Born in 1888 in Neuwied on the Rhine. His father was a Jewish businessman. Wolf studied Medicine, Philosophy and Art History in Munich, Tübingen, Bonn and Berlin. In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, he was stationed as a military surgeon on the western front, an experience that turned him into an ardent opponent of war. He started writing expressionist poems, stories and plays. His first play "Mohammed" was written during that time. His popularity increased during the 1920s, and his plays were staged in several German cities. He fled Germany in 1933 via Austria and Switzerland and ended up in France, where he wrote his most successful play, "Professor Mamlock". The play was soon to become one of the most important antifascist plays of the era. In 1938, as Wolf was trying to get through to the Spanish international brigades during the Spanish Civil War, he was arrested in France and spent 18 months in the Le Vernet concentration camp. His play "Beaumarchais oder Die Geburt des Figaro" was written there under very intense circumstances. In 1941 Wolf became a citizen of the Soviet Union and moved to Moscow. After the war, he returned to Germany. During his subsequent time in Berlin, Wolf worked tirelessly as an author and as a dedicated advocate for culture and the arts. He was named the first GDR ambassador to Poland in 1949.
Wolf died in Lehnitz in 1953. His story of Augusta, the Christmas Goose has since seen numerous adaptations for the stage.