In 1956, the year he passed away, Bertolt Brecht, a groundbreaking figure in theatre and a poet with a keen eye on society, reflects on his life from his vantage point in East Berlin. He recalls his early provocations during World War I in Augsburg, his poetic and romantic adventures in Munich and Berlin during the 1920s, his flight from Hitler’s regime, and his subsequent exile in the United States. In his later years, he finds himself torn between being a timeless classic and a faltering advocate for the GDR’s class struggle, balancing the roles of an unyielding free spirit and a compromised artist.