Bertolt Brecht Archive Library

Bequest Library, Bertolt Brecht Archive

The Bertolt Brecht Archive Library is a specialist library comprising approx. 16,400 media items (including many rare books and over thirty copies with dedications to Helene Weigel). The holdings, which are available for reference only, are constantly being expanded through the acquisition of new and historical items.
The Bertolt Brecht Archive Library includes the bequest libraries of Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel.




Collection area

  • Literature by and on Bertolt Brecht
  • Editions of Brecht's works during his lifetime
  • All first editions, scholarly editions and editions of selected works
  • Printed works in journals and anthologies of all kinds
  • Offprints, facsimile editions
  • Translations into over sixty languages
  • Literature by and on Helene Weigel, Elisabeth Hauptmann, Ruth Berlau, and Margarete Steffin


Holdings

Dictionaries and lexica, compendiums, catalogues, monographs, yearbooks, theses, conference proceedings, commemorative publications, illustrated books, calendars, programmes, journals and newspapers, and offprints.

Research

The holdings of the Bertolt Brecht Archive Library can be researched in the Online Catalogue and the Archives Database. An extensive collection of journal and newspaper articles have also been catalogued in a card index on site, which also details valuable first editions.

Collection Donations

We would ask you to support the expansion of the library by providing us with copies of your works on Brecht (or references to publications or performance locations, broadcasting dates, order numbers, etc.).