Political migration from Germany during National Socialism: the case of Thomas Mann

Abstract

Thomas Mann tried to deal with the subject of fascism quite early. As a Nobel Prize Winner and a symbol of “decent Germany “ he was very soon asked by other exiles to take a firm stand against national socialism and to support other less known exiles who did that. Thomas Mann did not comply with this request. The document of 1936, published in the Zürcher Zeitung was his first public statement against National Socialism.

The German administration was thinking a lot about Thomas Mann, wondering whether to expatriate him or not. The Foreign Office was against it because they feared an enormous loss of the reputation of Germany. However, after the publication of Thomas Mann’s letter they started the expatriation process. Still, it is interesting that nobody was in a hurry to do that. They were awaiting the Olympic Games, so they did not want the possible damage to the reputation to impair the enormous propaganda success of the event. They were also afraid of the boycotts of the Olympic Games, which should be avoided by all means.