Ernst Toller's Poems 1918-1921 contain his complete ""Poems of the
Prisoners"" and his first play ""Die Wandlung"" (Transformation). Ernst
Toller was born in Samotschin, Province of Posen, Prussia in 1893 into a
Jewish family. At the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered for
military duty, spent thirteen months on the Western Front, and suffered
a complete physical and psychological collapse. His first drama,
Transformation (Die Wandlung), was to be inspired by his wartime
experiences.