When the Spanish Civil War broke out, Erika and Klaus Mann — young and firmly anti-fascist — were already living in exile. As Germans, they felt a particular connection to a conflict in which the military rebels received support from Hitler and Mussolini. In 1938, the children of Nobel Prize laureate Thomas Mann traveled to Spain, spending three weeks in the trenches and cafés from Barcelona to Madrid. They documented hospitals, shelters, and makeshift schools, among other things.
From this journey and their conversations with soldiers, writers, mothers, and children emerged a series of vivid chronicles. These texts were later collected under the title El milagro de España (“The Miracle of Spain”) and published in Spanish for the first time by Edhasa. The edition and foreword are by Ana Pérez López, a Germanist and expert in exile literature and the international dimension of the Spanish Civil War. The demanding translation was carried out by Isabel García Adánez and Carlos Fortea. All three, renowned specialists in German literature and culture, will present and discuss the book.