Podcast #73: Therese Giehse

Update: 2024-07-19

Description

In this episode of our podcast, DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire brings us the story of Therese Giehse, a German actor, pacifist and exile known for founding an anti-Nazi cabaret (which, really, we could all get behind these days). Therese had artistic and other adventures with her lover Erika Mann (daughter of Thomas Mann), was photographed by Annemarie Schwarzenbach, and embodied several of Bertolt Brecht’s best-known characters on stage. She also acted in movies with Vivien Leigh and previous DLS star Romy Schneider.

Born in Munich in 1898, she went against her liberal Jewish family’s expectations to train as an actor, cast as older characters even as a young woman. The Pfeffermühle cabaret started up in 1933, swiftly moving to Zürich to escape the Nazis. With Erika and Klaus Mann, Giehse toured the political show around Europe, never mentioning any names but using parables and storytelling to rip the piss out of Hitler and his henchmen.

Therese returned to Zürich in 1937, where she joined the outstanding cast at the Schauspielhaus theatre, many of them also emigrants like her. During the war, she performed in the premiere staging of Brecht’s anti-war play Mother Courage, defining the title role in what some directors have called the greatest play of the 20th century.

She went on working with Brecht and other key playwrights and directors after 1945, in Munich, Zürich and East Berlin. Therese Giehse maintained her pacifist stance throughout her life, criticizing the Vietnam War at public events. She died in 1975 and is buried with her sister in Zürich.

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Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts. You can download the transcript, created by Susan, here.

Show notes:

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Therese singing Brecht’s “Mutter Beimlein hat ein Holzbein”</figcaption></figure>

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Young Therese Gift</figcaption></figure>

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Therese at 21</figcaption></figure>

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Therese’s teacher, Toni Wittels-Stury</figcaption></figure>

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">In her conehead costume in Munich</figcaption></figure>

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">“Crazy owl” Hitler and his Beer Hall Putsch cronies</figcaption></figure>

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Erika Mann, Annemarie Schwarzenbach, Klauss Mann gondola-ing through Venice</figcaption></figure>

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Erika in her Pierrot mode</figcaption></figure>

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Peppermill cabaret gang (Therese in her big coat, with Erika and Klaus down in front)</figcaption></figure>

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Therese as “Stupidity”</figcaption></figure>

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Therese in exile, by Annemarie Schwarzenbach</figcaption></figure>

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Handsome hat-wearer (and husband) John Hampson, by Howard Coster</figcaption></figure>

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The American edition of the Peppermill was not a success.</figcaption></figure>

<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Therese originated the titular role in Brecht’s Mother Courage.</figcaption></figure>

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<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The stunning Marianne Hoppe in 1935</figcaption></figure>

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<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Romy and Therese in Mädchen in Uniform (1958)</figcaption></figure>

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<figcaption class="blocks-gallery-caption wp-element-caption">Therese in Dürrenmatt plays</figcaption></figure>

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<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Therese Giehse in Münchner Geschichten</figcaption></figure>

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