07/27/2026
Between 1941 and 1947, the writer Bertolt Brecht lived in exile in the United States. We are looking back at these years in Canada. šŗšøšØš¦
In collaboration with the International Brecht Society and the University of Victoria (UVic), and in honor of the International Brecht Symposium, the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung in Canada is reflecting on this period.
Despite his fame and reputation as a playwright, Brecht was an outsider in Hollywood and Broadway as a European refugee during World War Il, a period characterized by astonishment and alienation. He turned to newspapers and other American media to understand American culture and his life in exile. In his projects War Primer and Journal, he wrote about the political climate, literature, and theater, borrowing articles, photos, and headlines to create montages in his writing and reflections.
Eighty years after his exile to the U.S., Bertolt Brechtās Paper War examines his views on the American way of life during the Roosevelt, Truman, and McCarthy eras through contemporary eyes.
Curator Grischa Meyer (left) created a remarkable exhibition combining Brechtās writing and the newspaper clippings he used for inspiration. The exhibition opened in British Columbia this week.
