During the summer of , Bertolt Brecht convinced Marieluise Fleisser to return to her hometown of Ingolstadt, Bavaria. He went with her to observe the impact a company of Pioneers the German term for military engineers had on her hometown of Ingolstadt. Brecht was particularly interested in observing the effect the young engineers had on the local teenage females.
The Pioneers were in Ingolstadt to build a wooden bridge over the Danube River. The plot of this play focuses on two separate groups of individuals and what happens when they are placed together in the small walled city of Ingolstadtβpopulation of about 27, Each group has its own rules and regulations as well as desires. One group consists primarily of the citizens of Ingolstadt, mainly teenagers both males and females.
The second group is the Pioneers who are there to build a wooden bridge over the Danube River. The adolescents desire to break out of their normal routines and taste life, while the Pioneers want to enjoy life through sexual adventures, alcoholic consumption and forgetting the tensions created by their overly strict Sergeant.
This play also demonstrates life in a small German city after World War One. It illustrates the absence of adult guidance as well as the lack of opportunities for the youth.
However, the strict military style of management continued to exist for Pioneer units. Several of the scenes are composed of a variation on the idea of a French Scene.
