Therese Giehse

__NOTOC__Therese Giehse (born Therese Gift; 6 March, 1898 – 3 March, 1975) was a German actress. Born in Munich to German-Jewish parents, she first appeared on the stage in 1920. She became a major star on stage, in films, and in political cabaret. In the late 1920's through 1933, she was a leading actress at the famous Munich Kammerspiele.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Giehse left Germany for Zürich, Switzerland, where she continued to act in exile, playing leading roles in Zürich, including in Erika Mann's acclaimed political cabaret the Pfeffermühle (which was itself also an exile, having been transported from Munich to Zürich in 1933 as well). During her exile, she traveled throughout central Europe with Pfeffermühle. On May 20, 1936 she married the homosexual, English writer John Hampson in order to obtain a British passport and thereby avoid capture by the Nazis. She returned to Germany after World War II, and performed in theatres on both sides of the Iron Curtain, but mostly in her native Bavaria, until her death in 1975.

With Bertolt Brecht

In exile, Giehse played the first Mother Courage in the world premiere of Bertolt Brecht's play "Mother Courage and Her Children", in 1941 at the Schauspielhaus Zürich. [cite web
url = http://german.lss.wisc.edu/brecht/chronology.html
title = Brecht Chronology
accessdate = 2007-12-07
last = Silberman
first = Marc
date = 29 March 2006
publisher = University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of German] [cite web
url = http://www.br-online.de/bayern-heute/thema/juden-in-bayern/lebenslaeufe-giehse.xml
title = Therese Giehse — Tscharlies jüdische Oma
accessdate = 2007-12-07
date = 27 January 2005
publisher = Bayerischer Rundfunk
language = German]

After the war, Giehse returned to Munich and to the Munich Kammerspiele, where, in 1950, she again played the role of Mother Courage, this time directed by Brecht himself. This production became documented as the second "Model production" of Brecht's play (the first "Model production" had been performed by Brecht's wife, Helene Weigel in 1949 in Berlin). Giehse and Brecht would often converse in their strong Bavarian (southern German) dialect during rehearsals, making Brecht's wife jealous of their kindred spirit. ["Therese Giehse: Ich hab nichts zum Sagen". Monika Sperr, (C. Berteslmann Verlag, 1972), p.112.]

In the 1950's, Giehse played several roles as a member of Brecht's theatre, the Berliner Ensemble. In the mid 1970's, Therese Giehse returned to the Berliner Ensemble to perform several "Brecht Evenings" of the poems, plays, and writings of her lifelong friend and colleague, the late Bertolt Brecht. As a member of the Berliner Ensemble and collaborator with Brecht, she was a much-sought-after interpreter of his work and recordings of her reciting and singing his work appeared on records in both East and West Germany

Other roles

Throughout the 1950's and 1960's, Giehse continued to perform many lead roles in various theatres in Germany, often using her considerable comic skills to play character roles, as well as great dramatic roles, such as the leads in several landmark productions by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, the world premiere of "The Visit" in 1956, and " The Physicists" in 1962. Later, she also worked with Peter Stein's renowned Schaubühne am Halleschen Ufer in Berlin. ["Therese Giehse: Ich hab nichts zum Sagen". Monika Sperr, (C. Berteslmann Verlag, 1972), pp. 146–149.]

She also appeared in over 20 films and a number of television productions.

In 1988, a commemorative stamp was printed in her honor as part of the Women in German history series.

References

External links

*imdb name|0317340
* [http://www.cyranos.ch/smgieh-e.htm Portrait of the actress Therese Giehse by Thomas Staedeli]
*de icon [http://www.steffi-line.de/archiv_text/nost_buehne/06g_giehse.htm Biography]
*de icon [http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/GiehseTherese/index.html Biography]