Erika Mann
Encyclopedia
Erika Julia Hedwig Mann (November 9, 1905 – August 27, 1969) was a German actress and writer, the eldest daughter of novelist Thomas Mann
and Katia Mann.
and was the first born daughter of the writer and later Nobel-prize winner Thomas Mann and his wife, Katia (née Pringsheim), the daughter of an intellectual German family of Jewish heritage. She was named after Katia Mann's brother Erik, who died early, Thomas Mann's sister Julia Mann, and her grandmother Hedwig Dohm
. She was baptized as a Protestant, just as her mother had been.
Thomas Mann expressed in a letter to his brother Heinrich Mann
his disappointment about the birth of his first child:
Nevertheless, he later candidly confessed in the notes of his diary, that he "preferred, of the six, the two oldest [Erika and Klaus
] and little Elisabeth
with a strange decisiveness"
In Erika he had a particular trust, which later showed itself in that she exercised a great influence on the important decisions of her father. Her particular role was also known by her siblings, as her brother Golo Mann
remembered: "Little Erika must salt the soup" .This reference to the twelve-year-old Erika from the year 1917 was an often used phrase in the Mann family.
After Erika's birth came that of her brother Klaus, with whom she was personally close her entire life – they went about "like twins," and Klaus Mann described their closeness as follows: "our solidarity was absolute and without reservation." Eventually there were four young children in total, including Golo, Monika
, Elisabeth, and Michael. The children grew up in Munich. On the mother's side the family belonged to the influential urban upper class, and the father came from a commercial family from Lübeck
and already had published the successful novel Buddenbrooks
in 1901.
The Mann home was a gathering-place for intellectuals and artists, and Erika was hired for her first theater engagement before finishing her Abitur
at the Deutsches Theater
in Berlin
.
, which in the family would come to be known as “Poschi.” From 1912 to 1914, Erika Mann attended a private school with her brother, joining for a year the Bogenhausener Volksschule, and from 1915 to 1920 she attended the Höhere Mädchenschule am St. Annaplatz. In May of 1921, she transferred to the Munich-based Luisengymnasium. Together with her brother Klaus Mann and befriended neighborhood children, which included Bruno Walter
’s daughters, Gretel and Lotte Walter, as well as :de:Ricki Hallgarten, the son of a Jewish
intellectual family, Erika Mann founded an ambitious theater troupe, the “Laienbund Deutscher Mimiker.” While still students at the Munich Luisengymnasium she appeared after an engagement from Max Reinhardt
on the stage of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin for the first time. The partially mischievous pranks that she undertook in the so-called “Herzogpark-Bande” with Klaus and befriended neighborhood children prompted her parents to send her and her brother Klaus to a progressive residential school, :de:Bergschule Hochwaldhausen, which was located in Vogelsberg
in Oberhessen
. This period in Erika Mann’s schooling lasted from April to July of 1922; subsequently she returned to the Luisengymnasium. In 1924 she passed the Abitur
, albeit with poor marks, and began her theatrical studies in Berlin that were again, because of her numerous engagements among others in Hamburg
, Munich, and Berlin, again interrupted.
' play :de:Anja und Esther.
On July 24, 1926, she married German actor Gustaf Gründgens
, but they divorced in 1929. In 1927, she and Klaus undertook a trip around the world, which they documented in their book Rundherum; Das Abenteuer einer Weltreise. The following year, she began to be active in journalism and in politics.
She was involved as an actor in the lesbian
film Mädchen in Uniform (1931, Leontine Sagan
) but left the production before its completion. In 1932 she published the first of many children's books. Shortly thereafter she became involved in several lesbian affairs in her private life. Her first noted affair was with actress :de:Pamela Wedekind, whom she met in Berlin, and was engaged with her brother Klaus. She later became involved with director Therese Giehse
, and journalists Betty Cox and Annemarie Schwarzenbach
, whom she served with as a war correspondent during World War II
. As was later written, her relationships were both sexually passionate and intellectually stimulating.
In 1933, she, Klaus, and Therese Giehse had founded a cabaret
in Munich called Die Pfeffermühle, for which Erika wrote most of the material, much of which was anti-Fascist. Erika was the last member of the Mann family to leave Germany after the Nazi regime was elected. She saved many of Thomas Mann's papers from their Munich
home when she escaped to Zurich
. In 1936, Die Pfeffermühle opened again in Zurich
and became a rallying point for the exiles.
In 1935 she undertook a lavender marriage
(marriage of convenience
) to the homosexual English poet W. H. Auden
, in order to obtain British citizenship. She and Auden never lived together, but remained friends and technically married until Erika's death.
In 1937, she crossed over to New York, where Die Pfeffermühle (as The Peppermill) opened its doors again. They lived (with Therese Giehse
and her brother Klaus Mann
and Miró
) in a large group of artists in exile with people like Kurt Weill
, Ernst Toller
, Sonja Sekula ...
In 1938, she and Klaus reported on the Spanish Civil War
, and her book School for Barbarians (:de:Zehn Millionen Kinder. Die Erziehung der Jugend im Dritten Reich) about Nazi Germany's educational system was published. The following year, they published Escape to Life, a book about famous German exiles. During the war, she was active as a journalist in England. After World War II, Mann was one of the few women who covered the Nuremberg Trials
. Following the war, both Klaus and Erika came under an FBI investigation into their political views and rumored homosexuality
. In 1949, becoming increasingly depressed and disillusioned over post-war torn Germany, Klaus Mann committed suicide. This event devastated Erika Mann.
In 1952, she moved back to Switzerland
with her parents. She had begun to help her father with his writing and had become one of his closest confidantes. She became responsible for his works and the works of her brother Klaus after death and worked on them intensely. She died in Zürich
.
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
and Katia Mann.
Life
Erika Mann was born in MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and was the first born daughter of the writer and later Nobel-prize winner Thomas Mann and his wife, Katia (née Pringsheim), the daughter of an intellectual German family of Jewish heritage. She was named after Katia Mann's brother Erik, who died early, Thomas Mann's sister Julia Mann, and her grandmother Hedwig Dohm
Hedwig Dohm
Marianne Adelaide Hedwig Dohm born Schlesinger, later Schleh was a German feminist, and author. She was one of the first feminist thinkers to see gender roles as a result of socialization and not biological determinism.-Family:She was born in Berlin to Jewish parents, as a daughter of Wilhelmine...
. She was baptized as a Protestant, just as her mother had been.
Thomas Mann expressed in a letter to his brother Heinrich Mann
Heinrich Mann
Luiz Heinrich Mann was a German novelist who wrote works with strong social themes. His attacks on the authoritarian and increasingly militaristic nature of pre-World War II German society led to his exile in 1933.-Life and work:Born in Lübeck as the oldest child of Thomas Johann Heinrich Mann...
his disappointment about the birth of his first child:
- "It is a girl; a disappointment for me, as I want to admit between us, because I had greatly desired a son and will not stop to hold such a desire. [...] I feel a son is much more full of poetry [poesievoller], more than a sequel and restart for myself under new circumstances."
Nevertheless, he later candidly confessed in the notes of his diary, that he "preferred, of the six, the two oldest [Erika and Klaus
Klaus Mann
- Life and work :Born in Munich, Klaus Mann was the son of German writer Thomas Mann and his wife, Katia Pringsheim. His father was baptized as a Lutheran, while his mother was from a family of secular Jews. He began writing short stories in 1924 and the following year became drama critic for a...
] and little Elisabeth
Elisabeth Mann-Borgese
Elisabeth Mann Borgese, CM was the youngest daughter of Thomas Mann and his wife Katia Pringsheim, sister to Klaus, Erika, Golo, Monika and Michael Mann, sister-in-law to W. H. Auden, and niece of the novelist Heinrich Mann.Elisabeth was born in Munich, Germany...
with a strange decisiveness"
In Erika he had a particular trust, which later showed itself in that she exercised a great influence on the important decisions of her father. Her particular role was also known by her siblings, as her brother Golo Mann
Golo Mann
Golo Mann , born Angelus Gottfried Thomas Mann, was a popular German historian, essayist and writer. He was the third child of the novelist Thomas Mann and his wife Katia Mann.-Life:...
remembered: "Little Erika must salt the soup" .This reference to the twelve-year-old Erika from the year 1917 was an often used phrase in the Mann family.
After Erika's birth came that of her brother Klaus, with whom she was personally close her entire life – they went about "like twins," and Klaus Mann described their closeness as follows: "our solidarity was absolute and without reservation." Eventually there were four young children in total, including Golo, Monika
Monika Mann
Monika Mann was a German novelist.Born in Munich, she was the daughter of novelist Thomas Mann, sister to Klaus, Erika, Elisabeth, Michael and Golo Mann, and also a niece of the novelist Heinrich Mann....
, Elisabeth, and Michael. The children grew up in Munich. On the mother's side the family belonged to the influential urban upper class, and the father came from a commercial family from Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
and already had published the successful novel Buddenbrooks
Buddenbrooks
Buddenbrooks was Thomas Mann's first novel, published in 1901 when he was twenty-six years old. The publication of the 2nd edition in 1903 confirmed that Buddenbrooks was a major literary success in Germany....
in 1901.
The Mann home was a gathering-place for intellectuals and artists, and Erika was hired for her first theater engagement before finishing her Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
at the Deutsches Theater
Deutsches Theater
The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is a well-known German theatre. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street , the Deutsches Theater consists of two adjoining stages that share a common, classical facade...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
School career and first theatrical experiences
In 1914, the Mann family obtained their well-known villa on 1 Poschingerstraße in BogenhausenBogenhausen
Bogenhausen is the 13th borough of Munich, Germany. It is the geographically largest borough of Munich and comprises the city's north-eastern quarter, reaching from the Isar on the eastern side of the Englischer Garten to the city limits, bordering on Unterföhring to the north, Aschheim to the east...
, which in the family would come to be known as “Poschi.” From 1912 to 1914, Erika Mann attended a private school with her brother, joining for a year the Bogenhausener Volksschule, and from 1915 to 1920 she attended the Höhere Mädchenschule am St. Annaplatz. In May of 1921, she transferred to the Munich-based Luisengymnasium. Together with her brother Klaus Mann and befriended neighborhood children, which included Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...
’s daughters, Gretel and Lotte Walter, as well as :de:Ricki Hallgarten, the son of a Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
intellectual family, Erika Mann founded an ambitious theater troupe, the “Laienbund Deutscher Mimiker.” While still students at the Munich Luisengymnasium she appeared after an engagement from Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt
----Max Reinhardt was an Austrian theater and film director and actor.-Biography:...
on the stage of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin for the first time. The partially mischievous pranks that she undertook in the so-called “Herzogpark-Bande” with Klaus and befriended neighborhood children prompted her parents to send her and her brother Klaus to a progressive residential school, :de:Bergschule Hochwaldhausen, which was located in Vogelsberg
Vogelsberg
Vogelsberg is a municipality in the Sömmerda district of Thuringia, Germany....
in Oberhessen
Upper Hesse
The province of Upper Hesse was one of three provinces in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and later the People's State of Hesse. Its territory covers the area of land north of the River Main in the historic region of Upper Hesse...
. This period in Erika Mann’s schooling lasted from April to July of 1922; subsequently she returned to the Luisengymnasium. In 1924 she passed the Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
, albeit with poor marks, and began her theatrical studies in Berlin that were again, because of her numerous engagements among others in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Munich, and Berlin, again interrupted.
Acting and writing
In 1924, she began serious theater studies in Berlin and played in Berlin and Bremen. In 1925, she played in the premier of her brother KlausKlaus Mann
- Life and work :Born in Munich, Klaus Mann was the son of German writer Thomas Mann and his wife, Katia Pringsheim. His father was baptized as a Lutheran, while his mother was from a family of secular Jews. He began writing short stories in 1924 and the following year became drama critic for a...
' play :de:Anja und Esther.
On July 24, 1926, she married German actor Gustaf Gründgens
Gustaf Gründgens
Gustaf Gründgens , born Gustav Heinrich Arnold Gründgens, was one of Germany's most famous and influential actors of the 20th century, intendant and artistic director of theatres in Berlin, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg...
, but they divorced in 1929. In 1927, she and Klaus undertook a trip around the world, which they documented in their book Rundherum; Das Abenteuer einer Weltreise. The following year, she began to be active in journalism and in politics.
She was involved as an actor in the lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
film Mädchen in Uniform (1931, Leontine Sagan
Leontine Sagan
Leontine Sagan was an Austrian actress and theatre director.Born in Budapest, Sagan trained with Max Reinhardt. The first and most widely known of her two films is Mädchen in Uniform...
) but left the production before its completion. In 1932 she published the first of many children's books. Shortly thereafter she became involved in several lesbian affairs in her private life. Her first noted affair was with actress :de:Pamela Wedekind, whom she met in Berlin, and was engaged with her brother Klaus. She later became involved with director Therese Giehse
Therese Giehse
Therese Giehse , born Therese Gift, was a distinguished German actress. Born in Munich to German-Jewish parents, she first appeared on the stage in 1920. She became a major star on stage, in films, and in political cabaret...
, and journalists Betty Cox and Annemarie Schwarzenbach
Annemarie Schwarzenbach
Annemarie Schwarzenbach was a Swiss writer, journalist, photographer and traveler.- Life :Annemarie was born in Bocken, near Zurich, Switzerland...
, whom she served with as a war correspondent during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. As was later written, her relationships were both sexually passionate and intellectually stimulating.
In 1933, she, Klaus, and Therese Giehse had founded a cabaret
Kabarett
Kabarett is a form of cabaret which developed in Germany from 1901, with the creation of the Überbrettl venue, and that by the Weimar era in the mid 1920s was characterized by political satire and gallows humor...
in Munich called Die Pfeffermühle, for which Erika wrote most of the material, much of which was anti-Fascist. Erika was the last member of the Mann family to leave Germany after the Nazi regime was elected. She saved many of Thomas Mann's papers from their Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
home when she escaped to Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
. In 1936, Die Pfeffermühle opened again in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
and became a rallying point for the exiles.
In 1935 she undertook a lavender marriage
Lavender marriage
Lavender marriage is a type of male-female marriage of convenience in which the couple are not both heterosexual and conceal the homosexual or bisexual orientation of one or both spouses...
(marriage of convenience
Marriage of convenience
A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than the reasons of relationship, family, or love. Instead, such a marriage is orchestrated for personal gain or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as political marriage. The phrase is a calque of - a marriage of...
) to the homosexual English poet W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
, in order to obtain British citizenship. She and Auden never lived together, but remained friends and technically married until Erika's death.
In 1937, she crossed over to New York, where Die Pfeffermühle (as The Peppermill) opened its doors again. They lived (with Therese Giehse
Therese Giehse
Therese Giehse , born Therese Gift, was a distinguished German actress. Born in Munich to German-Jewish parents, she first appeared on the stage in 1920. She became a major star on stage, in films, and in political cabaret...
and her brother Klaus Mann
Klaus Mann
- Life and work :Born in Munich, Klaus Mann was the son of German writer Thomas Mann and his wife, Katia Pringsheim. His father was baptized as a Lutheran, while his mother was from a family of secular Jews. He began writing short stories in 1924 and the following year became drama critic for a...
and Miró
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
) in a large group of artists in exile with people like Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
, Ernst Toller
Ernst Toller
Ernst Toller was a left-wing German playwright, best known for his Expressionist plays and serving as President of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, for six days.- Biography :...
, Sonja Sekula ...
In 1938, she and Klaus reported on the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, and her book School for Barbarians (:de:Zehn Millionen Kinder. Die Erziehung der Jugend im Dritten Reich) about Nazi Germany's educational system was published. The following year, they published Escape to Life, a book about famous German exiles. During the war, she was active as a journalist in England. After World War II, Mann was one of the few women who covered the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
. Following the war, both Klaus and Erika came under an FBI investigation into their political views and rumored homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. In 1949, becoming increasingly depressed and disillusioned over post-war torn Germany, Klaus Mann committed suicide. This event devastated Erika Mann.
In 1952, she moved back to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
with her parents. She had begun to help her father with his writing and had become one of his closest confidantes. She became responsible for his works and the works of her brother Klaus after death and worked on them intensely. She died in Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
.
Works
- School for Barbarians: Education Under the Nazis (1938)
- Escape to life (1939)
- The lights go down (1940)
- The Other Germany (with Klaus Mann, 1940)
- The Last Year of Thomas Mann. A Revealing Memoir by His Daughter, Erika Mann (1958)
Further reading
- Martin Mauthner: German Writers in French Exile, 1933-1940, Vallentine Mitchell, London, 2007, (ISBN : 978 0 85303 540 4).