I certainly know that one can be more-or-less "leftist" without embracing Stalinist-type authoritarianism. And, having been born in the USA in 1947, I have no idea how Europe in the late 40s would have "felt" to a grown-up artist like Brecht, but still... I can't help but have doubts about the judgement of anyone with his wealth of options to have freely chosen to settle in the East at that time.

PoppaGator, I suspect there's a couple of things going on in the background that influenced both Brecht's settlement in East Berlin and your perception of it. I may have misremembered this but what passes for my memory suggests that Helene Weigl had family there that required her (and thus her partner's) presence. I may be confusing this ("postwar") aspect with a "prewar" event but I don't have the details to hand. The influence of 'neighbourhood' (plus a theatre) may have outweighed gross state politics. Then there's the fact that you and I are both the products of well established democracies that have weathered most of the assaults launched against them, whereas Brecht's upbringing was in a slightly different context and probably influenced his ability to cope; how he constructed his ability to live in East Berlin is something I suspect neither you nor I could emulate.

Cheers, Rowan