Ghost of 1938: Thomas Mann, democracy and Zionism
Rachel Salamander in conversation with Kai Sina
Event location
Munich
Public event
Target audience
publically
Hardly any political event shook Thomas Mann as much as the Munich Agreement of 1938. In front of tens of thousands of people at Madison Square Garden in New York, he raised his voice against attempts to curb Hitler's expansionist ambitions through Western appeasement and the abandonment of Czechoslovakia. Despite such powerful interventions, Mann was rarely taken seriously as a political intellectual, unless he was rejected outright. The reasons for this lie deep in the history of the (West) German mentality after 1945.
It is time to correct this perception and pay tribute to an author who stood up for freedom and democracy with determination, resistance, and often at personal risk. This is also and especially evident in his opposition to anti-Semitism, in his nuanced examination of political and cultural Zionism—at times linked to a vision of harmonious and cooperative coexistence between Jewish and Arab populations—and in his clear rejection of any form of “appeasement” toward anti-democratic and fascist forces.
The event will take place in German. It is offered in cooperation with the Münchner Kammerspiele.
Free admission, please register due to limited spots.
Rachel Salamander holds a doctorate in literature and is a publicist. She founded the first specialist bookshop for literature on Judaism in Munich in 1982. From 2001 to 2013, she was editor of the weekly supplement Literarische Welt of the daily newspaper Die Welt. From 2013 to 2014, she succeeded Marcel Reich-Ranicki as editor of the Frankfurter Anthologie in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and founded the FAZ-Literaturforum. In addition to many honors, she is an honorary citizen of the city of Munich and received the Heinrich Heine Prize in 2020.
Kai Sina, born in 1981, studied German and Philosophy in Kiel and Göttingen. He is Lichtenberg Professor of Modern German Literature and Comparative Literature (with a focus on transatlantic literary history) at the University of Münster. Awarded the Fritz Behrens Foundation Science Prize. Research stays in Chicago and Princeton. Most recently published is his highly acclaimed book "Was gut ist und was böse. Thomas Mann as a political activist".
Additional information
How to find us
Venue: Vorhölzerforum, Technical University of Munich, Arcisstraße 21; site plan