German Govt. Inaugurates Thomas Mann House In L.A.; Free Conference At The Getty Center

In June 18, Thomas Mann House, a residence for scholars, will be inaugurated in Los Angeles. The house will foster intellectual and cultural exchange between Germany and the United States, offer the opportunity to leading thinkers who are living or have lived in Germany to explore issues of contemporary importance, to generate fresh thought, and to deepen American -- German relations.

The Mann family's home has been called by some the "intellectual German White House in America" and was, between 1942-52 the home of some of the most luminary German expatriates including Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Lion Feuchtwanger, Max Reinhardt, Fritz Lang, Arnold Schönberg, Hanns Eisler, and Bertolt Brecht, all of whom met there with frequency for talks and discussions.

On June 19 there will be an inaugural public conference, "The Struggle for Democracy" in the Harold M. Williams Auditorium at The Getty Center from 10am - 3pm featuring opening remarks by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier followed by panel discussions with influential thinkers and activists from Germany and the U.S.

The Thomas Mann House mission statement affirms, "Our interdisciplinary program is committed to the spirit of Thomas Mann, who addressed the most pressing cultural and political questions of his time in his literary works, lectures, and essays. Our aim is to foster a dialogue with a broad cross section of the United States population through multifaceted programming and debate."

On the conference "The Struggle for Democracy"

"Throughout the world it has become precarious to take democracy for granted", Thomas Mann observed after the rise of National Socialism and the end of the Weimar Republic. Eighty-five years after Mann's escape, the realization that democracy is vulnerable has become a shared experience on both sides of the Atlantic. The cohesion of democratic polities is endangered both in Europe and the United States. Segregation threatens to supersede exchange; confrontation supplants compromise. It is becoming increasingly clear that the struggle for democracy has once again become one of the most important issues of our time.

Nikolai Blaumer, Program Director Thomas Mann House, said "The inauguration will be an occasion for our opening conference to discuss conditions and visions for this kind of democratic renewal in Germany and the United States. It will set the stage for all the study and work to come." The panels include:

• "Diversity and the Search for Common Ground" -- Jutta Allmendinger (TMH Fellow, Director WZB Berlin Social Science Center) and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco (Wasserman Dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Informational Studies

• "Status panic - Fear and the Decline of Democracy" -- Heinz Bude (Author) and Claire Jean Kim (Professor, Political Science School of Social Sciences at UC Irvine)

• "Expulsions - Shifting Borders of Democracy" -- Ananya Roy (Professor of Urban Planning, Social Welfare and Geography at UCLA), Teddy Cruz (Professor of Public Culture and Urbanization at UCSD) and Fonna Forman (Professor of Political Science at UCSD)

Attendance to the conference is free to the public. To respond and attend "The Struggle for Democracy" conference, please email conference@vatmh.org

The residency program at the Thomas Mann House is funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Goethe-Institut, the Berthold Leibinger Foundation, the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Foundation and the Robert Bosch Foundation.

Introductory Thoughts from Steven D. Lavine, Founding Director of Thomas Mann House Los Angeles and President Emeritus of California Institute of the Arts (CalArts)

The rescue of the Thomas Mann House by the German Foreign Office is a signal event in the life of Los Angeles. The restoration of the House and its establishment as a residence for scholars and other thinkers from Germany concerned with contemporary issues and interested in active exchange with their American counterparts brings us back to the era when so many brilliant emigres and exiles from Germany found safe haven in the United States.

The influence of these emigres on American culture was profound and continues to be felt, especially in Los Angeles, where so many settled. At this moment of popular resistance to the idea of welcoming immigrants, the Thomas Mann House provides a salutary reminder of the extent to which immigrants bring fresh energies and ideas that have the potential to enrich the cultures and countries that welcome them.

At this moment, with the resurgence of authoritarian governments around the world and democracies seemingly unable to address the urgent issues before them, Mann's confidence in the ability of democracies to rise to the most difficult occasions needs to be heard once again. He is absolutely clear
that without democracy-- based not only on voting, but on a recognition of the dignity of the individual human being-- there can be no defense of "individual happiness, justice or security."

Equally, at a time when complex social, economic And political issues are too often flattened into simplistic slogans and extreme ideologies, Thomas Mann is a reminder of the complex twists and turns of individual and social life and of the enormous challenge of doing justice to our lived experience.

The opening of the Thomas Mann House could hardly be a better tribute to Mann himself and the lasting dialogue between Germany and the United States that was given such impetus by Mann and his generations of emigres to the U.S.

Mission statement Thomas Mann House

The Thomas Mann House (TMH) is fostering the intellectual and cultural exchange between Germany and the United States. We convey the image of a contemporary and diverse Germany and facilitate a communal thought process on the societal and political challenges, both countries are facing.

During his time in America, Thomas Mann tackled the temptations of authoritarianism as well as the topics of democratic renewal, of freedom, migration and exile. He did so in his literary oeuvre, as well as in his lectures and essays. The Thomas Mann House (TMH) aims to carry this tradition forward and take up - in the spirit of Thomas Mann - the cultural and societal questions of our time.

With its fellowships and programming, the Thomas Mann House enables intellectual encounter and exchange. Through different media formats, TMH will introduce individuals from Germany and Europe to U.S. audiences and encourage open dialogue. Reflecting Germany's diverse immigration population, programming at Thomas Mann House will incorporate issues pertaining to Latin America and the Pacific region.

The Thomas Mann House is part of the cultural, scientific, and political network in Southern California. However, the program is geared reaching many more people, especially partners in the heartland of the United States. Activities will include lecture tours, workshops and roundtable discussions, with a special focus on radio and the digital media.

About Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann, one of Germany's greatest modern novelists, was also a short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His most well-known works include "Buddenbrooks" (1901), "Death in Venice" (1912), "The Magic Mountain" (1924) and "Doktor Faustus" (1947). Politically, Mann spoke out against National Socialism and the Nazi Party, while still living in Germany.

He was a great proponent of Democracy and pleaded for the strengthening of democracy through the extension of its principles from the political to the social and economic spheres. Many of his pro-Democracy writings were broadcast throughout the United States during the War. The Nazi Government revoked his citizenship in 1936.

In the late 1930's Thomas Mann, was one of many German intellectuals who fled the country during World War II. After spending a few years on the East Coast, Thomas Mann relocated his family to Southern California in 1941 in a home designed by architect J.R. Davidson. Like Mann, Davidson was a German transplant to Southern California during World War II. Mann's Los Angeles home, became an intellectual center for other Germans who, like Mann, had to flee their home country during the war. It represented a political, social and literary beacon of the German spirit.

Mann lived in the home until 1952 and it was where he wrote the novel, "Doktor Faustus" and continued his political writings. The Lappen family purchased the house from the Mann family back in 1953, after Mann moved to Switzerland. Mann and his family were unsettled by Joseph McCarthy and House Committee on Un-American Activities, aimed any many Americans, especially those who were expatriates or worked in "leftist" Hollywood.

In 2016, the home went on the market and was purchased by the German Foreign Office with the intention of turning the home into a residence for scholars. In a statement to the New York Times, Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier said, "In a conflict-laden world, which is no longer sure of its own order, we need more than ever places in which cultural and social exchanges take place free from external pressure."

About inaugural Thomas Mann House Fellows

Professor Dr. h. c. Jutta Allmendinger, Ph. D. (President of the WZB Berlin Social Science Center) is a German sociologist. After scientific stations - among others - at Harvard University, the LMU and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Prof. Allmendinger became President of the WZB Berlin Social Science Center in April 2007. In 2013 she received the Federal Cross first class of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2014, she received a Honorary Doctorate of the University of Tampere. www.wzb.eu

Professor Dr. Dr. h. c. Heinrich Detering (Professor of Modern German Literature and Comparative Literature) is a German literary scholar, translator and poet and professor for modern German and Comparative Literary Studies. Detering runs the Thomas Mann Research Center in Göttingen and is the editor of the "Große kommentierte Frankfurter Ausgabe" of the works, letters and diaries of Thomas Mann. Since 2011 Detering is president of the German Academy for Language and Literature. www.heinrichdetering.de

Burghart Klaußner (Actor and author) graduated from the Max Reinhardt Drama School in Berlin and worked at the Schaubühne from 1970 to 1972. Subsequently, he played at Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Schiller-Theater and Maxim-Gorki-Theater in Berlin, and at playhouses in Frankfurt/Main, Bochum, and Zurich. He acted in numerous series and films, such as the Oscar-nominated "The White Ribbon" which received the Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival. For his role in "The White Ribbon", Klaußner received the Best Actor Award from the German Film Critics Association in 2009. He is a member of the Freie Akademie der Künste Hamburg and the German Film Academy, where he has been serving on the Board since 2010. Burghart Klaußner also works as a writer and director. www.burghartklaussner.de

Professor Dr.-Ing. Yiannos Manoli (Director of the Fritz Huettinger Chair of Microelectronics) holds the Fritz Huettinger Chair of Microelectronics, Department of Microsystems Engineering - IMTEK at the University of Freiburg/Germany. Manoli studied at Lawrence University, Wisconsin and University of California, Berkeley. After positions at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems in Duisburg and University of Saarland in Saarbrücken, he transferred to the University of Freiburg. Since 2005, Prof. Manoli has also been one of the directors of the Hahn Schickard Institute of Micromachining and Information Technology, Villingen-Schwenningen and Freiburg, Germany. www.imtek.uni-freiburg.de.

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