“Small figure, great fighter”: Bertolt Brecht used these words to describe his second wife, Helene Weigel. With her performances at Berlin’s Volksbühne and Deutsches Theater, the Vienna-born actress became one of the most demanded character actresses of the Weimar Republic. She inspired Brecht, whom she met in 1923, in developing the epic theater and influenced his female roles in a profound way. After the Nazis came to power, the couple began am odyssey of exile: via Czechoslovakia and Austria to Denmark, Sweden, Finland, France, the Soviet Union, and finally to the United States. For Weigel’s career, their exile meant a long intermezzo. In 1948, she returned to Germany and returned to her earlier successes in East Berlin. In particular, her performance of Mother Courage in Brecht’s staging at Deutsches Theater became a legend in German post-war theater. Weigel and Brecht jointly lead the Berliner Ensemble, earning a worldwide reputation. He was the artistic director, while she served as intendant, but she also continued to perform into old age. After Brecht’s death, she managed and preserved his artistic legacy.