Weiss Peter

German writer, painter, graphic artist, and experimental filmmaker of adopted Swedish nationality. Weiss is particularly known for his plays Marat/Sade and The Investigation and his novel The Aesthetics of Resistance. Half-Jewish, Weiss was forced to flee Germany with his family in 1934 because of Nazi persecution. The family settled temporarily in London, Switzerland, and Czechoslovakia before finally adopting Sweden as their new homeland in 1939. Weiss studied at several institutions including the Polytechnic School of Photography in London and the Art Academy in Stockholm before beginning his career as a writer and painter. His first art exhibition took place in 1936, and his first produced play was Der Turm or The Tower (1950). He joined the Swedish Experimental Film Studio in 1952 and made films with a decidedly surrealistic influence. During this period, he also taught painting at Stockholms Peoples University. In 1964, Weiss established an international reputation with the production of The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade at the Schiller Theater in Berlin. Weiss next play, Der Ermittlung or The Investigation (1965), continues the theme of political drama as it presents the playwrights version of events at the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials of 1963-65. ] Weiss magnum opus was The Aesthetics of Resistance, called the "most important German-language work of the 70s and 80s. In 1970, Weiss suffered a heart attack, and his writing began to slow down. He adapted a few pieces from works by other authors such as Kafka andStrindberg, but for the most part, after 1973, his pen grew silent. He was awarded with many Prizes. He died in Stockholm on May 10, 1982. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less