Subpoenaed to appear before HUAC (the infamous House Unamerican
Activities Committee), Bertolt Brecht appeared on 30 October 1947 (in overalls,
and smoking a cigar – Elsa Lancester, after Brecht lived for a time with her
and her husband Charles Laughton in Hollywood, complained that she had to
clean the curtains to get rid of the smell of his cigars). Richard Nixon was among those who sat in judgment
of him.
“I am living at 34 West 73rd Street,” he testified. “I am born at Augsburg, Germany, February 10,
1898.”
The Southern accent of the judged named Stripling made a strange
counterpoint to Brecht’s German accent.
For a second time, Brecht asked, “May I read my statement?” Stripling replied, “The Court, Mr. Brecht, is
trying to identify you.”
Brecht told of fleeing Hitler, going to Denmark, then to Stockholm,
then to Finland, fleeing with family by the Siberian Express, and, finally,
arriving in the United States from which, fleeing J. Edgar Hoover, he would soon have no choice but to arrive at his final destination, East Germany. He wrote the script for the anti-Nazi film,
“The Hangman Also Died,” for United Artists, that shows the Brechtian touch
although another writer altered his script and Brecht received no on-screen credit –
perhaps because of fear of crediting a Marxist.
“Mr. Brecht, are you or have you ever been a member of the Communist
Party?” For the fourth time, Brecht
said, “May I read my statement?” There
was laughter in the court. The statement,
which included the following remarks about the Nazification of Germany, was
never allowed. “Humanist, even Christian
statements were judged un-Deutsch, a term I can hardly remember without hearing
Hitler’s wolfish tone of voice…. The great American people would lose much if
they gave up the free exchange of ideas…. We may be the last generation of the
species man. Do you not think that in
such a predicament, every new idea should be examined carefully and freely?”
“Mr. Brecht, is it true that you have written a great many
revolutionary poems and plays?” Brecht
responded, “I have written a great many poems and plays against Hitler, and, of
course, they can be considered revolutionary, for I was for the overthrow of
that government.”
“Mr. Brecht seems to be a person of international importance for the
Communist Party.” Brecht denied that he
has written articles for papers in East European Communist countries. The judges produced an “article.” Brecht noted, “That is not an article; that
is a scene out of a play I wrote in 1937 or 1938 in Denmark. The play is called ‘Private Life of the
Master Race,’ and the scene is about a Jewish woman in about the year 1937 or
1937.”
His judges asked the meaning of another play he wrote. They wanted to know the meaning of the
title. An interpreter suggested to
Brecht that it be translated “Steps to Be Taken.” The judge pressed him, “Could it not mean
‘Disciplinary Measures’?” Brecht
explained that the play is set in revolutionary China and is based on the form
of the Noh plays, and the theme of the play is an Eastern idea – “devotion for
an idea until death.”
The judge: “What was that idea,
Mr. Brecht?”
Brecht: “A religious idea.”
“But didn’t it have to do with the Communist Party?”
“Yes, yes,” Brecht agreed readily, and he tried to explain the
situation in China, but was interrupted.
“Mr. Brecht, would you say this promoted the Communist Party?”
“You see, literature has a right to express the ideas of the time. In this play I tried to explain the feelings
and ideas of German workers resisting Hitler.”
The Judge: “It’s about China though, it has nothing to do with
Germany. The play is full of references
to Lenin. Here, just let me read from
the play.” In his Southern accent, in a
terribly flat voice missing every ironic meaning, the Judge read on and on from
the play, obviously jumping and leaping from selection to selection. “ 'Who is the Party? It is all of us. You and I.
Wherever we are, whatever we are doing.' ‘Disciplinary Measures’ – Mr. Brecht, couldn’t you tell us whether one
of the characters in this play was murdered by his comrades for the good of the
Party?”
Brecht: “No, it is not
true. You will find in the ancient
Chinese plays that a character, when he has betrayed his idea, was willing to
die rather than continue living unable to fulfill his idea. He would ask others to help him stop.”
“I gather from your remarks that he wasn’t murdered, he was just
killed.” Laughter in the courtroom.
“No,” said Brecht, “they were just glad to have him disappear.” Laughter.
Asked what he had told Immigration when he landed in the U.S., Brecht
said, “I made the usual statement about not overthrowing the United States
government. They may have asked whether
I was ever a member of the Communist Party, but I would have answered as I did
here that I never was.”
A judge read a line from the song, “In Praise of Learning,” from his
play, “The Mother,” produced in 1935 in New York City. Brecht interrupted after the Judge read, “You
must be ready to take over the leadership.”
“That is not the right translation,” said Brecht. Laughter.
“That is a bad translation.” With
the help of his translator, Brecht urged, “The correct translation would be
‘You must take the lead.’”
The Judge continued, “ ‘ You must be ready to ask questions, comrade’ –
Is that in there, Mr. Brecht?”
Brecht: “Why not let the
interpreter translate it now, word for word?”
Judge: “Because I can’t
understand the interpreter!” More
laughter.
Continuing to be asked about party and political affiliations, Brecht
re-emphasize that he had always been an artist, that he was independent, and
his rebellions were literary. “I never
belonged to any party. And all of these
words you have been reading were not only written for the Communist Party –
They were written for the Catholic workers, the….” and Brecht continued with an
expansive view of his audience.
Judge: “I would like to ask Mr.
Brecht if he wrote a song, ‘Fallen but not forgotten.’”
Brecht: “I do not recognize the
English title perhaps. The title should
be perhaps ‘Forward and do not forget.’”
The Judge reads from the song:
“All of the world is our making.
What of it can we call our own?
….
Just whose City is the City?
.…
We have a world to gain.
“Did you write that poem, Mr. Brecht?”
Brecht: “No, I wrote a German
poem. But that you read was VERY
different.” Laughter in the courtroom.
Within a few hours Brecht left the United States forever. Later he acquired a recording of the hearings
and played it often, puffing his cigar and laughing at the dialogue. Video of some of his testimony before the Committee and other
information are on YouTube.
