150 years of Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann and Zurich – a kinship of choice

For Thomas Mann in exile, Zurich became a spiritual refuge, characterised by intellectual support, cultural openness and European vision. “Switzerland? But I love it!’ he wrote in his 1923 letter about Switzerland. Significantly, his honeymoon in 1905 had already taken him and his wife Katia to Zurich, to the renowned Baur au Lac. In the years that followed, he travelled regularly to the country that held such a fascination for him. The trip to Switzerland to mark their 28th wedding anniversary in 1933 was to prove a turning point for Thomas Mann and his family. Erika and Klaus Mann warned their parents by telephone of the growing danger in Nazi Germany and advised against a return to Munich. Fearing they were being bugged by the regime, they encoded their warning and initially spoke only in hints – such as mentioning the ‘miserable weather’ back home. Although Thomas Mann was aware of the political escalation, he initially underestimated the personal threat and tried to play down his children’s fears. It was only when they became more insistent – “Stay in Switzerland! You wouldn’t be safe here” – that he grasped the gravity of the situation.

A gem with a lake view

Just how final Thomas Mann felt his emigration was is shown by the fact that he had his legendary desk sent to Switzerland even before it was clear exactly where the poet would settle. The choice ultimately fell on a house in a rural setting close to cosmopolitan Zurich: the property at Schiedhaldenstrasse 33 in Küsnacht was designed in the early 1930s by the architect Lux Guyer. It is a prime example of her understated, bourgeois architecture, entirely in keeping with the Mann family’s taste.

When the furniture finally arrived, it was a cause for celebration for Thomas Mann: the desk formed the centre of his literary work and was his most personal piece of furniture. He gave it a new home in Zurich, and in it he found a home for himself. In his study, overlooking Lake Zurich, he wrote one of his most significant works: Joseph and His Brothers. In this place of order and discipline, he also overcame creative crises and devoted himself to his inner exile.

Today, the mahogany desk forms the centrepiece of the permanent exhibition ‘Im Schreiben eingerichtet’ at the Thomas Mann Archive at ETH Zurich, alongside Thomas Mann’s private library, the sofa on which the back-stricken Mann wrote Doctor Faustus, and numerous objects from various cultures that inspired him in his work. All the exhibits are carefully arranged behind a glass cube, framed by a deep red structure. The installation is located in an enclosed room that exudes a hermetic tranquillity and provides a fitting stage for the exhibits. At the writer’s request and to express their gratitude, his heirs bequeathed his entire estate to Switzerland. Thus, the Thomas Mann Archive at ETH Zurich, founded in 1956, now holds the world’s most comprehensive collection of his manuscripts, books, pictures and personal effects.

Zurich Customs

With genuine openness and keen curiosity, Thomas Mann immersed himself in Zurich’s cultural life. He regularly attended performances at what was then the Stadttheater – now the Opera House – which he appreciated just as much as Zurich’s diverse cinema scene, which was experiencing a real heyday in those years. Thomas Mann could even be found among the guests at the Knie Circus on numerous occasions.

He wrote of the Schauspielhaus: ‘I spent unforgettable evenings there – unforgettable!’ He was on personal terms with most of the actors. He himself also held readings and lectures there. Nevertheless, the connection was ambivalent. Here, art, politics and the experience of exile intersected in complex ways.
In this sense, Thomas Mann’s years in exile in Zurich were not an escape, but above all a process of sorting things out and settling in. And the fact that, after his exile in America, he chose Zurich a second time was yet another declaration of love for the city and the country.

Thomas Mann spent the final years of his life initially in Erlenbach, before moving into a house at Alte Landstrasse 39 in Kilchberg in April 1954. Two months before his death in June 1955, ETH Zurich awarded him an honorary doctorate in the natural sciences. On 12 August 1955, Thomas Mann died in what was then the Cantonal Hospital of Zurich. As early as 1934, he had written to his friend René Schickele: ‘I would like to be buried in Switzerland.’ This wish was to be fulfilled: he found his final resting place in the cemetery in Kilchberg – as did his wife Katia and their children Erika, Monika, Michael, Elisabeth and Golo. What a fitting finale to the life of a literary giant.