During the time before the
Anschluss of Austria, i.e. the annexation by Nazi Germany in 1938, he worked at Viennese cabaret theaters. After his return from Switzerland, where he lived in exile (1938 – 1945), he wrote critical reviews about theater plays for the Austrian newspapers
Kurier and
Neues Österreich. Jointly with
Friedrich Torberg he was responsible for the
boycott in Austrian theaters of
Bertolt Brecht whom he rejected because of Brecht's
communist convictions. Between 1951 and 1954, Hans Weigel edited the anthology
Stimmen der Gegenwart (Voices from the Present), which fostered young writers. Today, his name is used by the Subsidy for Literature of
Lower Austria. Weigel adapted
comedies by
Johann Nepomuk Nestroy and translated
Molière. He collaborated with the annual Nestroy Theater Festival on Burg Liechtenstein, whose art director was Elfriede Ott. == Awards and accomplishments ==