By Natalia Gonzalez Blanco Serrano ’24
This quarter, the German department is working closely with Northwestern Libraries to bring a new exhibit to campus about German novelist, philanthropist, and philosopher Thomas Mann. The exhibit—”Thomas Mann: Democracy Will Win” — is a series of informational panels complemented by Northwestern’s own Mann-related materials. It comes from the German educational non-profit The Goethe Institute and is on display along the entry corridor of University Library beginning Jan. 30.
Mann, a 1929 Nobel laureate in literature, wrote about fascism and liberal democracy, and was an outspoken critic of Hitler. “He lived through the first and second World Wars, and saw what was happening and took a stand,” says Jeannette Moss, librarian for political science, Slavic languages, and linguistics. “During World War II, he spoke out against Hitler and fascism and became exiled from Germany.”
During his time in exile, Mann made his way around the U.S. on a lecture tour, stopping at many colleges and universities across the country. Northwestern was the very first stop on this tour, and Mann eventually returned more than once after his initial visit in March of 1938.
The exhibit, which focuses largely on his writings on liberal democracy, will be on display until the end of the quarter. It is broken up into three parts chronologically: the first focuses on his life in Germany, political development, and writings about his own life; the second, his political stances and exile; the third, how his writings and thoughts on democracy tie into our conception and demand for democracy today.
The items that the Libraries are contributing to the installation will be on view in Deering Library, room 208. These facsimiles of archival items include correspondence between Mann and University faculty at the time; books from the circulating collections by and about Mann as well as his intellectual influences like Neitzsche, and related topics on democracy will also be on display. “He even wrote Medill professor John Frederick a personal message to read [on his CBS broadcast] and we have a transcript of that,” Moss says.
Additionally, the German department will host a free symposium Feb. 3 in Deering 208. “We’ve seen it said that libraries are thought to be the center of the university, so it makes sense to have an exhibit like this hosted at the Libraries,” Moss says. “It provides a stepping stone into finding many things in our collections, and it shows students we are a center where people can come together across the University.”
Natalia Gonzalez Blanco Serrano is a Medill School of Journalism junior
