Editing Thomas Mann (section)

==Political views==
{{Conservatism in Germany|Intellectuals}}
During World War I, Mann supported the conservatism of [[Kaiser Wilhelm II]], attacked liberalism, and supported the war effort, calling the [[Great War]] "a purification, a liberation, an enormous hope". In his 600-page-long work ''[[Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man]]'' (1918), Mann presented his conservative, anti-modernist philosophy: spiritual tradition over material progress, German patriotism over egalitarian internationalism, and rooted culture over rootless civilisation.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Thomas Mann on the Artist vs. the State|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/books/review/reflections-of-a-nonpolitical-man-thomas-mann.html|journal=The New York Times|date=17 September 2021|access-date=24 January 2023|issn=0362-4331|first=Christopher|last=Beha|archive-date=5 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221105215251/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/books/review/reflections-of-a-nonpolitical-man-thomas-mann.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Thomas Mann and Spengler|journal=The German Quarterly|year=1985|issn=0016-8831|pages=361–374|volume=58|number=3|doi=10.2307/406568|first=Roger A.|last=Nicholls|jstor=406568}}</ref>

In "[[On the German Republic]]" ({{lang|de|Von Deutscher Republik}}, 1922), Mann called upon German intellectuals to support the new [[Weimar Republic]]. The work was delivered at the Beethovensaal in Berlin on 13 October 1922, and published in ''[[Die neue Rundschau]]'' in November 1922. In the work, Mann developed his eccentric defence of the Republic based on extensive close readings of [[Novalis]] and [[Walt Whitman]]. Also in 1921, he wrote an essay ''Mind and Money'' in which he made a very open assessment of his family background: "In any case, I am personally indebted to the capitalist world order from the past, which is why it will never be appropriate for me to spit on it as it is ''à la mode'' these days." Thereafter, his political views gradually shifted toward [[liberal-left]]. He especially embraced democratic principles when the Weimar Republic was established.<ref>See for a 2007 translation of this lecture by Lawrence S. Rainey: {{Cite journal |translator-last=Rainey |translator-first=Lawrence Scott |last=Mann |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Mann |date=2007 |orig-date=1922 |title=On the German Republic |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/209161 |journal=[[Modernism/modernity]] |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=109–132 |doi=10.1353/mod.2007.0017 |issn=1080-6601}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|page=35|title=The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914–1918|author=Herwig, Holger H.|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]]|date=2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4fTCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA35|isbn=978-1-4725-1081-5}}</ref>

Mann initially gave his support to the left-liberal [[German Democratic Party]] before urging unity behind the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Larry Eugene |title=German Liberalism and the Dissolution of the Weimar Party System, 1918–1933 |date=2017 |publisher=UNC Press Books |page=212}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vaget |first1=Hans Rudolf |title=Thomas Mann: Enlightenment and Social Democracy |journal=Publications of the English Goethe Society |date=2017 |volume=86 |issue=3 |pages=193–204|doi=10.1080/09593683.2017.1368931 |s2cid=171525633 }}</ref> probably less for ideological reasons, but because he only trusted the political party of the workers to provide sufficient mass and resistance to the growing [[Nazism]]. In 1930, he gave a public address in Berlin titled ''An Appeal to Reason'', in which he strongly denounced Nazism and encouraged resistance by the working class. This was followed by numerous essays and lectures in which he attacked the [[Nazi Party|Nazis]]. At the same time, he expressed increasing sympathy for [[socialist]] ideas. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Mann and his wife were on holiday in Switzerland. Due to his strident denunciations of Nazi policies, his son Klaus advised him not to return. In contrast to those of his brother Heinrich and his son Klaus, Mann's books were not among those burnt publicly by Hitler's regime in May 1933, possibly since he had been the Nobel laureate in literature for 1929. In 1936, the Nazi government officially revoked his German citizenship.

During the war, Mann made a series of anti-Nazi radio-speeches, published as ''[[Listen, Germany!]]'' in 1943. They were recorded on tape in the United States and then sent to the United Kingdom, where the [[British Broadcasting Corporation]] transmitted them, hoping to reach German listeners.

=== Views on Soviet communism and German National-Socialism ===
Mann expressed his belief in the collection of letters written in exile, ''Listen, Germany!'' (''Deutsche Hörer!''), that equating [[Soviet communism]] with Nazi fascism on the basis that both are [[totalitarian]] systems was either superficial or insincere in showing a preference for [[nazism]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Mann|first=Thomas|year=1942|title=Deutsche Hörer! – 25 Radiosendungen nach Deutschland|trans-title=[[Listen, Germany!|German listeners!]] – 25 radio broadcasts to Germany|language=de|location=Stockholm|publisher=Bermann-Fischer}}{{page needed|date=October 2020}}</ref> He clarified this view during a German press interview in July 1949, declaring that he was not a communist but that [[communism]] at least had some relation to ideals of humanity and of a better future. He said that the transition of the [[communist revolution]] into an autocratic regime was a tragedy while Nazism was only "devilish [[nihilism]]".<ref>{{cite news |date=25 July 1949 |title=Soviet ideology rated over Nazi |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19490725&id=S1hOAAAAIBAJ&pg=4441%2C5691900 |newspaper=Toledo Blade |access-date=17 December 2016 |archive-date=19 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119220404/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19490725&id=S1hOAAAAIBAJ&pg=4441%2C5691900 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Howard |date=26 July 1949 |title=Author Thomas Mann distinguishes between Nazism, pure communism |url=http://www.stripes.com/news/author-thomas-mann-distinguishes-between-nazism-pure-communism-1.15197 |newspaper=Stars and Stripes |access-date=17 December 2016 |archive-date=20 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220230933/http://www.stripes.com/news/author-thomas-mann-distinguishes-between-nazism-pure-communism-1.15197 |url-status=live }}</ref>