German writer (1871?1950)
Luiz Heinrich Mann
(
German:
[?ha?n??c
?man]
ⓘ
; March 27, 1871 – March 11, 1950), best known as simply
Heinrich Mann
, was a German writer known for his
socio-political
novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the
Prussian Academy of Arts
. His fierce criticism of the growing
Fascism
and
Nazism
forced him to flee Germany after the Nazis came to power during 1933. He was the elder brother of writer
Thomas Mann
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Born in
Lubeck
, as the oldest child of Senator Thomas Johann Heinrich Mann,
grain merchant
and finance minister of the
Free City of Lubeck
, a state of the
German Empire
, and
Julia da Silva Bruhns
. He was the elder brother of the writer
Thomas Mann
with whom he had a lifelong rivalry.
[1]
[2]
The
Mann family
was an
affluent
family of grain merchants of the
Hanseatic
city of Lubeck. After the death of his father, his mother relocated the family to
Munich
, where Heinrich began his career as a
freier Schriftsteller
(free writer). In 1914, he married a Czech actress, Maria "Mimi" Kanova. They divorced in 1930. Mimi died from the consequences of a five year detention in the concentration camp Theresienstadt.
Work
[
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]
Mann's essay on
Emile Zola
and the novel
Der Untertan
(published over the years 1912?1918) earned him much respect during the
Weimar Republic
in the left-wing circles, since they demonstrated the author's anti-war and deafeatist stance during the World War I, and since the latter satirized Imperial German society; both the novel and the essay became a major impulse for
Thomas Mann
to write
Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man
, a work supporting the efforts of the German Empire in the war and condemning Heinrich as one of "Civilisation's Literary Men" (
Zivilisationsliteraten
), the writers who served the West in its struggle against German "Culture"; later Thomas called the novel an example of "national slander" and "ruthless ruthless aestheticism", while the novel had such admirers as
Kurt Tucholsky
. During the revolution, Heinrich became a major supporter of
Kurt Eisner
, a social democrat revolutionary who
proclaimed Bavaria a Socialist republic
; after Eisner's assassination by a far-right activist, Mann spoke at Eisner's funeral.
[3]
Later, in 1930, his book
Professor Unrat
was freely adapted into the movie
Der Blaue Engel
(
The Blue Angel
).
Carl Zuckmayer
wrote the script, and
Josef von Sternberg
was the director. Mann wanted his paramour, the actress
Trude Hesterberg
, to play the main female part as the "actress" Lola Lola (named Rosa Frohlich in the novel), but
Marlene Dietrich
was given the part, her first sound role.
Together with
Albert Einstein
and other celebrities during 1932, Mann was a signatory to the "
Urgent Call for Unity
", asking the voters to reject the Nazis. Einstein and Mann had previously co-authored a letter during 1931 condemning the murder of
Croatian
scholar
Milan ?ufflay
.
Mann became
persona non grata
in
Nazi Germany
and left even before the
Reichstag fire
of 1933. He went to France where he lived in
Paris
and
Nice
. During the German occupation, he made his way to
Marseille
, where he was aided by
Varian Fry
in September 1940 to escape to Spain. Assisted by
Justus Rosenberg
, he and his wife Nelly Kroger, his nephew
Golo Mann
,
Alma Mahler-Werfel
and
Franz Werfel
hiked for six hours across the border at
Port Bou
. After arriving in Portugal, the group stayed in
Monte Estoril
, at the Grande Hotel D’Italia, between September 18 and October 4, 1940.
[4]
On October 4, 1940, they boarded the
S.S. Nea Hellas
, headed for New York City.
The Nazis burnt Heinrich Mann's books as "contrary to the German spirit" during
the infamous book burning
of May 10, 1933, which was instigated by the then Nazi propaganda minister
Joseph Goebbels
.
Later life
[
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]
During the 1930s and later in American exile, Mann's literary popularity waned. Nevertheless, he wrote
Die Jugend des Konigs Henri Quatre
and
Die Vollendung des Konigs Henri Quatre
as part of the
Exilliteratur
. The two novels described the life and importance of
Henry IV of France
and were acclaimed by his brother Thomas Mann, who spoke of the "great splendour and dynamic art" of the work. The plot, based on Europe's early
modern history
from a French perspective, anticipated the end of
French?German enmity
.
His second wife,
Nelly Mann
[
de
]
(1898?1944), died by suicide in Los Angeles.
Heinrich Mann died on March 11, 1950, sixteen days before his 79th birthday, in
Santa Monica, California
, lonely and without much money, just months before he was to relocate to East Berlin to become president of the
German Academy of Arts
. His ashes were later taken to
East Germany
and were interred at the
Dorotheenstadt Cemetery
in a
grave of honor
.
Popular culture
[
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]
Mann was portrayed by
Alec Guinness
in the television adaptation of
Christopher Hampton
's play
Tales from Hollywood
(1992).
In
Die Manns ? Ein Jahrhundertroman
(2001) he was played by
Jurgen Hentsch
.
Film adaptations
[
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]
- The Blue Angel
, directed by
Josef von Sternberg
(Germany, 1930, based on the novel
Professor Unrat
)
- Der Untertan
, directed by
Wolfgang Staudte
(East Germany, 1951, based on the novel
Der Untertan
)
- The Blue Angel
, directed by
Edward Dmytryk
(USA, 1959, based on the novel
Professor Unrat
)
- Madame Legros
[
de
]
, directed by
Michael Kehlmann
(West Germany, 1968, TV film, based on the play
Madame Legros
)
- Man of Straw
, directed by
Herbert Wise
(UK, 1972, TV miniseries, based on the novel
Der Untertan
)
- Im Schlaraffenland
, directed by
Kurt Jung-Alsen
(East Germany, 1975, TV film, based on the novel
Im Schlaraffenland
)
- Belcanto oder Darf eine Nutte schluchzen?
, directed by
Robert van Ackeren
(West Germany, 1977, based on the novel
Empfang bei der Welt
)
- Die Verfuhrbaren
, directed by
Helmut Schiemann
[
de
]
(East Germany, 1977, TV film, based on the novel
Ein ernstes Leben
)
- Le Roi qui vient du sud
[
fr
]
, directed by
Marcel Camus
and
Heinz Schirk
[
de
]
(France, 1979, TV miniseries, based on the novel
Die Jugend des Konigs Henri Quatre
)
- In the Land of Cockaigne
, directed by
Fritz Umgelter
(West Germany, 1981, TV film, based on the novel
Im Schlaraffenland
)
- Suturp ? Eine Liebesgeschichte
, directed by
Gerd Keil
(East Germany, 1981, TV film, based on the short story
Suturp
)
- Die traurige Geschichte von Friedrich dem Großen
[
de
]
, directed by
Alexander Lang
(East Germany, 1983, TV film, based on the unfinished
Die traurige Geschichte von Friedrich dem Großen
)
- Variete
, directed by
Martin Eckermann
[
de
]
(East Germany, 1985, TV film, based on the play
Variete
)
- Endstation Harembar
[
de
]
, directed by
Rainer Wolffhardt
[
de
]
(Germany, 1992, TV film, based on the novel
Ein ernstes Leben
)
- Henri 4
, directed by
Jo Baier
(Germany, 2010, based on the novels
Die Jugend des Konigs Henri Quatre
and
Die Vollendung des Konigs Henri Quatre
)
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Liukkonen, Petri.
"Heinrich Mann"
.
Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi)
. Finland:
Kuusankoski
Public Library. Archived from
the original
on September 4, 2013.
- ^
Kontje, Todd (2015), Castle, Gregory (ed.),
"Mann's Modernism"
,
A History of the Modernist Novel
, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 311?326,
ISBN
978-1-107-03495-2
, retrieved
August 25,
2023
- ^
https://spartacus-educational.com/Heinrich_Mann.htm
- ^
Exiles Memorial Center
.
Further reading
[
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]
- Gross, David:
The Writer and Society: Heinrich Mann and Literary Politics in Germany, 1890?1940
, Humanities Press, New Jersey, 1980, (
ISBN
0-391-00972-9
)
- Hamilton, Nigel
:
The Brothers Mann: The Lives of Heinrich and Thomas Mann
,
Yale University Press
, (1978), (
ISBN
9780300026689
)
- Juers, Evelyn:
House of Exile: The Life and Times of Heinrich Mann and Nelly Kroeger-Mann
, Giramondo Publishing Co., Australia, 2008, (
ISBN
978-1-920882-44-0
)
- Mauthner, Martin:
German Writers in French Exile, 1933?1940
, Vallentine Mitchell, London, 2007, (
ISBN
978-0-85303-540-4
).
- Walter Fahnders/Walter Delabar:
Heinrich Mann (1871?1950)
. Berlin 2005 (Memoria 4)
- Heinrich Mann's life in California during World War II, including his relationship with Nelly Mann, Thomas Mann and
Bertolt Brecht
, is a subject of Christopher Hampton's play
Tales from Hollywood
, where he was played in film by Jeremy Irons (
BBC Video
Performance
: “Tales from Hollywood”, 1992) and on stage by Keir Dullea (
Guthrie Theater
, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2012).
External links
[
edit
]
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