Editing Heinrich Mann (section)

==Work and exile==
Mann's essay on [[Émile Zola]] and the novel ''[[Der Untertan]]'' (published over the years 1912–1918) earned him much respect during the [[Weimar Republic]] in the left-wing circles, since they demonstrated the author's anti-war and defeatist stance during the World War I, and since the latter satirized Imperial German society; both the novel and the essay became a major impulse for [[Thomas Mann]] to write ''[[Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man]]'', a work supporting the efforts of the German Empire in the war and condemning Heinrich as one of "Civilisation's Literary Men" (''Zivilisationsliteraten''), the writers who served the West in its struggle against German "Culture"; later Thomas called the novel an example of "national slander" and "ruthless ruthless aestheticism", while the novel had such admirers as [[Kurt Tucholsky]]. During the revolution, Heinrich became a major supporter of [[Kurt Eisner]], a social democrat revolutionary who [[People's State of Bavaria|proclaimed Bavaria a Socialist republic]]; after Eisner's assassination by a far-right activist, Mann spoke at Eisner's funeral.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heinrich Mann |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/Heinrich_Mann.htm |access-date=2024-08-18 |website=Spartacus Educational |language=en}}</ref>

Later, in 1930, his book ''[[Professor Unrat]]'' was freely adapted into the movie ''[[Der Blaue Engel]]'' (''The Blue Angel''). [[Carl Zuckmayer]] wrote the script, and [[Josef von Sternberg]] was the director. Mann wanted his paramour, the actress [[Trude Hesterberg]], to play the main female part as the "actress" Lola Lola (named Rosa Fröhlich in the novel), but [[Marlene Dietrich]] was given the part, her first sound role. The film helped her achieve her breakthrough, including in Hollywood, and became an icon in film history.

Together with [[Albert Einstein]] and other celebrities during 1932, Mann was a signatory to the "[[Urgent Call for Unity]]", asking the voters to reject the Nazis. Einstein and Mann had previously co-authored a letter during 1931 condemning the murder of [[Croatia]]n scholar [[Milan Šufflay]].

Mann became ''[[persona non grata]]'' in [[Nazi Germany]] and left even before the [[Reichstag fire]] of 1933. He went to France where he lived in [[Paris]] and [[Nice]]. During the German occupation, he made his way to [[Marseille]], where he was aided by [[Varian Fry]] in September 1940 to escape to Spain. Assisted by [[Justus Rosenberg]], he and his wife Nelly Kröger, his nephew [[Golo Mann]], [[Alma Mahler|Alma Mahler-Werfel]] and [[Franz Werfel]] hiked for six hours across the border at [[Port Bou]]. After arriving in Portugal, the group stayed in [[Monte Estoril]], at the Grande Hotel D'Itália, between September 18 and October 4, 1940.<ref>[[Exiles Memorial Center]].</ref> On October 4, 1940, they boarded the ''[[Greek Line|S.S. Nea Hellas]]'', headed for New York City. 

[[File:Heinrich Thomas Mann.jpg|thumb|Heinrich Mann with his brother [[Thomas Mann]], 1902]]
He then lived poor and sickly in [[Los Angeles]], supported by his brother Thomas, who lived in [[Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles|Pacific Palisades]] ([[Thomas Mann House]]). The relationship between the two brothers was always difficult, because Thomas was more successful, received the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature, had a rich wife, and the brothers differed considerably politically. Heinrich styled himself as a socialist revolutionary, Thomas, perhaps precisely because of this, at least in his younger years, gave himself a conservative image. They also had little appreciation for each other's very different writing styles and topics.<ref>Hermann Kurzke, ''Thomas Mann: Life as a Work of Art: A Biography'', chapter IV: ''Thomas and Heinrich'' and XVI: ''Hatred for Hitler'', subchapter ''Heinrich'', Princeton University Press (2002).</ref> While Heinrich was considered a womanizer and philanderer who preferred lower-class women, Thomas valued respectability and looked down on his brother's constant string of mistresses and prostitutes, whom Heinrich described quite openly in some of his novels and short stories, but at the same time was [[Thomas Mann#Sexuality and literary work|fascinated by young men]]. In 1911, Heinrich had accompanied his brother and sister-in-law to Venice, where they stayed at the [[Grand Hôtel des Bains]] on the [[Venice Lido]]. There he witnessed Thomas' obsession with a handsome Polish boy, [[Władysław Moes|Władysław (Władzio) Moes]]. Thomas processed his experience in the novella ''[[Death in Venice]]'' (1912).<ref>{{cite book |last= Mann |first= Thomas |title= Diaries 1918–1939 |year=1983|page = 471 |isbn=978-0-233-97513-9 |publisher= A. Deutsch}}, quoted in e.g. {{cite book |first1=Hermann |last1=Kurzke |first2=Leslie |last2=Wilson |title=Thomas Mann. Life as a Work of Art. A Biography |page=[https://archive.org/details/thomasmannlifeas00kurz/page/752 752] |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-691-07069-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/thomasmannlifeas00kurz/page/752 }}</ref> 

The Nazis burnt Heinrich Mann's books as "contrary to the German spirit" during [[Nazi book burning|the infamous book burning]] of May 10, 1933, which was instigated by the then Nazi propaganda minister [[Joseph Goebbels]].