[

] was first published in 1944 in German in Stockholm by the exile publishing firm of Bermann-Fischer. In 1945 it appeared as an American textbook edition, edited by Gustave O. Arlt, with introduction and notes for students of German, unique for a major German drama (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts). The first English edition appeared in 1944 (transl. Gustave O. Arlt. New York: Viking). Werfel had written the comedy based on the story of a banker from Stuttgart by the name of Stefan S. Jakobowics whom he had met on his own flight from the advancing German troops in Lourdes, France, and who had told him about his flight from Paris in the company of a Polish colonel.

The action of the play is as follows: In the summer of 1940 the Germans

1363 words

Citation: Wagener, Hans. "Jacobowsky und der Oberst". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 September 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=22185, accessed 23 November 2024.]