"This study deals with Elisabeth Hauptmann's contributions to Bertolt Brecht's works. Handwritten and typed material from the "Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv" and the "Literaturarchiv der Akademie der Kunste," where Elisabeth Hauptmann's papers are held in Berlin, as well as the Brecht Collection at Harvard, substantiate Hauptmann's constant involvement in Brecht's works. Hauptmann's most obvious contributions to the Brecht oeuvre are discussed: for example, her involvement in Mann ist Mann, documented by Brecht in the dedication of the first version, and her translation of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, which resulted in Brecht's most famous play, Die Dreigroschenoper. Her work on Happy End prepared the way for Brecht's Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthofe. Less well-known is her prose, similar in style to Brecht's, her adaptations for Brecht's Berliner Ensemble in the 1950's, and her interest in things oriental, which resulted in her translations of Chinese poems and their adaption with Brecht. Her reticence in matters of credit served to obfuscate her importance to Brecht as muse, translator and fellow writer. This examination of her contributions sheds light on Brecht's productive process and fills a lacuna in secondary literature concerning Brecht's collaboration with his life-long partner. In the process this examination also attempts to adjust the image that the literary world has of Elisabeth Hauptmann."