Thomas Mann und seine politischen Schriften - Unterwegs zur Demokratie

Lecture, talk by Dr. Kurt Österle

The writer Thomas Mann's (1875-1955) path to democracy is a tortuous one: He began as a representative of authoritarian thinking. But then, after the assassination of Foreign Minister Walter Rathenau by right-wing radicals in the summer of 1922, Thomas Mann became the most important advocate of democracy among Germany's writers. But it was only in exile in America that he finally left his last doubts behind him. He summarized his own development into a democrat and republican in the grandiose speech "Germany and the Germans", which he gave in several American cities soon after the end of the war in 1945.

This and other of his works on the democratic-republican complex will be made better known and put up for discussion in this lecture.

About the author: Kurt Österle received his doctorate under Walter Jens with a thesis on Peter Weiss' "The Aesthetics of Resistance". Since his debut novel "Der Fernsehgast oder Wie ich lernte die Welt zu sehen", he has published a number of highly acclaimed books, including "Stammheim. The prison officer Horst Bubeck and the RAF prisoners". The writer and former literary critic (SWR, Süddeutsche Zeitung, FAZ) lives in Tübingen.

Österle's works have received several awards, including the Theodor Wolff Prize, the Berthold Auerbach Prize and the Ludwig Uhland Prize.

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