Katia Mann: A Life with Thomas Mann

Summary

Katja Mann, wife of German novelist Thomas Mann, recalls their fifty years of marriage and their history both as a couple and independent intellectuals. Born in Germany, the Manns were exiled to th...

Katja Mann, wife of German novelist Thomas Mann, recalls their fifty years of marriage and their history both as a couple and independent intellectuals. Born in Germany, the Manns were exiled to the United States during WWII, and returned to Europe after the war, settling in Kilchberg near Zurich. Katja (née Pringsheim) was a witness to all her husband’s writing and guarded him from interruptions throughout the years. Thomas Mann’s well known literary accomplishments include Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain, Death in Venice, Joseph and His Brothers, and Doctor Faustus. In this conversation with Elisabeth von Plessen, Katja and her son Golo describes their life in vivid detail and reveal the background to many of Mann’s important writings. Filmed in Katja’s home in Kilchberg in 1969.

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