The famous German writer Thomas Mann was born in 1875. Before World War One, he was a very conservative person. In 1914, when World War One began, he supported the German Empire and the German war effort.
The sinking of the ocean liner the Lusitania in 1915 was a major event during the war. How did Thomas Mann react to this event? He supported the German attack on the ocean liner. It was, according to him, a necessary element of the war.
His brother Heinrich did not agree with him. Heinrich opposed the war and the German government which was so eager to wage war.
In 1918, when the war ended, Thomas slowly realised that the war had been a horrible experience, not only for Germany but also for the enemies France and the UK. He began to question his former position.
Perhaps his brother Heinrich had been right when he had opposed the war?
Perhaps he (Thomas) had chosen the wrong position regarding the war?
After the war, he reinvented himself. He became a liberal person. Now he supported democracy and political freedom. Now he opposed the idea that the people had to serve the state. Now he felt the state had to serve the people.
The transformation did not happen overnight. It was a long and slow process. According to some observers, it took four years: from 1918 to 1922.
The transformation is visible in his famous novel Der Zauberberg which was published in 1924.
An English version of the novel The Magic Mountain was published three years later, in 1927.
The novel was inspired by an event in his family. In 1911, his wife Katia had a serious problem with her health. It was suspected that she had tuberculosis.
In 1912, she travelled to a sanatorium in Davos in Switzerland. She stayed there for six months: from March to September 1912. Thomas visited her in Davos. He stayed for three weeks: from late May to early June.
The sanatorium and its surroundings made a great impression on him. He decided to write a novel about the sanatorium in Davos. His plan was to compose a short work, perhaps even a funny work.
He began to work on the project in 1913. But in 1914, when World War One began, he put the project aside, because he wanted to focus on the war.
In 1918, when the war was over, he was a different person. He resumed his work on the novel about the sanatorium. But now his plan had to change.
It was going to he a long work and it was not going to be a funny work. It was going to be a serious work about life and death. His new position as a liberal person dominated his novel. He supported the freedom and democracy of the Weimar Republic.
The final result was a long and serious novel: More than 1,000 pages about life and death in the sanatorium in Davos.
Thomas Mann had successfully reinvented himself. As a young man he was a very conservative person. After the end of World War One, he became a liberal person.
In January 1933, when Hitler and the Nazi party came to power, Thomas and Katia were outside Germany. Their children, who were in Germany, warned them:
"Don't come home!"
They listened to them. They did not return to Germany. They decided to stay in exile.
At first, they lived in Switzerland and France. In 1939, they moved to the US.
His children were able to leave Nazi Germany in 1933. The family was united in exile. His brother Heinrich also left Germany in 1933. His brother also moved to the US.
From his exile, Thomas Mann used strong words to speak out against Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Thomas and Katia remained in the US for more than ten years. In 1952, they 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 live in Switzerland. He died in Zürich in 1955. Katia remained in Switzerland. She died in 1980.
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The famous German writer
Thomas Mann
(1875-1955)
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Thomas Mann and his wife Katia
(born Pringsheim)
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Der Zauberberg
By Thomas Mann
(1924)
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The Magic Mountain
By Thomas Mann
(1927)
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