| East Berlin, 1956. Bertolt Brecht, revolutionary of the theater and poet of the state, looks back: his exploits as a teenager during the World War I; his romantic adventures during the twenties; the escape of the Nazi regime; the return from exile. The life of a timeless classic, a class fighter, an indefatigable free spirit, a committed artist. |
| Name | Character | Episodes |
|---|---|---|
| Trine Dyrholm | Ruth Berlau | 2 |
| Tom Schilling | Young Bertolt Brecht | 2 |
| Adele Neuhauser | Helene Weigel | 2 |
| Burghart Klaußner | Bertolt Brecht | 2 |
| Bertolt Brecht | Himself (archive footage) | 2 |
| Joseph Stalin | Himself (archive footage) | 1 |
| Charles Laughton | Galileo (voice) | 1 |
| Ernst Stötzner | Caspar Neher | 1 |
| Maria Dragus | Regine Lutz | 1 |
| Theo Lingen | Himself (archive footage) | 1 |
| Petra Bučková | Gerda Goedhart | 1 |
| Anna Herrmann | Käthe Reichel | 1 |
| Laura de Boer | Isot Kilian | 1 |
| Anatole Taubman | Ernst Josef Aufricht | 1 |
| Leonie Benesch | Young Elisabeth Hauptmann | 1 |
| Götz Schubert | Ernst Busch | 1 |
| Hannes Wegener | Dr. Lion Feuchtwanger | 1 |