Peat-bog soldiers’, while five scenes from one or other of the earlier versions were omitted. The more recent Berliner und Frankfurter Ausgabe gives the run of 27 scenes from the unrealised Malik edition, and puts ‘Ersatz feelings’ and ‘Peat-bog soldiers’ into an appendix. Since that volume appeared, a further scene has been discovered, ‘A possible last scene for Basel’, which we reproduce above (now in BFA Registerband, pp. 736–7).
The extremely adaptable and accessible nature of the scene cycle enabled Fear and Misery, in its various arrangements, to become Brecht’s most widely distributed and performed text in anti-Nazi exile.
In the notes on all 30 scenes which follow, the 17-scene script of spring 1938 is referred to as ‘17-sc.’, the duplicated 27-scene script as ‘27-sc.’, and The Private Life of the Master Race (1942) as ‘PLMR’. The complete set of Brecht’s working scripts, including scenes later omitted, is referred to by its archive number, BBA 420. The main early productions are referred to as ‘99%’ (Dudow, 1938), ‘BBC’ (Laurence Gilliam for the BBC, 1940), ‘1942 production’ (Viertel, New York, 1942, in German) and ‘1945 production’ (The Private Life of the Master Race, New York, 1945, initiated by Piscator and finally directed by Viertel).
Prologue. The German march-past. Der deutsche Heerschau.
Was included, along with the introductory verses to the individual scenes, in 99%. In the 1945 production and in PLMR it was replaced by the chorus’s verses on pp. 328–9.
1 One big family. Volksgemeinschaft.
First in 17-sc. Much shorter in BBA 420, which starts approximately with the same stage direction, but goes on:
THE FIRST: What I say is once we’re one big family we can go on and make war. They’ll scatter like crap off a boot when we come along, one solid People of brothers. Our mission is to … He stops, freezes and listens. Somewhere a window has been opened.
THE SECOND: Wozzat?
Continuing roughly as on page 120 except for the omission of the Second’s last exclamation.
2 A case of betrayal. Der Verrat.
First in 27-sc. Included in 1945 production and PLMR. Derived primarily from the poem ‘The Neighbour’ of 1934:
I am the neighbour. I reported him.
None of us want
Agitators in our building.
When we put out the swastika flag
He put out nothing.
Then when we tackled him about it
He asked if our living room –
Lived in by us and our four children –
Had enough space for a flagpole
When we told him we’d believe in the future once more
He laughed.
When they beat him up on the staircase
We didn’t like that. They ripped his shirt.
That wasn’t necessary. Our kind aren’t
All that well off for shirts.
Still, at least we’re rid of him now, and the house is quiet.
We’ve plenty to worry about, so
Quiet at least is essential.
We’ve begun to notice one or two people
Looking away when we run into them. But
Those who came for him tell us
We did the right thing.
3 The chalk cross. Das Kreidekreuz.
In Die Angst. Dated 18–20 viii 37 by Margarete Steffin in BBA 420. Based on poem of 1934 with the same title (Poems 1913–1956, p. 226). Brecht has later added the passages (a) from ‘THE SA MAN: That’s what women want’ to ‘We’re glad to help’ on p. 123; (b) the SA man’s three lines as ‘he puts his hand on hers in a friendly way’ on p. 124; and (c) the worker’s ‘Give me the Marxists and the Jews’ on p. 127. Included in 99%, 1942 and 1945 productions and PLMR but not in Moscow edition of 1941.
4 Peat-bog soldiers. Moorsoldaten.
Presumably written during Brecht’s stay in the US. According to Eric Bentley, Elisabeth Hauptmann wrote the closing third, from the SS man’s final entrance. The scene was included in 1945 production and PLMR. The ‘Song of the Peat-bog Soldiers’ is an actual concentration camp song.
5 Servants of the people. Dienst am Volke.
In 17-sc. Not played in the early productions.
6 A matter of justice. Rechtsfindung.
In Die Angst. Included in 99%, BBC (as last scene), 1942 and 1944 productions and PLMR but not in Moscow edition 1942. Passages added on or after BBA 420 are (a) on p. 150 from ‘For some while’ to ‘The judge just looks scared’; (b) the whole episode with the maidservant from her entrance on p. 150 to her exit on p. 151; (c) the usher’s second appearance on p. 153 from ‘THE SENIOR JUDGE: Come in!’ to the judge’s ‘That’s something I could have done without’ eight lines later; and (d) the concluding seventeen lines following the judge’s ‘One moment’, apart from his final exit.
7 Occupational disease. Die Berufskrankheit.
In Die Angst. Included in Moscow edition 1942 but not in PLMR or US productions. In BBA 420 the surgeon originally began with one long speech up to his query ‘What has this man got?’; this was subsequently broken up by the exchange with the three assistants, amplified with medical details (e.g. the naming of Raynaud’s Disease) and extensively reworded. His exchanges with the sister were also added later, as was his ‘Why?’ and the first patient’s sotto voce question.
8 The physicists. Die Physiker.
In 17-sc. Included in PLMR. BBA 420 omits the five lines from ‘grabs for it greedily’ on p. 158 to ‘Without it we’re stuck’ and the whole passage read out by Y from ‘The problem concerns’ (p.159) to ‘remain fixed’. Instead it has Y reading ‘the whole incomprehensible text with its plethora of formulas in a hushed voice’, broken by interruptions as in the final stage directions. It seems likely that the ‘Mikovsky’ referred to is an error for (Rudolph) Minkovsky, the name of an eminent astronomer who emigrated to the US in the 1930s and his uncle (Hermann) who contributed to the general theory of relativity and died in 1909.
9 The Jewish wife. Die jüdische Frau.
In Die Angst. Was included in 99%, BBC, 1942 and 1945 productions and PLMR. Not in the Moscow edition, though a script destined for it is in the Lenin Library. There is a script worked on by Brecht (BBA 415/25–35) which shows that at one point the order of the woman’s four telephone calls was different: first to Anna, second to Gertrude, third to the bridge-playing doctor and fourth to Mrs Schöck. After that she made a fifth (promptly deleted) call to an asylum to ask whether equivalent institutions in Holland would take in a Jewish woman without means, and another (likewise deleted) to order a photograph for her husband. Two of her imaginary conversations with the husband were added on the same script: those beginning ‘Don’t tell me you haven’t changed’ (p. 162) and ‘I never told you’ (p. 163).
10 The spy. Der Spitzel.
In Die Angst. Dated 18 viii 1937 by Steffin. Published in the Moscow Internationale Literatur (Deutsche Blätter) no. 3, March 1938 and (as ‘The Informer’) in Charles Ashleigh’s translation in New Writing, London. Included in 99%, BBC, 1942 and 1945 productions and PLMR. Relates to poem of c. 1934 ‘Ich bin der Lehrer’ (BFA 94, p. 247).
11 The black shoes. Die schwarzen Schuhe.
In 27-sc. Also called ‘Children’s shoes’ (Die Kinderschuhe) and Fleisch für Fleisch (untranslatable pun on the exchanging of flesh for meat). Included in PLMR but not played in main early productions.
12 Labour service. Arbeitsdienst.
In 27-sc. Written by April 1938. Not included in early productions or PLMR. The student’s final line ended with ‘for today’, to which the young worker replied simply: ‘Wait till we’re out of here and I’ll give you something to remember’.
13 Workers’ playtime. Die Stunde des Arbeiters.
In 27-sc. Was among the six newly written scenes sent to Dudow on 24 April 1938. Included in BBC and PLMR.
14 The box. Die Kiste.
In 27-sc. Included in 1945 production and PLMR. Due to be played in Viertel’s 1942 production but omitted at the last moment.
15 Released. Der Entlassene.
In 27-sc. Included in PLMR but not played in early productions except BBC.
16 Charity begins at home. Winterhilfe.
In 17-sc. Included in 99% and BBC. ‘Winter Aid’ was the organised Nazi charity for the poor, for which the SA and others went out collecting.
17 Two bakers. Zwei Bäcker.
In 17-sc. Included in 99% and PLMR.
18 The farmer feeds his sow. Der Bauer füttert die Sau.
In 17-sc. Included in 99% and PLMR.
19 The old campaigner. Der alte Kämpfer.
In 17-sc. In PLMR but not staged in any early productions.
20 The Sermon on the Mount. Die Bergpredigt.
In 27-sc. Also called ‘The question’ or ‘The pastor’s question’ (Die Frage or Die Frage des Pfarrers). Included in BBC, 1945 and PLMR.
21 The motto. Das Mahnwort.
In 27-sc. In the working script BBA 420, the initial stage direction specifies that it is Hitler’s birthday but gives no indication of year and city. Not staged in early productions.
22 The barracks learn that Almería has been bombarded. In den
Kasernen wird die Beschiessung von Almeria bekannt. In 27-sc. Included in BBC and in 1942 Moscow edition.
23 Job creation. Arbeitsbeschaffung.
In 17-sc. Also called Arbeitsbeschaffung 1937. In 99% and 1942 Moscow edition, both times as closing scene. Also in BBC.
24 Consulting the people. Volksbefragung.
In 17-sc. Also called ‘The Missing Man’ (Der Fehlende or Der fehlende Mann). In 1945 production and PLMR. 13 March 1938 was the official date of the Anschluss with Austria, two days after German troops moved into that country. According to Eric Bentley, Elisabeth Hauptmann added the references to class at the end.
Epilogue
An unfinished epilogue goes (in loose translation):
We’ll watch them follow the band till
The whole lot comes to a standstill –
A beaten, bogged-down élite.
We’d laugh till we were crying
If it weren’t for our brothers dying
To bring about his defeat.
And yet historians tell us
Of other mighty fellows
Who came to a sticky end.
The people had revolted
Thrown off their chains […]
BBA 429/06
Additional scenes
25 Ersatz feelings. Der Gefühlsersatz.
This scene is in one of the complete scripts, but is at the end of the working script BBA 420. It has no introductory verse, though the following epigraph may be meant as the theme for one:
Meanness was always shrouded in a little cloak. But nowadays the cloak is made of synthetic material.
Evidently the scene was discarded at an early stage.
26 The Internationale. Die Internationale.
In 17- and 27-sc. and unpublished Malik-Verlag proof. Omitted from the Aurora edition of 1945, possibly because of similarities with scene 5, ‘Servants of the people’.
27 The vote. Die Wahl.
In 27-sc. and unpublished Malik-Verlag proof. Omitted from Aurora edition of 1945, and thereafter. 29 March 1936 was the date of the German elections in which 99 percent of the voters voted Nazi. The Rummelsburger Allee was in a working-class area of Berlin.
28 The new dress. Das neue Kleid.
In 27-sc. and unpublished Malik-Verlag proof. Omitted from Aurora edition of 1945, and thereafter.
29 Any good against gas? Was hilft gegen Gas?
In 17-sc. and unpublished Malik-Verlag proof. Proposed by Brecht for inclusion in 99%, but not staged. Omitted from Aurora edition of 1945, and thereafter.
30 A possible last scen
e for Basel. Untitled.
Only preserved as a single sheet in Caspar Neher’s papers, now in the archive (BBA E 61/15), with Brecht’s handwritten note, ‘a possible last scene of Fear + Misery for Basel’. It was written in October 1946 in Santa Monica. The reference is to the Swiss première of the play in January 1947, directed by Ernst Ginsberg, designed by Neher. Brecht had been asked to produce a scene which gave a ‘post-war’, future perspective, but his response was not used.
Sketches and fragments (including some in verse) provide the following hints that Brecht at one time or another planned further scenes:
(a) The prospect of war frightens her less than the warden for her block. (A neighbouring tenant gets mistaken for the warden.)
(b) A posh youth loses 10 pfennigs. (Reproaches.)
(c) A lady gets insulted because of her rings. Her husband: ‘Next time besides bringing your gas-mask don’t forget to wear your gloves.’
(d) When can paterfamilias still sit there in his SA uniform after supper?
(a–d, BBA 464/30)
(e) A verse introducing General Goering. (BBA 9/10)
(f) A voice introduces the builder of the Atlantic Wall – i.e. probably Albert Speer. (98/34)
(g) A verse introduces the hygiene experts. (353/6)
(h) Corner of a cellar during an air-raid precautions exercise. Seufert, a business manager, is crouching against the wall with his wife and child. They are trying on gas-masks. (464/11, with twelve lines of dialogue in which a working-class family enter and are asked to sit on the other side of the cellar; they take no notice.)
(i) A fragment of dialogue in which two concentration camp prisoners, named Rullmann and Lüttge, discuss whether the local Group Leader should be termed a neo-pagan or a freethinker. (464/10)
SEÑORA CARRAR’S RIFLES
Texts by Brecht
NOTE TO ‘SEÑORA CARRAR’S RIFLES’
The little play was written during the first year of the Spanish Civil War for a German group in Paris. It is Aristotelian (empathy-) drama. The drawbacks of this technique can to some extent be made up for by performing the play together with a documentary film showing the events in Spain, or with a propaganda manifestation of any sort.
Bertolt Brecht: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder 4 Page 38