Art, literature & culture

Death of Thomas Mann

12 August 1955

Thomas Mann died on 12 August 1955 in Zurich, aged 80. A German novelist and essayist, Mann was born in Lübeck and became the leading German prose writer of his generation. His first novel, Buddenbrooks, traced the decline of a merchant family and brought him fame; it was followed by Death in Venice, The Magic Mountain and Doctor Faustus, all of which explore the relationship between art, illness and society. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929. A critic of the Nazis, he left Germany in 1933, moved to the United States and broadcast anti-Hitler messages to his countrymen during the war. He later returned to Europe and spent his last years in Switzerland.

Open on the timeline

Before and after

More in Art, literature & culture

The era

This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.