Golo Mann
Encyclopedia
Golo Mann born Angelus Gottfried Thomas Mann, was a popular German
historian
, essay
ist and writer. He was the third child of the novelist Thomas Mann
and his wife Katia Mann.
. As a child, he pronounced his first name as Golo, and this name was adopted. He had an elder sister, Erika Mann
, an elder brother, Klaus Mann
, and three younger siblings, Monika
, Elisabeth
and Michael.
In her diary his mother describes him in his early years as sensitive, nervous and frightened. His father hardly concealed his disappointment and rarely mentioned the son in his diary. Golo Mann in turn described him later: "Indeed he was able to radiate some kindness, but mostly it was silence, strictness, nervousness or rage." Among his siblings he was most tightly connected with Klaus, whereas he disliked the dogmatism and radical views of his sister Erika.
As an average pupil he received a classical education at the Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Munich beginning in September 1918, revealing talents in history
, Latin
, and especially in reciting poems, the latter being a lifelong passion. Increasingly sensing his parents‘ home as a burden, he attempted a kind of break-out by joining the Boy Scouts
in spring 1921. On one of the holiday marches he was the victim of a slight sexual violation by his group leader.
New horizons opened up in 1923, when Mann entered the boarding school in Salem
, feeling liberated from home and enjoying the new educational approach. Here, in the countryside near Lake Constance
, he developed an enduring passion for hiking through the mountains, although he suffered from a lifelong knee injury.
In 1925 Mann suffered a severe mental crisis that overshadowed the rest of his life. "In those days the doubt entered my life, or rather: broke in with tremendous power (...) I was seized by darkest melancholy." That is what Golo explained
Upon the final school exams in 1927, he commenced his studies of law in Munich, moving the same year to Berlin
and switching to history and philosophy
. He used the summer of 1928 to learn French
in Paris
and to get to know "real work" during six weeks in a coal mine in Lower Lusatia
, abruptly stopping because of new knee injuries.
At last Mann entered the University of Heidelberg in spring 1929. Here he followed the advice of his teacher Karl Jaspers
to graduate in philosophy on the one hand, and to study history and Latin with the prospect of becoming a schoolteacher on the other. He nevertheless found time to join a socialist student group in the autumn of 1930. In May 1932, Mann finished his dissertation, Concerning the terms of the individual and the ego in Hegel's works, which was rated with an average cum laude. Nevertheless, his parents bought him a small car that he used for extended rides across Germany.
Golo Mann intended to finish his university studies in Hamburg
and Göttingen
, but dark clouds were arriving over Germany. That was especially the case for Thomas Mann
, who never hesitated to articulate his dislike for National Socialism. While his parents already lived abroad, Golo Mann looked after the family house in Munich in April 1933, helped his three younger siblings leave the country and brought the greater part of his parents' savings via Karlsruhe
and the German embassy in Paris to Switzerland
.
On 31 May 1933, Mann left Germany for the French town of Bandol
near Toulon
. He spent the summer at the mansion of the American travel writer William Seabrook near Sanary-sur-Mer
and lived six further weeks at the new family house in Küsnacht near Zurich
. In November he joined the École Normale Supérieure at Saint-Cloud near Paris for two intensive, instructive years as lecturer on the German language. At that time he worked for the emigrants' journal Die Sammlung (The Collection) founded by his brother Klaus.
In November 1935, Mann accepted a call from the University of Rennes
to lecture on German language and literature. Mann travels to Switzerland prove that the relationship to his father was easier, because in the meantime Thomas Mann had learned to appreciate his son's political knowledge. But it was only when Golo Mann helped edit his father's diaries in later years that he realised fully how much acceptance he had gained. In a confidential note to the German critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki
he wrote, "It was inevitable that I had to wish his death; but I was completely broken-hearted when he passed away".
In 1936 Thomas Mann and his family were deprived of their German citizenship. Help came from the Czech
businessman and admirer Rudolf Fleischmann, who arranged the naturalization to his Bohemia
n town of Prosec
and subsequently Czech citizenship. Golo Mann wanted to take the opportunity to continue his studies in Prague
, but soon stopped the experiment.
Early in 1939 Mann traveled to Princeton, New Jersey
, where his father worked as guest professor. Although war was drawing closer, he hesitantly returned to Zurich
in August to become editor of the emigrants' journal Maß und Wert (Measure and Value).
As a reaction to Adolf Hitler
's invasion of Paris
in May 1940 during World War II
, Golo Mann decided to fight against the German invaders and to join a Czech military unit on French soil as a volunteer. Upon crossing the border he was arrested at Annecy
and brought to the French concentration camp Les Milles
, a brickyard near Aix-en-Provence
. In the beginning of August he was released by the intervention of an American committee. On 13 September 1940, he undertook a daring escape from Perpignan
across the Pyrenees
to Spain
. With him were his uncle Heinrich Mann
, the latter's wife Nelly Kröger, Alma Mahler-Werfel
and Franz Werfel
. They crossed the Atlantic from Lisbon
to New York
in October on board the Greek steamer Nea Hellas.
In the United States Golo Mann, for the time being, was condemned to inactivity. He stayed at his parents' house in Princeton, then in New York, before moving with them in 1941 to Pacific Palisades, California
. In the autumn of 1942, he finally got the chance to teach history at Olivet College
in Michigan
.
As did his brother Klaus Mann
before, Golo Mann joined the US Army in 1943. After basic training at Fort McClellan
, Alabama
, he worked at the Office of Strategic Services
in Washington, DC. In his capacity as intelligence officer it was his duty to collect and translate relevant information.
In April 1944, he was sent to London
where he made radio commentaries for the German language
division of the American Broadcasting Station. For the last months of World War II he worked in same function for a military propaganda station in Luxembourg
. Then he helped organise the foundation of Radio Frankfurt. During this period he worked with Robert Lochner
, who thought very highly of him. During his journeys across Germany he was shocked at the extent of destruction, especially that caused by Allied bombing.
In 1946, Mann left the US Army by his own request. He nevertheless kept a job as civil control officer, watching the war crimes trials
at Nuremberg
in this capacity. The same year saw the publication of his first book of lasting value, a biography in English
of the 19th century diplomat Friedrich von Gentz
.
In autumn 1947, Mann became assistant professor of History at Claremont Men's College in California. In hindsight he recalled the nine-year engagement as "the happiest of my life"; on the other hand he complained, "My students are scornful, unfriendly and painfully stupid as never before". The professorship in California was interrupted by several residences in German-speaking Europe
.
In 1956 and 1957, Mann spent many weeks at the tavern Zur Krone at Altnau
on the shores of Lake Constance
to write his German History of the 19th and 20th century. It was released in 1958 and became an instant bestseller. It also marked his final return to Europe because he became guest professor at the University of Münster
for two winter terms in a row.
In autumn 1960, Mann joined the University of Stuttgart
in the higher position of professor in ordinary for Political Science
. It soon became clear that he felt unsatisfied with the machinery at the universities: "In those years I had a feeling of immense, but fruitless effort without getting any echo. This led to a depression that made me resign the professorship in 1963".
In the following years Mann worked as a free-lance historian and essayist, suffering in both capacities from chronic overwork that increasingly damaged not only his work but also his health. He took up residence at his parents' house in Kilchberg
near the Lake of Zurich, where he lived until 1993 — sharing the house for most years with his mother.
In his political work Mann first praised the West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
for his course towards integration with France and the United States. He nevertheless criticized Adenauer's insincerity concerning a reunification with East Germany, so that he came to support the new détente
ideas of Willy Brandt
. He even sometimes worked for Brandt as a ghostwriter.
Mann nevertheless perceived the emergence of the student movement
as a grave threat for democracy
. He gradually became alienated from Brandt in 1973, reproaching him with passivity towards alleged communist infiltration in his Social Democratic Party
.
Mann's almost lifelong passion for the best-known field-marshal of the Thirty Years War culminated in 1971 with the release of the monumental biography Wallenstein
. It is considered as a masterpiece of narrative history for its pictorial language.
In 1979 Golo Mann delivered the Huizinga Lecture
in Leiden, The Netherlands, under the title: 1914-1980: Ein Ueberblick (1914–1980, seen with a birds-eye view).
In a surprising discontinuity with his former political engagement for Willy Brandt
, Mann supported the controversial politician Franz-Josef Strauß in his campaign for Chancellor in 1980, hoping for a more decisive fight against radical left-wing activities. Some fellow political commentators were alienated, and Mann himself foresaw the negative effects. He wrote in his diary, "I will have to pay for it as Kaiser Wilhelm did for his 'Daily Telegraph Affair'".
In 1986 his adopted son Hans Beck-Mann died. Beck-Mann was a pharmacist he got to know in 1955 and supported financially in his studies. In November of the same year followed the release of the successful semi-autobiography Erinnerungen und Gedanken. Eine Jugend in Deutschland (Memories and Thoughts. A Youth in Germany). He immediately started work at a sequel that was never finished.
In the meantime, the East German regime lifted its ban on Golo Mann at the beginning of 1989. Not only was his Wallenstein biography finally available in East Germany after 18 years — he was even allowed to read from it on invitation from the East German Minister of Education. When the reunification of Germany came only one year later, he reacted dispassionately: "No delight in German unity. They are bound to fool around once more, even if I won't live to see it".
In March 1990, Mann had a heart attack after a public lecture. In the same year it became evident that he suffered from prostate cancer
. Because of his ill health he moved to Leverkusen
in 1992, where he was nursed by his daughter-in-law Ingrid Beck-Mann. A few days prior to his death, he acknowledged his homosexuality
in a TV interview: "I did not fall in love often. I often kept it to myself, maybe that was a mistake. It also was forbidden, even in America, and one had to be a little careful".
On 7 April 1994, Mann died in Leverkusen aged 85. His urn was buried in Kilchberg
, but – in fulfillment of his last will – outside the family grave.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
ist and writer. He was the third child of the novelist Thomas Mann
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 his wife Katia Mann.
Life
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...
. As a child, he pronounced his first name as Golo, and this name was adopted. He had an elder sister, Erika Mann
Erika Mann
Erika Julia Hedwig Mann was a German actress and writer, the eldest daughter of novelist Thomas Mann and Katia Mann.-Life:...
, an elder 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 three younger siblings, 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
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...
and Michael.
In her diary his mother describes him in his early years as sensitive, nervous and frightened. His father hardly concealed his disappointment and rarely mentioned the son in his diary. Golo Mann in turn described him later: "Indeed he was able to radiate some kindness, but mostly it was silence, strictness, nervousness or rage." Among his siblings he was most tightly connected with Klaus, whereas he disliked the dogmatism and radical views of his sister Erika.
As an average pupil he received a classical education at the Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Munich beginning in September 1918, revealing talents in history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, and especially in reciting poems, the latter being a lifelong passion. Increasingly sensing his parents‘ home as a burden, he attempted a kind of break-out by joining the Boy Scouts
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
in spring 1921. On one of the holiday marches he was the victim of a slight sexual violation by his group leader.
New horizons opened up in 1923, when Mann entered the boarding school in Salem
Schule Schloss Salem
Schule Schloss Salem is a boarding school with campuses in Hohenfels, Salem and Überlingen in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. It is considered one of the most elite schools in Europe.It offers the German Abitur, as well as the International Baccalaureate...
, feeling liberated from home and enjoying the new educational approach. Here, in the countryside near Lake Constance
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
, he developed an enduring passion for hiking through the mountains, although he suffered from a lifelong knee injury.
In 1925 Mann suffered a severe mental crisis that overshadowed the rest of his life. "In those days the doubt entered my life, or rather: broke in with tremendous power (...) I was seized by darkest melancholy." That is what Golo explained
Upon the final school exams in 1927, he commenced his studies of law in Munich, moving the same year to 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...
and switching to history and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. He used the summer of 1928 to learn French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and to get to know "real work" during six weeks in a coal mine in Lower Lusatia
Lower Lusatia
Lower Lusatia is a historical region stretching from the southeast of the Brandenburg state of Germany to the southwest of the Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Important towns beside the historic capital Lübben include Calau, Cottbus, Guben , Luckau, Spremberg, Finsterwalde, Senftenberg and Żary...
, abruptly stopping because of new knee injuries.
At last Mann entered the University of Heidelberg in spring 1929. Here he followed the advice of his teacher Karl Jaspers
Karl Jaspers
Karl Theodor Jaspers was a German psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry and philosophy. After being trained in and practicing psychiatry, Jaspers turned to philosophical inquiry and attempted to discover an innovative philosophical system...
to graduate in philosophy on the one hand, and to study history and Latin with the prospect of becoming a schoolteacher on the other. He nevertheless found time to join a socialist student group in the autumn of 1930. In May 1932, Mann finished his dissertation, Concerning the terms of the individual and the ego in Hegel's works, which was rated with an average cum laude. Nevertheless, his parents bought him a small car that he used for extended rides across Germany.
Golo Mann intended to finish his university studies 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...
and Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
, but dark clouds were arriving over Germany. That was especially the case for Thomas Mann
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...
, who never hesitated to articulate his dislike for National Socialism. While his parents already lived abroad, Golo Mann looked after the family house in Munich in April 1933, helped his three younger siblings leave the country and brought the greater part of his parents' savings via Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
and the German embassy in Paris 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....
.
On 31 May 1933, Mann left Germany for the French town of Bandol
Bandol
Bandol is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-References:*...
near Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
. He spent the summer at the mansion of the American travel writer William Seabrook near Sanary-sur-Mer
Sanary-sur-Mer
Sanary-sur-Mer is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.It is located from Toulon and from Marseille.-Overview:The seafront location was part of the commune of Ollioules...
and lived six further weeks at the new family house in Küsnacht near 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 November he joined the École Normale Supérieure at Saint-Cloud near Paris for two intensive, instructive years as lecturer on the German language. At that time he worked for the emigrants' journal Die Sammlung (The Collection) founded by his brother Klaus.
In November 1935, Mann accepted a call from the University of Rennes
University of Rennes
The University of Rennes was a French university located in the city of Rennes. It was established by the union of the 3 faculties of the city in 1885. In 1969, it was divided in two new universities:* the University of Rennes 1...
to lecture on German language and literature. Mann travels to Switzerland prove that the relationship to his father was easier, because in the meantime Thomas Mann had learned to appreciate his son's political knowledge. But it was only when Golo Mann helped edit his father's diaries in later years that he realised fully how much acceptance he had gained. In a confidential note to the German critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki
Marcel Reich-Ranicki
Marcel Reich-Ranicki is a Polish-born German literary critic and member of the literary group Gruppe 47. He is regarded as one of the most influential contemporary literary critics in the field of German literature and therefore was in Germany often called the 'Pope of literature' .-Life:Marcel...
he wrote, "It was inevitable that I had to wish his death; but I was completely broken-hearted when he passed away".
In 1936 Thomas Mann and his family were deprived of their German citizenship. Help came from the Czech
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
businessman and admirer Rudolf Fleischmann, who arranged the naturalization to his Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
n town of Prosec
Prosec
Prosec is the name of an economic program for Mexican companies to help with importation of raw materials from abroad that are not from NAFTA countries.* ProsecProseč is the name of several locations in the Czech Republic:...
and subsequently Czech citizenship. Golo Mann wanted to take the opportunity to continue his studies in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, but soon stopped the experiment.
Early in 1939 Mann traveled to Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
, where his father worked as guest professor. Although war was drawing closer, he hesitantly returned 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 August to become editor of the emigrants' journal Maß und Wert (Measure and Value).
As a reaction to Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's invasion of Paris
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
in May 1940 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...
, Golo Mann decided to fight against the German invaders and to join a Czech military unit on French soil as a volunteer. Upon crossing the border he was arrested at Annecy
Annecy
Annecy is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy , 35 kilometres south of Geneva.-Administration:...
and brought to the French concentration camp Les Milles
Les Milles
Les Milles is a village, part of the commune of Aix-en-Provence, in southern France.-See also:* Camp des Milles...
, a brickyard near Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence
Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...
. In the beginning of August he was released by the intervention of an American committee. On 13 September 1940, he undertook a daring escape from Perpignan
Perpignan
-Sport:Perpignan is a rugby stronghold: their rugby union side, USA Perpignan, is a regular competitor in the Heineken Cup and seven times champion of the Top 14 , while their rugby league side plays in the engage Super League under the name Catalans Dragons.-Culture:Since 2004, every year in the...
across the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. With him were his uncle 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...
, the latter's wife Nelly Kröger, Alma Mahler-Werfel
Alma Mahler
Alma Maria Mahler Gropius Werfel was a Viennese-born socialite well known in her youth for her beauty and vivacity. She became the wife, successively, of composer Gustav Mahler, architect Walter Gropius, and novelist Franz Werfel, as well as the consort of several other prominent men...
and Franz Werfel
Franz Werfel
Franz Werfel was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet.- Biography :Born in Prague , Werfel was the first of three children of a wealthy manufacturer of gloves and leather goods. His mother, Albine Kussi, was the daughter of a mill owner...
. They crossed the Atlantic from Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in October on board the Greek steamer Nea Hellas.
In the United States Golo Mann, for the time being, was condemned to inactivity. He stayed at his parents' house in Princeton, then in New York, before moving with them in 1941 to Pacific Palisades, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. In the autumn of 1942, he finally got the chance to teach history at Olivet College
Olivet College
Olivet College is a coeducational, liberal arts college located in Olivet, Michigan, United States, south of Lansing and west of Detroit. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, and accredited by the North Central...
in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
.
As did his 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...
before, Golo Mann joined the US Army in 1943. After basic training at Fort McClellan
Fort McClellan
Fort McClellan, originally Camp McClellan, was a United States Army post located adjacent to the city of Anniston, Alabama. During World War II, it was one of the largest U.S. Army installations, training an estimated half-million troops...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, he worked at the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
in Washington, DC. In his capacity as intelligence officer it was his duty to collect and translate relevant information.
In April 1944, he was sent to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where he made radio commentaries for the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
division of the American Broadcasting Station. For the last months of World War II he worked in same function for a military propaganda station in Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
. Then he helped organise the foundation of Radio Frankfurt. During this period he worked with Robert Lochner
Robert Lochner
Robert H. Lochner was a journalist who helped to revive the free media in West Germany after World War II and who is most well known for assisting John F. Kennedy with his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in 1963....
, who thought very highly of him. During his journeys across Germany he was shocked at the extent of destruction, especially that caused by Allied bombing.
In 1946, Mann left the US Army by his own request. He nevertheless kept a job as civil control officer, watching the war crimes 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....
at Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
in this capacity. The same year saw the publication of his first book of lasting value, a biography in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
of the 19th century diplomat Friedrich von Gentz
Friedrich von Gentz
Friedrich von Gentz was a German publicist and statesman.-Early years:Gentz was born at Breslau.His father was an official, his mother distantly related to the Prussian minister Friedrich Ancillon...
.
In autumn 1947, Mann became assistant professor of History at Claremont Men's College in California. In hindsight he recalled the nine-year engagement as "the happiest of my life"; on the other hand he complained, "My students are scornful, unfriendly and painfully stupid as never before". The professorship in California was interrupted by several residences in German-speaking Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
In 1956 and 1957, Mann spent many weeks at the tavern Zur Krone at Altnau
Altnau
Altnau is a municipality in the district of Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.-History:Near the hamlet of Ruderbaum, the remains of a Horgen culture settlement have been discovered. Below the Horgen site, there may be also be Pfyn culture site, but that is less certain.The modern...
on the shores of Lake Constance
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
to write his German History of the 19th and 20th century. It was released in 1958 and became an instant bestseller. It also marked his final return to Europe because he became guest professor at the University of Münster
University of Münster
The University of Münster is a public university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. The WWU is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, a society of Germany's leading research universities...
for two winter terms in a row.
In autumn 1960, Mann joined the University of Stuttgart
University of Stuttgart
The University of Stuttgart is a university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized in 10 faculties....
in the higher position of professor in ordinary for Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
. It soon became clear that he felt unsatisfied with the machinery at the universities: "In those years I had a feeling of immense, but fruitless effort without getting any echo. This led to a depression that made me resign the professorship in 1963".
In the following years Mann worked as a free-lance historian and essayist, suffering in both capacities from chronic overwork that increasingly damaged not only his work but also his health. He took up residence at his parents' house in Kilchberg
Kilchberg, Zurich
Kilchberg is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.Its coat of arms features a sky-blue shield with a trillium.Kilchberg is also the site of a regional cemetery.-History:...
near the Lake of Zurich, where he lived until 1993 — sharing the house for most years with his mother.
In his political work Mann first praised the West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
for his course towards integration with France and the United States. He nevertheless criticized Adenauer's insincerity concerning a reunification with East Germany, so that he came to support the new détente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
ideas of Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
. He even sometimes worked for Brandt as a ghostwriter.
Mann nevertheless perceived the emergence of the student movement
Student activism
Student activism is work done by students to effect political, environmental, economic, or social change. It has often focused on making changes in schools, such as increasing student influence over curriculum or improving educational funding...
as a grave threat for democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
. He gradually became alienated from Brandt in 1973, reproaching him with passivity towards alleged communist infiltration in his Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
.
Mann's almost lifelong passion for the best-known field-marshal of the Thirty Years War culminated in 1971 with the release of the monumental biography Wallenstein
Albrecht von Wallenstein
Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein , actually von Waldstein, was a Bohemian soldier and politician, who offered his services, and an army of 30,000 to 100,000 men during the Danish period of the Thirty Years' War , to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II...
. It is considered as a masterpiece of narrative history for its pictorial language.
In 1979 Golo Mann delivered the Huizinga Lecture
Huizinga Lecture
The Huizinga Lecture is a prestigious annual lecture in the Netherlands about a subject in the domains of cultural history or philosophy. The lecture is in honour of Johan Huizinga, a distinguished Dutch historian who worked in the first half of the 20th century...
in Leiden, The Netherlands, under the title: 1914-1980: Ein Ueberblick (1914–1980, seen with a birds-eye view).
In a surprising discontinuity with his former political engagement for Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
, Mann supported the controversial politician Franz-Josef Strauß in his campaign for Chancellor in 1980, hoping for a more decisive fight against radical left-wing activities. Some fellow political commentators were alienated, and Mann himself foresaw the negative effects. He wrote in his diary, "I will have to pay for it as Kaiser Wilhelm did for his 'Daily Telegraph Affair'".
In 1986 his adopted son Hans Beck-Mann died. Beck-Mann was a pharmacist he got to know in 1955 and supported financially in his studies. In November of the same year followed the release of the successful semi-autobiography Erinnerungen und Gedanken. Eine Jugend in Deutschland (Memories and Thoughts. A Youth in Germany). He immediately started work at a sequel that was never finished.
In the meantime, the East German regime lifted its ban on Golo Mann at the beginning of 1989. Not only was his Wallenstein biography finally available in East Germany after 18 years — he was even allowed to read from it on invitation from the East German Minister of Education. When the reunification of Germany came only one year later, he reacted dispassionately: "No delight in German unity. They are bound to fool around once more, even if I won't live to see it".
In March 1990, Mann had a heart attack after a public lecture. In the same year it became evident that he suffered from prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
. Because of his ill health he moved to Leverkusen
Leverkusen
Leverkusen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the South, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne and to the North is the state capital Düsseldorf....
in 1992, where he was nursed by his daughter-in-law Ingrid Beck-Mann. A few days prior to his death, he acknowledged his 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 a TV interview: "I did not fall in love often. I often kept it to myself, maybe that was a mistake. It also was forbidden, even in America, and one had to be a little careful".
On 7 April 1994, Mann died in Leverkusen aged 85. His urn was buried in Kilchberg
Kilchberg, Zurich
Kilchberg is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.Its coat of arms features a sky-blue shield with a trillium.Kilchberg is also the site of a regional cemetery.-History:...
, but – in fulfillment of his last will – outside the family grave.
Works
- 1947 Friedrich von Gentz
- 1958 Deutsche Geschichte des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts
- 1964 Wilhelm II
- 1970 Von Weimar nach Bonn. Fünfzig Jahre deutsche Republik
- 1971 Wallenstein
- 1986 Erinnerungen und Gedanken. Eine Jugend in Deutschland
- 1989 Wir alle sind, was wir gelesen
- 1992 Wissen und Trauer
- 2009 Man muss über sich selbst schreiben. Erzählungen, Familienporträts, Essays. Herausgegeben vn Tilmann Lahme. Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer Verlag.
Further reading
- Golo Mann: Briefe 1932-1992, hg. von Tilmann Lahme und Kathrin Lüssi (Göttingen, 2006).
- Tilmann Lahme, Golo Mann. Biographie (Frankfurt am Main, 2009).
- Martin Mauthner: German Writers in French Exile, 1933-1940, Vallentine Mitchell, London, 2007, (ISBN : 978 0 85303 540 4)