Ernst Busch (actor)

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Not to be confused with Ernst Busch (military).

Ernst Busch (22 January 1900 - 8 June 1980) was a German singer and actor. He was born in Kiel and died in Berlin.

Busch first rose to prominence as an interpreter of political songs, particularly those of Kurt Tucholsky, in the Berlin cabaret scene of the 1920s. He starred in the original 1928 production of Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera, as well as the subsequent 1931 film by Georg Wilhelm Pabst. He also appeared in the movie Kuhle Wampe.

A lifelong Communist, Busch fled Nazi Germany in 1933 with the Gestapo on his heels, eventually settling in the Soviet Union. In 1937 he joined the International Brigades to fight against fascism in Spain. After Spain fell to Franco, he emigrated to Belgium, where he was interned during the Nazi occupation and later imprisoned in Camp Gurs, France and Berlin. Freed by the Red Army in 1945, he settled in East Berlin, where he worked with Bertold Brecht and Erwin Piscator at the "Berliner Ensemble". A beloved figure in the German Democratic Republic, he is best remembered for his performance in the title role of Brecht's Galileo, and for his stirring recordings of workers songs, including many written by Hanns Eisler. He also made a memorable and haunting recording of Peat Bog Soldiers.

[edit] Recordings of Spanish Civil War songs (incomplete list)

From "Canciones de las Brigadas Internacionales"

Los Cuatro Generales
Die Thaelmann-Kolonne The Thaelmann Column
Hans Beimler
Des Lied von der Einheitsfront Einheitsfrontlied
Lied der Internationalen Brigaden Song of the International Brigades / Lied Der Interbrigaden
Die Moorsoldaten - Peat Bog Soldiers
Am Rio Jarama - "On the Jarama Front"
Ballade der XI Brigade - Song of the XIth Brigade / Lied von der XI Brigade
Peter, Mein Kamerad Peter, my Comrade
Las Compañías de Acero
Adelante Campesinos
Nuestra Bandera - Our Flag
El Himno de Riego - Colonel Riego's Hymn / Riego Hymne

[edit] Recordings of WWII and unsorted songs (incomplete list)

Ach Ihr Wege
Der Heimliche Aufmarsch
Lied des Werktatigen
Lied vom Vaterland
Sehnsucht Nach Der Heimat
Lied der Partei - 1950
Links Rechts
Marsch der Antifaschisten
Matrosen von Kronstadt
Sehnsucht nach der Heimat
Solidaritats lied
Spaniens Himmel
Stalin Freund Genosse - 1949
Trotz alledem
Vorwarts Bolschewik
Ballade von den Sackeschmeissern
Dank Euch Ihr Sowjetsoldaten
Der Barrikaden
Der Marsch Ins Dritte Reich
Der rote Wedding
Diplomaten
Kampfen wie Lenin
Kampflied gegen den Faschismus
Korea
Lenin
Lied Der Interbrigaden

[edit] Awards, medals, and recognition

Germany’s most prestigious school for stage acting and directing is named after the actor, the Ernst Busch School For Performing Arts in Berlin. Ernst Busch was awarded Lenin Peace Prize (for 1970-71).