Who was Thomas Mann?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas Mann (1875-1955) was a German writer who is famous or well-known for several reasons.

 

# 1. Thomas and his brother

Thomas had an older brother Heinrich (1871-1950) who was also a writer. The two brothers were close while they were young. But when World War One broke out, they responded in different ways:

 

Heinrich opposed the war. He said it was wrong. Thomas supported the war. He said every German citizen must support the German war effort. The two brothers became estranged because of the war.

 

In 1918, when the war ended, Thomas began to question his own position regarding the war. Perhaps his brother Heinrich had been right the whole time?

 

The transformation from a conservative to a liberal position was slow. It took four years. In 1922, Thomas was finally ready to accept the Weimar Republic which was established when the German Empire collapsed in 1918. The two brothers became friends again.

 

When Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party began to dominate German politics, Heinrich used strong words to speak out against the Nazis. Thomas did not like the Nazis, but he hesitated to denounce the Nazis in the same way as his brother.

 

In January 1933, when Hitler and the Nazi party came to power, Thomas and his wife Katia were outside Germany. His children told them to stay away. His brother Heinrich left Germany shortly after the Nazis came to power.

 

In May 1933, German students who were supported by the Nazis arranged a public ceremony in which many books were burned. Books by Jewish authors and books by authors who were not accepted by the Nazis. Books by Heinrich Mann were burned on that occasion. His German citizenship was cancelled.

 

Thomas was still hoping that the Nazis would allow his books to be sold and read in Germany. But after a while the situation in Germany became so bad that he had to respond in public. The Nazis persecuted Jewish authors and artists.

 

In 1936, Thomas wrote a protest against the Nazi policy which was published abroad. The Nazis read this and they were furious. Now his citizenship was cancelled.

 

# 2. Thomas and his wife

Thomas was married to Katia. Together they had six children. Three sons and three daughters.

 

The oldest son Klaus was a gay man and he did not hide this fact. The oldest daughter Erika was a lesbian woman and she did not hide this fact.

 

** The father had two favourites = Erika and Elisabeth

** The mother had one favourite = Klaus

 

The other three children were tolerated, but they were not loved in the same way as the three favourites.

 

# 3. Thomas was a writer

Thomas wrote novels and short stories. He was a famous writer in Germany and Austria. 

 

When his works were translated into English, he was also famous in the English-speaking world.

 

His books were so popular that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929.

 

His first novel Buddenbrooks was published in 1901. Der Tod in Venedig, published in 1912, is a well-known work. Perhaps his most famous work is Der Zauberberg which was published in 1924.

 

# 4. Thomas was in exile

Thomas was born and raised in Germany, but he lived in exile for more than twenty years: from 1933 until his death in 1955.

 

From 1933 to 1939, he lived in France and Switzerland. In 1939, he moved to the US where he stayed for more than than ten years.

 

In 1952, he returned to Europe. He visited Frankfurt am Main in West Germany and Weimar in East Germany, but he did not want to live in Germany again.

He decided to live in Switzerland.

He died in Zürich in 1955.

 

REFERENCES

 

Die Manns

This docudrama premiered in 2001. It is a series with three episodes.

This docudrama covers the history of Thomas Mann and his family in great detail.

 

** Episode 1 = 103 minutes

** Episode 2 = 101 minutes

** Episode 3 = 103 minutes

 

Unterwegs zur Familie Mann

This documentary film premiered in 2001. It is a series with three episodes.

 

** Episode 1 = 86 minutes

** Episode 2 = 88 minutes

** Episode 3 = 87 minutes

 

In 2025, the docudrama and the documentary film were shown on German television (ARD) to mark the 150-year anniversary of Thomas Mann’s birth in 1875.

 

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The famous German writer

Thomas Mann

(1875-1955)

 

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