Mother Courage and Her Children (German: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin. After four theatrical productions in Switzerland and Germany from 1941 to 1952 — the last three supervised and/or directed by Brecht — the play was filmed several years after Brecht’s death in 1959/1960 with Brecht’s widow and leading actress, Helene Weigel. Mother Courage is considered by some to be the greatest play of the 20th century, and perhaps also the greatest anti-war play of all time.