The German Thomas Mann Society invites you to the grand anniversary conference in Lübeck from June 5-8, 2025, commemorating Thomas Mann's 150th birthday. Thomas Mann's life was strongly influenced by the political events of the first half of the 20th century. International success and emigration made him a cosmopolitan and frequent traveler. In this anniversary year, the international conference of the German Thomas Mann Society focuses on both Mann's evolution from a loyal conservative of the Reich to a rational republican and finally to a convinced democrat, as well as his international identity. The conference does not omit his own stereotypical prejudices, from which Thomas Mann was not immune despite his mother's Brazilian descent and immigration experience, and his own migration experience. Together with the Thomas Mann International network and scholars from around the world, the conference also discusses the present and future of research as well as Thomas Mann's enduring influence that remains valid today.
DAY 2
10:00 AM
Introduction: Literary Border Crossings
Prof. Dr. Friedhelm Marx (Bamberg)
10:15 AM
Literary Travel Narratives
Travel plays a major role in both Thomas Mann's life and works. In this section, travel passages from Thomas Mann's work will be presented in short lectures and examined from a scholarly perspective.
Reading: Nina-Mecédes Rühl (Theater Lübeck)
The Railway Accident
"Autofiction in the Train Compartment. Thomas Mann's Railway Accident"
The story "The Railway Accident," first published in 1909 as a newspaper contribution, represents one of the more casually written short prose pieces from an overall somewhat difficult intermediate phase of this writer's life. The short narrative is revealing both due to its detailed description of a travel adventure caused by the collision and wreck of an express train, and through the circumstance that the writer makes himself one of the affected travelers as both experiencing and narrating figure of this story. Based on factual elements, Thomas Mann uses this episode for an autofictional self-portrait that plays more than ever with his public writer persona. Moreover, the fact that his planned reading tour was to lead to Dresden raises the literary threshold situation between regional cultural anchoring and Prussian national validity as an unbalanced problem, which is followed by the markedly allegorical level of meaning in the ironic-critical engagement with Wilhelmine class society.
Prof. Dr. Alexander Honold (Basel)
Parisian Account
Thomas Mann traveled to Paris in 1926 to work toward German-French rapprochement. His extensive writing "Parisian Account" processes his travel impressions and takes a political stance for European unification. The lecture aims to show how Thomas Mann advocates for the Weimar Republic as an unofficial cultural ambassador and critically examines his war publications.
Prof. Dr. Barbara Beßlich (Heidelberg)
11:15 AM Coffee Break
Joseph and His Brothers
"On the Road: Travel Narratives and Border Crossings in Joseph and His Brothers"
There is much traffic in the Joseph novels, with characters often on foot, living in tents: Jacob flees from Esau to his uncle Laban, Joseph travels downstream to Egypt as a sold slave, later his family follows, and finally, they all transfer the deceased Jacob back to Hebron in a "mighty procession." Even in their circumstances of creation, the Joseph novels are a work forced by emigration from the moving box: They were created during an unstable phase of life when Mann changed countries and residences more frequently than ever before. Matthias Löwe's lecture addresses all this and ultimately shows that there is also a specific dialectic of sedentariness and movement in the Joseph novels that relates to the religious concepts of this text.
Prof. Dr. Matthias Löwe (Jena)
Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man
"Of Train and Time Travel: Thomas Mann's Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man"
Felix Krull's story must be a travel story for practical reasons: Only the change of location allows the protagonist to reinvent his identity and exchange roles with the Marquis. The world tour he undertakes in the latter's name also parodies the journeys in the bildungsroman and artist (auto)biographies and takes up – ironically twisted – the motif of life's journey. In conversation with Professor Kuckuck, another type of travel is added. On the train to Lisbon and later in the museum, they undertake a mental journey through time.
The lecture takes these passages as its starting point: It traces how Krull learns and appropriates knowledge about evolution for his self-image – and how the novel nevertheless rejects the motif of educational journey and personal development on a compositional level. This could be, in a way, where the novel's current relevance lies.
Dr. Birte Lipinski (Oldenburg)
12:45 PM Lunch Break
1:45 PM
Reading Workshops & Literary Walk
Moderated discussion for interested readers or a literary city walk, 90 minutes. Limited spaces, advance registration required. If you cannot attend, please notify us as there is a waiting list.
- "Thomas Mann's Parisian Account (1926). German-French Border Crossing ‒ European Conversations ‒ Essayistic Experiments" with Prof. Dr. Barbara Beßlich (Heidelberg)
- "Beware of deciding on that!" Truth, Deception, and Fiction in the Felix Krull Novel with Dr. Birte Lipinski (Oldenburg)
- "How the Hearts of Poets Immediately Burst into Flames When War Came!" – Thomas Mann and World War I with Nils Louen (Kiel)
- Uprising of Reason: Freedom in Thomas Mann's Essays of the 1930s with Marie Limbourg (Lübeck) and Roman Seebeck (Münster)
- "Home, What Does That Mean Anyway?" – Sea Journey with Thomas Mann with Oliver Fischer (Hamburg)
4:00 PM
St. Aegidien Church (Aigidienkirchhof 1-3, 23552 Lübeck)
Ceremonial Act I: "150 Years Thomas Mann"
In a major two-part ceremony, the Buddenbrookhaus celebrates Thomas Mann's 150th birthday and simultaneously opens the special exhibition "My Time. Thomas Mann and Democracy." Federal President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Schleswig-Holstein's Minister President Daniel Günther, and human rights activist Düzen Tekkal are invited as keynote speakers.
Afterward, free exhibition visits at the Museum Quarter St. Annen are possible until 10 PM.
Please note that separate registration is required for this part of the ceremony. Registration will be possible from April. Advance reservations are not possible. We ask for your understanding.
8:00 PM
Philharmonic Orchestra Theater Lübeck (Beckergrube 16, 23552 Lübeck)
Ceremonial Act II: "The Concert of His Life"
Music played a significant role both in Thomas Mann's private life and in various ways in his work. The Theater Lübeck has compiled a selection of Mann's favorite works. Pieces from Richard Wagner to Arnold Schönberg to Gustav Mahler. Prof. Dr. Frido Mann will speak introductorily about Thomas Mann's understanding of democracy.
Conductor: Stefan Vladar
You can purchase tickets for the concert directly from the Theater Lübeck at www.theaterluebeck.de.
