Bewunderung und Eifersucht: Der Literaturnobelpreisträger Thomas Mann und Gerhart Hauptmann. Seminar

In the organizer's words:

Venue: Haus Schlesien, Dollendorfer Str. 412, 53639 Königswinter-Heisterbacherrott

On March 22, 1937, Gerhart Hauptmann (1862-1946) was visiting an exclusive men's outfitter in Zurich, Switzerland. An employee drew his attention to the fact that Thomas Mann (1875-1955) also happened to be there and offered to arrange a meeting. Hauptmann waved him off. On another floor, Thomas Mann responded to the same offer in the same way. Both were therefore unwilling to take advantage of the unusual situation to meet again in person. And this despite the fact that the two had known each other for decades and had occasionally been in close personal contact and had written extensively to each other. Hauptmann, who came from Silesia and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1912, had even acted as a role model for Mann, who was a generation younger from Lübeck, and Mann had emphatically expressed his admiration for Hauptmann to their joint publisher Samuel Fischer (1859-1934) and thanked Fischer profusely for arranging their first personal meeting. This was soon after the publication of Thomas Mann's first novel "Buddenbrooks" (1901), whose surprisingly great success made the young author famous in the first place. By then, Hauptmann had long been the leading playwright in Germany, a position he had held at least since the spectacular scandal surrounding his drama "The Weavers", set in Silesia (premiere on September 25, 1894). Later, the relationship had become so close that the Hauptmann and Mann families had even met on vacation (sometimes in a humorous atmosphere).

And now Thomas Mann, himself a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature since 1929, preferred not to meet Hauptmann, and vice versa. In order to understand this avoidance, it is necessary - in addition to some personal resentment - to understand the political paths that the two internationally best-known German authors had taken since 1933. The early Nazi regime made an effort to get both of them, although both had clearly positioned themselves in favor of the first German republic after 1918/19. They both seemed too important for propaganda minister Goebbels not to have attempted to instrumentalize them as figureheads. Thomas Mann, however, left Germany in the spring of 1933, which gradually turned into a politically motivated emigration. Hauptmann stayed. At the time of the chance (non-)encounter in Zurich, Thomas Mann had already made a name for himself publicly as an outstanding representative of the emigration acting against the Nazi state; Hauptmann was a privileged author in Nazi Germany who, however, was just as ambivalent towards those in power behind the scenes as they were towards him.

On the one hand, the seminar will focus on the development of the relationship between Gerhart Hauptmann and Thomas Mann. In addition - on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Thomas Mann's birth - other aspects of his literary and political life will be discussed.

Program:

Thursday, October 30, 2025

13:30-13:45: Welcome/introduction (Nicola Remig, Haus Schlesien/Prof. Dr. Winfrid Halder, GHH/Heinrich Heine University)

13:45-14:30: My time - Thomas Mann's life in historical context - an overview (Halder)

14:30-14:45: Coffee break

14:45-16:15: Adventure or Education: Readings in "The Magic Mountain" (Prof. Dr. Michael Braun, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung/University of Cologne)

16:30-17:45: Summer home - Thomas Mann, Nidden and art. A pictorial report (Dr. Katja Schlenker, GHH/University of Cologne)

18:00-19:00: Dinner

19:30-21:00: Late birthday serenade for Thomas Mann. (Michael Zeller, Wuppertal) Public evening lecture

Michael Zeller's initial interest in literature was primarily academic - he wrote his doctoral thesis on certain aspects of Thomas Mann's work. He also studied the 1929 Nobel Prize winner for literature intensively. After his habilitation, however, Zeller then took the unusual step of no longer viewing literature solely analytically as a scholar, but of writing literature himself. Since then, this has resulted in a large number of novels, short stories and volumes of poetry. He has received numerous awards and prizes for his fiction, most recently the Georg Dehio Book Prize (2022). In a way, he can take a double look at Thomas Mann - as a critic and a colleague.

Friday, October 31, 2025

09:00-10:30: Gerhart Hauptmann (1862-1946) and Thomas Mann (1875-1955) - Two German Nobel Prize winners in the political upheavals of the 20th century (Halder/Schlenker)

10:30-10:45 a.m.: Coffee break

10:45-12:15: Collapse. Thomas Mann's German novel "Doctor Faustus" (Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Volkmar Hansen, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)

12:15-12:30 p.m.: Closing round

Participation fee: 145 € per person (1 overnight stay with breakfast, 1 lunch and 1 dinner, coffee, mineral water and pastries during breaks), without overnight stay 90 € per person, for members of the HAUS SCHLESIEN association 125 € or 80 €.

Limited number of participants! Registration is therefore mandatory at kulturhausschlesiende or 02244/886231

When registering, please state the keyword "Thomas Mann" as well as your name(s) and contact details.

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Price information:

Participation fee: 145 € per person (1 overnight stay with breakfast, 1 lunch and 1 dinner, coffee, mineral water and pastries during breaks), without overnight stay 90 € per person, for members of the HAUS SCHLESIEN association 125 € or 80 €.