The many "gay secrets" of writer Thomas Mann's family are also revealed in the story of his daughter Erika, an artist and cabaret performer who loved both men and women
"The curse" of the Manns?
The Mann family is linked to the Kennedys not only by the prominence of the family, but also by a series of tragedies and, to some extent, scandals. Thomas Mann's interest in men was already generally problematic from a contemporary point of view, of course, but it was his son Michael who was most affected by the information about his possible homosexuality. The latter edited his diaries, the contents of which (which did not shy away from intimate details) he had difficulty dealing with. In the end, Michael most likely ended his life by suicide (the reason for his death in 1977 was drug and alcohol poisoning), which he often spoke about in connection with his father's diaries. It is as if a different sexual orientation had become a kind of "family curse". Another of Thomas Mann's sons, Klaus, made no secret of his gayness - or rather, he only kept his sexuality a secret when he tried to join the US army during his emigration, where gay soldiers were strictly forbidden. Although Klaus did eventually become a soldier (and thus had to start hiding his orientation), his life did not end idyllically. Like Michael, he died (even earlier, in 1949) of an overdose...
Sexual attraction to the same sex (although she also maintained amorous relationships with men) is then attributed to Thomas Mann's eldest daughter, Erika. Erika was the prototype of the modern, emancipated "new woman" - she loved cars (and also took up car racing and even took a mechanic-repairman course), and besides them, women. Which, given the era in which she lived (1905-1969) and the fact that Nazi Germany took a rather radical stance against gays and lesbians, was certainly not "ideal". Nevertheless, it was Erika's meeting with the German actress Therese Giehse in 1927 that was somewhat fateful. The couple formed a couple for 10 years, after which the relationship became more of a friendship.
The pepper grinder as an anti-fascist manifesto
Both Erika and her aforementioned brother Klaus openly opposed the rise of the Nazis and also tried to fight against Hilter. Not only in exile (the whole family emigrated to American California), they organised various theatre and cabaret performances as well as lectures.
Even before the family emigrated to the USA, however, a wide audience in Europe, including those in Czechoslovakia at the time, could get acquainted with the Mann family's work. Since the political-satirical cabaret of Erika Mann and her brother Klaus under the name Die Pfeffermühle (The Pepper Mill) was founded only a few days before Adolf Hitler became Reich Chancellor in 1933, it was practically an exile cabaret for the entire time it was active. This was practically a necessity given the fact that the basic essence was a critique of conditions in Germany, which included very anti-fascist rhetoric. The troupe first moved from Germany to Switzerland, then - in 1935-36 - was also seen in Czechoslovakia, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg. However, it was in 1936 that the cabaret had to relocate to the USA due to the political situation in Europe. And although it had a huge audience in Europe, it was the move to the USA that spelled the end of the cabaret - for the American audience encountered both a language barrier and a lack of understanding of the anti-fascist context itself. But the cultural difference and the different environment also meant the end of the love affair between Erika and Therese. Although Erika subsequently established several relationships with women and men, her father Thomas described the way she lived as "turbulent loneliness".
Carrying on the legacy of the Mann family
Even after the end of the cabaret, however, Erika did not give up and continued her activities as a female war correspondent (similar to Klaus, who also worked as a journalist, mainly writing anti-fascist articles) and as an assistant to her famous father. It was Erika who was also instrumental in preserving her brother's memory to a certain extent, as she took care of the German publication (in 1956) of his most famous novel Mephisto after his death. This was despite the protests of her former husband (the Nazi theatre star and, ironically, gay man, Gustaf Gründgens), who is actually the central character of the work. "Erika Mann had every opportunity for self-fulfilment, she had many talents and she tried hard," says writer Gunna Wendt, who wrote the book about Erika and Therese's relationship, adding that Erika also took responsibility for the others as the eldest of the six Mann siblings.
Although it might seem that leaving Germany gave Erika the freedom to create and live, after a while it became clear that America was not a promised land either. Not only had Erika been under surveillance by the FBI since 1940, and the files kept in her name were full of notes of sexual perversions, but she was also considered an active agent of the international communist organization Komiterna. She eventually earned the label "dangerous" and "un-American" and although she applied for American citizenship, she withdrew her application in 1950 and returned to Switzerland in 1952, where she also died in 1969, turbulently alone...
The exhibition "Erika Mann. Cabaret Artist - War Reporter - Political Commentator" is open to the public (free of charge) every weekday until the end of July. More information here.
