„Deutschland, höre!“ - Thomas Mann's Radio Addresses

Fr. January 16, 2026–April 10, 2026
Location: Online/Radio

To mark the 150th anniversary of Thomas Mann’s birth, the BBC radio addresses have been newly recorded by actress Sandra Hüller. Voices from politics, scholarship, and culture comment on them and enter into a dialogue with Mann’s texts.

Info

“Hell, Germans, came upon you.” Thomas Mann’s relentless and uncompromising message in his radio addresses broadcast by the BBC between 1940 and 1945 was a plea for humanism and democratic renewal—and at the same time a ultimately unsuccessful wake-up call to a country that had committed itself to delusion and total destruction.
 
To mark the 150th anniversary of Thomas Mann’s birth, the BBC radio addresses have been newly recorded by actress Sandra Hüller. Thirteen outstanding contemporary voices from politics, scholarship, and culture comment on them and enter into a dialogue with Mann’s texts.
 
A project in collaboration with Deutschlandfunk, Sonja Valentin and Hans Dieter Heimendahl.
 
*This radio program was produced in German*
 

With ...

Alice Hasters

Alice Hasters is a journalist, bestselling author, and podcaster. She works on topics such as identity, racism, and feminism. Her books include *Was weiße Menschen nicht über Rassismus hören wollen, aber wissen sollten* (What white people don't want to hear about racism but should know, 2019) and *Identitätskrise* (Identity crisis, 2024).

Christian Wulff

Christian Wulff was the 10th Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany. He is committed to integration, interfaithreligious dialogue, and a vibrant democracy.

Feridun Zaimoglu

Feridun Zaimoglu is a writer and visual artist of Turkish origin. Since his debut *Kanak Sprak,* he has been regarded as a major voice in German migration literature.

Raúl Krauthausen

Raúl Krauthausen is an inclusion activist and founder of the association Sozialheld*innen (Social heroes). For over twenty years, he has been advocating for accessibility and inclusion.

Arne Friedrich

Arne Friedrich is a former footballer whose career includes 76 appearances for the German national team. In 2015, he founded the Arne Friedrich Foundation with the goal of "effectively helping children to improve their lives."

Annett Gröschner

Annett Gröschner is a writer, journalist, and performer. Her work includes novels, poetry, features, and documentary literature, which often deal with the city of Berlin and its history.

Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller

Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller is a German-American manager and has been CEO of the mechanical engineering company Trumpf GmbH + Co. KG since 2005.

Düzen Tekkal

Düzen Tekkal is an author, television journalist, and filmmaker of Yazidi-Kurdish origin who became known for her work on human rights and integration and her documentaries.

Jutta Allmendinger

Jutta Allmendinger is a sociologist and former president of the Berlin Social Science Center (2007–2024). Her research focus includes education and the labor market.

Susan Neiman

Susan Neiman is an American philosopher, essayist, and cultural critic. She is director of the Einstein Forum in Potsdam and works on moral philosophy, the Enlightenment, and the relationship between universalism and identity politics.

Michel Friedman

Michel Friedman is a German-French author, lawyer, and  philosopher, former vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and a well-known host of several political talk shows.

Charlotte Knobloch

Charlotte Knobloch has been president of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde München und Oberbayern  since 1985. From 2005 to 2013, she was vice president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC).

Navid Kermani

Navid Kermani is a writer, reporter, author, and orientalist whose fiction and non-fiction writings engage with  border experiences, religion, and culture. He is recipient of the 2015 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.

Partner

In cooperation with DLF und the S. Fischer Verlag.

 

Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e. V. is funded by the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.