Hailed in the 1920s as one "of the greatest narrators of our time," today Leonhard Frank is not well known by younger German readers. But to those familiar with German literature between 1914 and 1933 his works are synonymous with criticism of the social, political, and educational institutions of the Wilhelminian empire and the Weimar Republic. Frank has been characterized as "a reliable observer of his time"; he was a pacifist and a socialist--not an ideologue, but an altruist--who passionately fought against injustice, inhumanity, and intolerance. His novels were widely read and his plays were frequently and successfully performed on many stages before 1933, but during the Hitler years Frank became an exile for the second time in his life. The hiatus of his exile years and the prevailing literary conditions after 1945 precluded his works from again reaching the popularity that they had once enjoyed.

Frank was born on 4 September 1882 in...