"What are these two ignorant magicians talking about?" This is what historian Golo Mann often thought when he heard his uncle Heinrich and father Thomas discussing politics. But what was the true extent of these great writers' political education and judgment? How did these bourgeois sons from Lübeck become passionate defenders of democracy?
In celebration of Thomas Mann's 150th birthday, Hans Wißkirchen, President of the German Thomas Mann Society, presents a nuanced portrait of the brothers, illustrating how politics and literature are inseparable in their lives. For the first time, both brothers are given equal voice, critiquing and correcting each other repeatedly. They emerged from the ideological landscape of the turn of the century, where democracy was not a given for either of them. This is precisely why they understood what was at stake and knew exactly who the opponents were and the recurring threats to democracy.