In the 1920s, Ernst Toller was the best-known living German-language playwright. His first stage production, Die Wandlung (1919), is considered one of the key works of Expressionist drama. In his captivating autobiography, Eine Jugend in Deutschland (1933), Toller describes his own transformation “from patriot to pacifist”—which was shaped by the First World War and provided an example for his generation. Through both this “transformation” and the vehemence of his campaign against fascism and war, Ernst Toller became a central symbolic figure of the 20th century and a key figure among German-speaking exiles.