As part of the Thomas Mann 150th anniversary programming, literary scholars Jeffrey High and Elaine Chen—editors of the forthcoming volume Thomas Mann’s Antifascist Radio Addresses, 1940–1945 (Camden House)—discuss Mann’s powerful wartime broadcasts with moderator Kalani Michell, Assistant Professor at UCLA.
From exile in the U.S., Thomas Mann delivered 58 BBC radio addresses to listeners in Nazi Germany, Switzerland, and occupied Europe, urging resistance and upholding the democratic ideals he believed essential for postwar renewal. These speeches, broadcast between 1940 and 1945, represent Mann’s most sustained political intervention and a powerful act of intellectual resistance. Risking severe punishment, German listeners tuned in as Mann challenged fascist propaganda, contrasted Hitler and Roosevelt, and offered both critique and hope.
Now, at a time of renewed threats to democracy, Mann’s words resonate with striking relevance. The new volume presents all 58 addresses in English for the first time, with a foreword by Frido Mann, an introduction by Hans Rudolf Vaget, extensive annotations, and archival photographs.
This conversation takes place in the living room of the Thomas Mann House—where many of these speeches were written—and reflects on the historical impact and contemporary relevance of Mann’s transatlantic antifascist project.
Attendance: By invitation only
Participants
Elaine Chen is a Ph.D. candidate in Germanic Languages and Literatures and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. Her research focuses on literature, exile, and political resistance in the works of Thomas Mann, Stefan Zweig, and Heinrich von Kleist. She has co-edited several scholarly volumes and received the 2021 Kleist-Gesellschaft Award for Best Student Essay.
Jeffrey L. High is Professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature at California State University, Long Beach. He has published widely on Schiller, Kleist, and Thomas Mann, with a focus on literature's engagement with political and social change. High has received multiple awards for teaching and mentorship.
Kalani Michell is Assistant Professor in the Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies at UCLA. Her work explores media theory, sound studies, and German cinema. She is currently completing a monograph on audiovisual media and has published in CineAction, New German Critique, and liquid blackness, among others.
