So much as one Love
An unorthodox relationship with Bert Brecht. Memories and Conversations
Revised new edition
»BRECHT HAD MANY WOMEN, BUT BI WAS THE ONLY ONE HE LOVED.«
(Helene Weigel)
HE GAVE HER THE NICKNAME »BI« for »bitter sweet«, while calling himself »Bidi« – why, he never revealed. Paula Banholzer, the sheltered daughter from a bourgeois family, was 15 years old when 18-year old grammar school student Eugen Berthold set his eyes on her in the spring of 1916. He wasn’t particularly good-looking, but extraordinarily persis- tent and impressively eloquent which helped him »argue away« any ri- vals. Paula could not elude her fascination with him, and the two of them became a couple. Their relationship did not remain without consequences and three years later, their child was born out of wedlock – a perfect scan- dal. After all, it was the year 1919. Only as an elderly lady did Paula Ban- holzer write down her memories of their years together – a turbulent time, not only because of the unplanned offspring. The great dramatist was extremely jealous, but himself anything but monogamous, unasha- medly giving »parallel guest performances« on several »stages«. The rela- tionship with opera singer Marianne Zoff even ended in a permanent engagement as a husband and father – at least to start with ...
Paula Banholzer, born in Augsburg, Germany, in 1901, was the daughter of a phy- sician. Her relationship with Bert Brecht lasted for about seven years. Their son Frank grew up with foster parents. He fell in 1943 as a soldier. In 1924, Paula Banholzer mar- ried the merchant Hermann Groß. She died in her native city in 1989.
»BRECHT HAD MANY WOMEN, BUT BI WAS THE ONLY ONE HE LOVED.«
(Helene Weigel)
HE GAVE HER THE NICKNAME »BI« for »bitter sweet«, while calling himself »Bidi« – why, he never revealed. Paula Banholzer, the sheltered daughter from a bourgeois family, was 15 years old when 18-year old grammar school student Eugen Berthold set his eyes on her in the spring of 1916. He wasn’t particularly good-looking, but extraordinarily persis- tent and impressively eloquent which helped him »argue away« any ri- vals. Paula could not elude her fascination with him, and the two of them became a couple. Their relationship did not remain without consequences and three years later, their child was born out of wedlock – a perfect scan- dal. After all, it was the year 1919. Only as an elderly lady did Paula Ban- holzer write down her memories of their years together – a turbulent time, not only because of the unplanned offspring. The great dramatist was extremely jealous, but himself anything but monogamous, unasha- medly giving »parallel guest performances« on several »stages«. The rela- tionship with opera singer Marianne Zoff even ended in a permanent engagement as a husband and father – at least to start with ...
Paula Banholzer, born in Augsburg, Germany, in 1901, was the daughter of a phy- sician. Her relationship with Bert Brecht lasted for about seven years. Their son Frank grew up with foster parents. He fell in 1943 as a soldier. In 1924, Paula Banholzer mar- ried the merchant Hermann Groß. She died in her native city in 1989.
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