Beschreibung:

Mann, Thomas COLLECTION OF TEN AUTOGRAPH LETTERS AND TYPED LETTERS SIGNED ("THOMAS MANN"), TO STEFAN ZWEIG comprising six autograph letters and four typed letters signed, INCLUDING A REMARKABLE LETTER SUMMONING ZWEIG TO TAKE UP HIS PEN IN DEFENCE OF GERMAN CULTURE, outlining his plan to enlist the services of around 24 exiled German intellectuals, including Lotte Lehman, Heinrich Mann, Erwin Schrödinger and Franz Werfel, to contribute articles for a series of brochures intended to raise the morale of Germans in Germany, stating that they are duty bound to use their influence on the Germans, that only when the latter finish with Hitler can war be avoided; in other letters Mann discusses his 'Goethe-Novelle' [Lotte in Weimar], his lecture 'Richard Wagner und der Ring des Nibelungen', as well as Zweig's biography Maria Stuart and monograph Castellio gegen Calvin ("...es ist eine Sensation..."), asks for advice in the matter of an offer of a film option he has received for his 'biblical novel' from screenwriter Lajos Biro of London Film Productions, makes arrangments for a meeting, and refers to Hitler and Harold Nicolson, quoting a remark of the latter ("The German character is one of the finest and most inconvenient developments of human nature") ...Nur wenn die Deutschen mit Hitler ein Ende machen, kann der Krieg vermieden werden. Nur wenn, sollte er nicht vermieden werden, die Deutschen vor der Niederlage dem Regime die Gefolgschaft verweigern, dürfen wir auf einen Frieden hoffen, der nicht die Keime des neuen Krieges schon wieder in sich trägt. Die Deutschen müssen zur Raison gebracht werden, und wer sollte es tun, solange wir schweigsam bleiben?... 19 pages, various sizes, three on postcards and two on correspondence cards, three autograph envelopes, Küsnacht and Princeton, 1934-1940