Based on a true incident from the time, Büchner's work deals with the story of the soldier Johann Christian Wojciech, who, in a fit of jealousy, stabs his mistress, Maria, and is sentenced to death.

The German author, who wrote the work at just twenty-three years of age, delves deeply into the social, criminal, and medical aspects of the case, but does not limit himself to the dark tale of a deeply oppressed individual; instead, he composes an existential tragedy that touches on timeless questions about humanity's dependence on social conditions beyond its control, such as morality, social relationships, and power.

Wojciech, presented in the excellent translation by Spyros A. Evangelatos, consists of short, cinematic scenes, without adhering to the rules of a conventional linear narrative. A landmark text for German and, more broadly, European theater, it has often been regarded as a work for the oppressed, for the proletarians, for the wronged, a work for the absolute love that can even lead to death.

Wojciech, which has influenced few works as much as it has the theatrical landscape of the twentieth century, represents a cry of anguish from modern humanity, deconstructing the entire religious, military, scientific, and familial structure of contemporary society, where violence and exploitation remain at the core of human relationships.