Ruth Berlau

Born to a merchant family, she learned French at a convent school, but had to drop out due to a pregnancy at the age of thirteen.

She studied acting and established her Danish reputation playing Anna in Brecht's Drums in the Night.

During her teenage years, she financed a bicycle tour of France, by writing up a somewhat fictionalized account of her travels for a Danish newspaper.

[citation needed] In 1933, she presented herself to the newly arrived Brecht and his wife Helene Weigel, then staying on Fyn or Thurø[2] and within two years had become his lover.

With Brecht, Berlau published the short story collection Jedes Tier kann es, considered obscene in its time.