Katharina “Katia” Pringsheim was born in 1883. She was
born into a wealthy, Jewish family who lived in Munich. When she grew up, she
was given a good education.
Most of her education took place at her home, because
at that time girls were not welcome in a German High school (Gymnasium) or in a
German university.
She began to study mathematics and physics at the
university level, but before she could complete her studies, she was asked to
marry the young German writer Thomas Mann, who was born in 1875. She accepted the offer
and broke off her studies.
Katia and Thomas were married in February 1905. When she
married Thomas, she became Katia Mann. The couple had six children. Three sons
and three daughters.
The sons
** Klaus (1906-1949)
** Golo (1909-1994)
** Michael (1919-1977)
The daughters
** Erika (1905-1969)
** Monika (1910-1992)
** Elisabeth (1918-2002)
Did Thomas have a favourite? Yes. He had two
favourites: the oldest daughter Erika and the youngest daughter Elisabeth.
What about Katia? Did she have a favorite? Yes. She
had one favourite. The oldest son Klaus.
The other three children were tolerated. They were not
loved in the same way as the favourites.
Thomas pursued his career as a writer, while Katia
took care of the children and the house. In the early years of their marriage,
she also worked as a secretary for her husband.
She typed his handwritten manuscripts on a typewriter
so they could be presented to a publisher. She also took care of the business side
of his life. When Thomas was invited to give a talk about his work, she would
plan his schedule.
She supported his work in many ways. She was a
gatekeeper. If you wanted to meet Thomas Mann, you would have to be accepted by
Katia Mann first.
In 1911, Thomas and Katia travelled to Italy on a
holiday. They stayed in a hotel on the Lido di Venezia. The trip to Venice was
the inspiration for the book Der Tod in Venedig which was published in 1912.
In 1912, Katia suffered from poor health. Since it was
suspected that she had tuberculosis, she was advised to visit a sanatorium.
This was at that time the only known way to deal with
this disease. She travelled to Davos in Switzerland where she stayed at a
sanatorium for six months. Thomas visited her while she was at the sanatorium. He
stayed for three weeks.
After a while, the doctors realised that Katia did not
have tuberculosis after all. She was free to return to her home in Munich.
The stay in the sanatorium in Davos was the
inspiration for the book Der Zauberberg. Thomas began to work on the book in
1913. It was planned as a short volume. But in 1914, when World War One began,
the plan was changed.
Thomas decided to put the work on the book about the
sanatorium on hold for a while, because he wanted to focus on the war. In 1918, when the war was over, Thomas could return to
his work on the book about the sanatorium.
But after the war, Thomas was no longer the same
person as he had been before the war. He decided to include the experience of the war in the
book. His original plan had to change. It was no longer a short work. It was
going to be a major work about life and death.
Thomas talked to Katia about the people she had met
and the people she had seen while she was at the sanatorium in 1912.
The
different types she had seen and met at the sanatorium became characters in the
book Thomas was writing. In this way she supported his work, while the
project was underway.
The book was published in 1924. For Thomas this was a
major work after Buddenbrooks (1901) and Der Tod in Venedig (1912).
In 1927, Thomas was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature. The Nobel Committee mentioned his first novel Buddenbrooks when
they explained why the prize had been awarded to him.
Thomas was a surprised to see that the Nobel Committee
did not mention his recent work Der Zauberberg, but he did not want to complain
about it.
In January 1933, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party
came to power, Katia and Thomas were outside Germany. The children who were in
Germany warned them:
“Don't come home!”
They did what they were told. They did not return to
Germany. This was the beginning of a new chapter in their lives. They had to
live in exile for many years.
At first, they lived in France and Switzerland. In
1939, they moved to the US.
All six children managed to leave Germany.
Thomas Mann’s brother Heinrich Mann and his partner in
life Nelly also managed to leave Germany.
During the time in the US, Katia no longer worked as a
secretary for Thomas. A secretary was hired to do the job which Katia had done
for many years while they were living in Europe.
But the secretary had to be accepted by Katia. The rules
of the job were explained by Katia. She was still the manager of his life. She
was still the gatekeeper who decided who had access to Thomas.
In 1952, Thomas and Katia returned to Europe. They
visited Frankfurt am Main in West Germany and Weimar in East Germany, but
Thomas did not want to live in Germany again.
He decided to settle down in Switzerland.
He died in
Zürich in 1955.
Katia remained in Zürich. She did not write her
memoirs. She said she had lived with Thomas her whole life and he had written
enough for both of them.
Around 1970, her children began to talk to her about
her memoirs. They said:
If you do not want to write your memoirs, perhaps you
can agree to talk about your memoirs?
When she accepted this suggestion, they arranged a
series of interviews where she talked to a microphone which was connected to a
tape recorder.
Using these recordings, they created a short book of
memoirs. A German version was published in 1974.
An English version with the title Unwritten Memories appeared in
1975.
In this book, Katia talks about her life with Thomas
Mann and their children. She also talks about the numerous famous people she
met, because she was the wife of Thomas Mann.
When she is asked what she thinks about her life, she
makes the following statement:
“I just wanted to say, I have never in my life been
able to do what I would have liked to do.”
This is, in my opinion, a very sad way to sum up your
life. But we can understand why she felt that way.
She had to break off her studies of mathematics and
physics in order to marry Thomas Mann. She devoted herself to support the life
and work of her husband.
She died in Zürich in 1980.
REFERENCES
Frau Thomas Mann
This documentary film was shown on German television
(SWR) in 2005
** Director = Birgit Kienzle
** Run time = 58 minutes
This film is available on YouTube
Unwritten Memories
By Katia Mann
Edited by Elisabeth Plessen and Michael Mann
(1975)
Several reviews of this book are posted on Goodreads.
I want to recommend a long and detailed review posted by Jola on 5
August 2022 which offers a rating of 40 percent.
*****
The famous German writer
Thomas Mann
(1875-1955)
*****
Katia Mann
(born Pringsheim)
1883-1980
*****
Unwritten Memories
By Katia Mann
Edited by Elisabeth Plessen and Michael Mann
(1975)
*****
