German Nobel laureate and renowned writer Thomas Mann lived in exile in LA for 10 years with his family. The German government has bought his former home, and plans to use it as a residence for talented young writers.
Image: Imago/PEMAX
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The German government has purchased the house at 1550 San Remo Drive in LA's Pacific Palisades area.
Well-known to literature fans, it's the home where Mann worked on his later literary works, "Doctor Faustus," "Lotte in Weimar," and "Joseph and His Brothers." The Mann family lived in the villa between 1942 and 1952, after fleeing from Nazi-ruled Germany.
Meeting place for young writers
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told newspaper "Süddeutsche Zeitung" newspaper on Friday that the Thomas Mann residence "was home for many Germans who worked toward a better future for their country, paved the way for an open society and laid the foundations for common transatlantic values."
"We want to revive the Thomas Mann villa in that spirit," Steinmeier added.
The celebrated German novelist was granted US citizenship in 1944Image: picture-alliance/dpa
The history-steeped house was listed at around $15 million (14 million euros). Tough negotiations preceded the final sale, according to "Süddeutsche Zeitung."
The possibility of the house's eventual demolition caused an outcry in Germany a few months ago, with German intellectuals and art curators urging the government to buy the property. An online petition to save the Mann villa gathered around 3,000 signatures, including that of Herta Müller, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature.
The Mann villa is now destined to become a place of cultural exchange and a meeting place for young writers.
The Mann house could possibly work in cooperation with the nearby Villa Aurora - the former home of German-Jewish novelist and playwright Lion Feuchtwanger, according to German Ministry plans. Villa Aurora has been a gathering place for German-American cultural exchange since 1994.
The unbelievable talent of the Mann family
Thomas Mann and his children were eccentric, rich and exceptional literary talents. Several biographies portray them, and now a new one focuses on the story of the family as a unit.
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The Manns: Dad was in charge
In his new biography on the Mann family, Tilmann Lahme writes that Thomas Mann's children never managed to free themselves from their father's influence. The book begins in the 1920s, when all six of them have already been born. Pictured with him in 1924, from left to right: His wife Katia, with Monika, Michael, Elisabeth, Klaus and Erika Mann. Golo is missing in the photo.
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The Nobel Prize in Literature
Thomas Mann gained world fame with his first major work, "Buddenbrooks," published in 1901. As hard as his children tried, they would never outdo him. The family called him the "magician," based on his 1924 novel "The Magic Mountain." Mann won the Nobel Prize in 1929.
Image: ullstein - AKG Pressebild
Literature and art in their DNA
They were "a brother and sister who made their way in the world through their wit, audacity and their father's name," writes Lahme to describe the two older children, Erika and Klaus. They were part of Berlin's artistic scene under the Weimar Republic. Erika was an actress and Klaus established his name as a writer. Pictured here: Gustaf Gründgens, Erika Mann, Pamela Wedekind, and Klaus Mann.
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Love triangle
Erika Mann married the actor Gustav Gründgens. Klaus Mann got engaged to Pamela Wedekind, but she later married Carl Sternheim, who was the father of a mutual friend, Dorothea. And Erika was actually in love with Pamela. The Mann family would openly speak and write about homosexuality.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Author and historian: Golo Mann
Klaus Mann wrote about homosexuality in his novel in a clearly autobiographical way. His brother Golo was more discrete about it. He was also a writer, but later became an established historian, who is still recognized to this day. It would also earn him his father's recognition.
Image: picture alliance/Imagno/Votava
The PR specialist of the family
During the family's exile in the US, as they fled from the Nazis, Erika Mann would develop her political voice and served to a certain extent as the "public relations officer of the family," according to biographer Tilmann Lahme. Erika publicized the Mann family's struggle against Hitler.
Image: Public Domain
The brother: Heinrich
The entire family was opposed to Hitler earlier than practically all intellectuals at the time. Thomas Mann's brother, author Heinrich Mann, was also one of the strongest voices against the Nazis, but he is not part of Lahme's biography. He chose to focus on Thomas Mann's nuclear family.
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A community of fate
Exile bound the family together. They relied on each other - financially, too - and couldn't avoid each other. The fact that they could not live in Germany during Nazi rule and were not received with open arms in 1945 strongly contributed to their unhappiness, believes author Tilmann Lahme.
Image: ullstein - Thomas-Mann-Archiv
Childhood memories
The children could hold on to happy memories spent on the Curonian Spit on the Baltic Sea, as pictured here in 1930. Thomas Mann poses with his children Elisabeth and Michael, as well as two other kids, in front of their summer house in Nida. These cheerful days would not guarantee a happy end: Klaus Mann committed suicide in 1949 in Cannes. Thomas Mann died in 1955.
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The youngest daughter: Elisabeth Mann-Borgese
The last member of Thomas Mann's immediate family died on February 8, 2002. The youngest daughter was the only one in the family who, according to Lahme, managed to break away from her father's influence. She also happened to be Thomas Mann's favorite child. Just a day before she died, she was skiing in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
