Born in Deutmannsdorf near Löwenberg, Silesia, the son of a merchant, Palitzsch grew up in Dresden. After gymnasium, he attended a to become a graphic artist for advertisement. He ran an advertising agency together with his brother. He served in the military for five years and was a prisoner of war for a short time. When he returned to the destroyed Dresden, he was among the founders of the local chapter of the Red Cross. He began his career at the theatre in 1945 as a dramaturge for the Dresdner Volksbühne. Bertolt Brecht called him in 1949 as graphic designer, dramaturge and assistant to his new Berliner Ensemble, which then still played at various stages in Berlin. In 1954, they moved to their own house, the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. Palitzsch designed the logo which still is installed on the top of the building. In 1955, he was stage directorfor the first time, with Der große Tag des Gelehrten Wu. In 1956, he directed John Millington Synge's Der Held der westlichen Welt at the Locarno Film Festival in 1961. Palitzsch was called to West Germany, as a representative of authentic productions of Brecht's plays. He staged Eduard II in Stuttgart, Mann ist Mann, while other theatres refrained from playing Brecht's works, due to the political situation. After the first performance, Palitzsch announced via Intendant that he would not return to East Germany. In 1961, he directed Der kaukasische Kreidekreis in Oslo, with the young Liv Ullmann. He staged Büchner's Dantons Tod (Danton's Death in Stuttgart in 1962, and Brecht's Mutter Courage in Cologne in 1964, with in the title role. In 1966, he directed there Brecht's Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti (Mr Puntila and his Man Matti with Hanns Ernst Jäger and Traugott Buhre in the title roles. His Stuttgart world premiere of Martin Walser's ' was invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen. From 1 January 1966, Palitzsch was manager of drama (Schauspieldirektor at the Staatstheater Stuttgart. His first production there of two works by Shakespeare combined as Rosenkriege I + II (Henry VI and Eduard IV was invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen in 1967. He staged in 1968 Isaac Babel's Marija, in 1969 the world premiere of Tankred Dorst', and in 1970 Diese Geschichte von Ihnen (This Story of Yours by John Hopkins. All three productions were invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen. His regular set designer was. In June 1972, he left Stuttgart with a production of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Palitzsch moved on to the Schauspiel Frankfurt, where he could realise theatre in codetermination (Mitbestimmungstheater. He directed there Lessing's Emilia Galotti in 1972, Wedekind's Frühlings Erwachen (Spring Awakening in 1974, again invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen, and Brecht's Die Tage der Commune in 1977. He staged Ibsen's Baumeister Solneß (The Master Builder in 1978, and Schiller's Don Carlos in 1979. Tensions within the leading team caused him to resign in 1980. During the following years, he worked freelance internationally, including Vienna where he staged at the Burgtheater, in Zürich, Rio de Janeiro and again Oslo. After the German reunification, Palitzsch returned to Berlin in 1992, where he shared the management of the Berliner Ensemble with Peter Zadek, Fritz Marquardt, Matthias Langhoff and Heiner Müller until 1995. Palitzsch was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on 6 September 2004, after having received the Theaterpreis Berlin in 1991. He died in Havelberg on 18 December 2004.
Palitzsch's works at the Berliner Theatertreffen
Several production directed by Palitzsch were invited to the Berliner Thatertreffen festival, including:
Peter Iden: Peter Palitzsch – Theater muss die Welt verändern. Henschel Verlag, Berlin 2005,
: Immer scheitern, besser scheitern. Zum 80. Geburtstag von Peter Palitzsch, in: Die Tageszeitung, 11 September 1998
, Mark vom Hofe: Der Vorhang geht nicht auf, damit sich Leute unterhalten. Peter Palitzsch, in: Ich mische mich ein. Markante deutsche Lebensläufe, Bad Honnef 2006,
