Ernst Busch (actor)

Not to be confused with Ernst Busch (field marshal).

Ernst Busch
200px Ernst Busch, 1946
Born	Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Busch (1900-01-22)22 January 1900 Kiel, German Empire
Died	Bernburg, East Germany
Occupation	singer, actor
Awards	Lenin Peace Prize

Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Busch (January 22, 1900 – June 8, 1980) was a German singer and actor.

Busch first rose to prominence as an interpreter of political songs, particularly those of Kurt Tucholsky, in the Berlin Kabarett 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 the Nationalists in Spain. His wartime songs were then recorded and broadcast by Radio Barcelona and Radio Madrid. After the Spanish Republic fell to General Franco, Busch migrated to Belgium where he was interned during the German occupation and later imprisoned in Camp Gurs, France and Berlin. Freed by the Red Army in 1945, he settled in East Berlin where he started his own record label and worked with Bertolt 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 Life of Galileo and his recordings of workers songs, including many written by Hanns Eisler. He also made a memorable recording of Peat Bog Soldiers.

Recordings of Spanish Civil War songs (incomplete list)

From "Canciones de las Brigadas Internacionales" and "Solidarität"

• Adelante Campesinos
• Am Rio Jarama - "On the Jarama Front"
• Ballade der XI Brigade on YouTube / Lied von der XI Brigade - "Song of the XIth Brigade"
• Los Campesinos - "The Peasants"
• Las Compañías de Acero
• Los Cuatro Generales
• Himno de Riego / Riego Hymne - "Colonel Riego's Hymn"
• Hans Beimler
• Des Lied von der Einheitsfront' / Einheitsfrontlied
• Lied der Internationalen Brigaden' / Lied Der Interbrigaden - "Song of the International Brigades"
• Mamita Mia
• Die Moorsoldaten - "Peat Bog Soldiers"
• Nuestra Bandera - "Our Flag"
• Peter, Mein Kamerad - "Peter, my Comrade"
• "Spaniens Himmel" or "Die Thälmann-Kolonne" - "Spain's Heaven" or "The Thälmann Battalion" (Page 30f)

Recordings of Second World War and other songs (incomplete list)

• Ach Ihr Wege
• Aufbauleid
• Ballade von den Säckeschmeißern
• Der Barrikaden
• Dank Euch Ihr Sowjetsoldaten
• Diplomaten
• Der Graben
• Der heimliche Aufmarsch
• Es Kommt der Tag
• Frieden der Welt
• Kämpfen wie Lenin
• Kampflied gegen den Faschismus
• Korea
• Lenin
• Lied der Bergarbeiter
• Lied der Interbrigaden
• Lied der Partei
• Lied des Werktätigen
• Lied vom Adler Stalin
• Lied vom Vaterland
• Linker Marsch
• Links Rechts
• Lob des Kommunismus
• Marsch der Antifaschisten
• Der Marsch Ins Dritte Reich
• Matrosen von Kronstadt
• Der rote Wedding
• Sehnsucht nach der Heimat
• Solidaritätslied
• Stalin Freund Genosse
• Trotz alledem
• Vorwärts Bolschewik

Awards, medals, and recognition

Germany’s most prestigious school for stage acting and directing is named after the actor, the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts (Hochschule für Schauspielkunst „Ernst Busch“, HFS) in Berlin. Ernst Busch was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize for 1970-71.

Selected filmography

• Katharina Knie (1929)
• The Street Song (1931)
• Kuhle Wampe (1932)
• The Lake Calls (1933)
• Goya or the Hard Way to Enlightenment (1971)

See also

• Pete Seeger (section 'Spanish Civil War songs')
• International Brigades order of battle (section 'XI International Brigade' point 'Songs')
• VEB Deutsche Schallplatten the state-run record label started by Busch in 1946
• Der Marsch ins Dritte Reich (1930) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEPULdJaNAM&hd=1