The homeless German: 150 years of Thomas Mann

The literary world agrees: life and writing were closely linked for Thomas Mann (1875-1955). The German author became world-famous – as an important voice of culture as well as a wanderer between worlds. His fame is primarily based on his literary work – he wrote major novels such as "Buddenbrooks," for which he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929, "The Magic Mountain," and "Dr. Faustus." His political engagement also made him significant. He wrote essays and made radio speeches: Thomas Mann lived a life in turbulent global political times, with no fewer than two world wars, Nazi rule , and the Holocaust . Much of this is reflected in his work.

School days: German was not his subject

None of this was in sight when Thomas Mann was born on June 6, 1875, the son of a merchant in Lübeck. He grew up in a large family with four siblings. While still a schoolboy, he wrote his first prose sketches and essays. Like his brother Heinrich, he developed a passion for literature, which saddened his father. But even great literary figures start small: He had to repeat a grade more than once, and his German class never achieved a grade higher than "fairly satisfactory."

When his father died in 1891, Mann left school before completing his Abitur (high school diploma), moved with his family to Munich, and began an insurance apprenticeship there, which he soon abandoned. He lived off his father's inheritance and began working as a freelance writer. His first piece, "Gefallen," appeared in the magazine "Die Gesellschaft" in 1894. Mann now wanted to become a journalist.

He and his brother Heinrich went to Italy for two years. There, he wrote Buddenbrooks, which was published in 1901 after Mann's return. The novel, based on the Mann family history, tells the story of the downfall of a wealthy merchant family. Critics praised the debut novel, originally intended as a collaborative work between the brothers. From then on, Thomas Mann financed himself independently.

First World War and fraternal strife

Other works followed Buddenbrooks, first the novella collection "Tristan" (1903), which also includes "Tony Kröger," a narrative about the contrast between artist and citizen, spirit and life. Striving for a middle-class existence, Thomas Mann married Katia Pringsheim, the daughter of a wealthy Munich scholar family, in 1905. Nevertheless, he also felt attracted to young men, which apparently didn't bother Katja. The couple had six children. Some later followed in their father's footsteps and became writers.

The world keeps turning. The First World War (1914-1918) begins. Thomas falls out with his brother Heinrich, now also a successful author. The point of contention is the war: Heinrich publishes an anti-war pamphlet. Thomas counters and explains why four years later: In the essay "Contemplation of an Unpolitical Man" (1918), he defends the German Empire and its war policy. It wasn't until 1922—by which time Germany had lost the war and democracy had taken hold in the country with the Weimar Republic —that he changed his stance. In a speech, he declared his support for the Weimar democracy.

Thomas Mann received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929 for "Buddenbrooks." It was a huge success for the author and brought German literature onto the world stage. Only the jury's reasoning upset Mann: His "Magic Mountain," published in 1924, remained unmentioned.

Long before the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945), Thomas Mann sensed the danger. He positioned himself against the growing strength of the National Socialists and, in 1930, three years before Hitler's seizure of power , delivered a passionate plea against the Nazis and for social democracy. In the spring of 1933—Hitler had barely taken office—Thomas Mann did not return to Germany from a lecture tour through Europe. He settled in Switzerland. The first volume of the tetralogy "Joseph and His Brothers" was published. In this novel, Mann describes the incarnation of the biblical figure Joseph.

He initially left what was happening in Germany uncommented – until 1936, when he denounced German politics in a public letter to the "Neue Züricher Zeitung." The response was not long in coming: Berlin revoked his German citizenship and his honorary doctorate from the University of Bonn was revoked. Even before that, the Nazis had robbed him of his fame and reputation, and later also part of his fortune.

Emigration to the USA

Thus, the Manns turned their backs on Germany for good. In 1938, Thomas and Katja emigrated to the USA. Mann accepted a visiting professorship at a university in Princeton. Upon his arrival, when a reporter asked whether he considered exile a burden, Thomas Mann replied: "Where I am, is Germany! I carry my culture within me and do not consider myself a fallen human being."

From 1940 onwards, Thomas Mann called on Germans to resist. The British broadcaster BBC broadcast his monthly radio addresses via longwave to Mann's former homeland – bypassing German censorship. In over 60 broadcasts, he appealed to the conscience of his fellow countrymen, not excluding the mass murder of the Jews.

But Mann also made friends among the war's opponents: When the guns finally fell silent, he wrote the public letter "Why I Won't Return to Germany" (1945). In it, he blamed all Germans for the horrors of the Nazi era. Critics denied him the right, as an exile, to judge life under Hitler .

This sentence, with which Mann comments on the bombing of German cities, also triggers confusion: "Everything must be paid for." Mann also provokes controversy in literary terms, for example, with his 1947 novel "Doctor Faustus." It tells of composer Adrian Leverkühn's pact with the devil. It is Mann's reckoning with the social conditions that made National Socialism possible.

But things weren't going well in the USA either: Anti-communist postwar America suspected him of being a communist party sympathizer, and he was summoned before a committee for anti-American activities. So the writer left America again in 1952. He was drawn to neither of the two German states. Instead, he returned to Switzerland, where he died on August 12, 1955, in Zurich's Cantonal Hospital at the age of 80. With his literature, but also with his inflexibility in the face of the inhumane Nazis, Thomas Mann set a courageous example. A legacy that endures.