„Nun bin ich da ...“

In 1949, Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann, who had emigrated to the USA, travelled back to Germany for the first time. In the politically torn country, Weimar and Frankfurt am Main honoured him with awards. He received not only praise, but also criticism.

On 1 August 1949, the 74-year-old Thomas Mann received honorary citizenship of Weimar and the Goethe National Prize at a ceremony in the German National Theatre. This was created especially for him. The occasion: Goethe's 200th birthday. Mann expressed his gratitude for the honour with a programmatic speech, which he had previously delivered verbatim in Frankfurt: his visit was not for a Germany divided into occupation zones, but for the country as a whole. For him, the German language was a unifying medium.

Greeted with joy by the residents of Weimar, criticised by the West German press and others, himself wavering between sympathy and cautious distance, Thomas Mann spent eventful days in the city.

The studio presentation in a special room of the Goethe National Museum's permanent exhibition "Floods of Life - Storm of Deeds" tells the story of what he experienced in Weimar at the time. The centrepiece of the small show is the original manuscript of Mann's memorable speech.