Thomas Mann's "To the Civilized World: A Manifesto", 1938-1939

This series contains materials relating to Thomas Mann's anti-Nazi work, "To the Civilized World: A Manifesto." Mann, who left Germany during the rise of the Nazi party, recorded his sentiments about Hitler and Naziism in the form of a manifesto. When Mann submitted this piece to A. and S. Lyons, Albert Gross assisted in its publication and solicited support from literary and intellectual figures living in the United States.

The series contains three typed manuscripts of the manifesto; a copy of the form letter Gross sent to literary and intellectual figures soliciting their signatures in support of Mann's work; and a letter written by Gross, outlining the contents of the manifesto. Also included are correspondence and phone messages with sixty-five literary and intellectual figures of the 1930s, mostly in response to Gross's form letter. Among those who responded are William Rose Benet, Albert Einstein, James T. Farrell, William Faulkner, Ford Madox Ford, Georgia O'Keefe, and Upton Sinclair. The correspondence between Mann and Gross relating to the manifesto and its eventual withdrawal from publication is particularly notable. In this series, copies of Mann's manifesto, Gross's form letter, and the manuscript of his letter to the editor precede the correspondence he received, which is arranged alphabetically by correspondent.