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|birth_year=1906
|birth_year=1906
|death_year=1949
|death_year=1949
|nativity=GB
|nativity=Great Britain
|rank_final=S/Sgt
|rank_final=S/Sgt
|birth_date=18 November 1906
|birth_date=18 November 1906
|death_date=21 May 1949
|death_date=21 May 1949
|birth_place=Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
|birth_place=Munich, Germany
|death_place=Cannes, France
|death_place=Cannes, France
|occupation=Novelist; Essayist
|occupation=Novelist; Essayist
|photo=Wikipedia_Klaus_Mann.jpg
|photo=Wikipedia_Klaus_Mann.jpg
|known_for=Novelist
|middle=Heinrich Thomas
}}
}}


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Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann (18 November 1906 – 21 May 1949) was a German writer and anti-fascist activist. He was the son of Thomas Mann, a nephew of Heinrich Mann and brother of Erika Mann (with whom he maintained a lifelong close relationship) and Golo Mann.
'''Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann''' (18 November 1906 &ndash; 21 May 1949) was a German-born writer and anti-fascist activist who trained at [[Camp Ritchie]] in 1943, served as a staff sergeant in psychological warfare with the 1st Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company and the Fifth Army in Italy, and is best known for his 1936 novel ''Mephisto''. He was the son of Thomas Mann, a nephew of Heinrich Mann, and the brother of Erika Mann and Golo Mann.
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== Biography ==
== Biography ==
Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann was born on 18 November 1906 in Munich, the son of the writer Thomas Mann and Katia Pringsheim; his father had been baptized a Lutheran, and his mother came from a family of secular Jews. He described a romantic childhood in upper-class surroundings, but his homosexuality complicated his early adulthood and his relationship with his father. He began writing short stories in 1924, became drama critic for a Berlin newspaper the following year, and published his first works in 1925; his first novel, ''Der fromme Tanz'' (1926), is set openly in Berlin's gay milieu. In 1924 he became engaged to his childhood friend Pamela Wedekind, daughter of the playwright Frank Wedekind, but the engagement was broken off in January 1928. In 1927 he traveled around the world with his sister Erika, with whom he kept a lifelong close relationship, and they described the journey in the travelogue ''Rundherum'' (1929). From young adulthood he used opiates, to which he became heavily addicted, and he later underwent detoxification in Budapest and at the Kilchberg sanatorium in Switzerland.


Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann (18 November 1906 – 21 May 1949) was a German writer and anti-fascist activist. He is best known for his 1936 novel, Mephisto, about an actor who sells his soul to the devil, by attaching his career to the rise of the Nazis. Mann died in Cannes, France, on 21 May 1949 from an overdose of sleeping pills.
In 1932 Mann wrote the first part of his autobiography. In 1933 he took part with Erika in the anti-Hitler political cabaret ''Die Pfeffermühle'' and, to escape prosecution, left Germany in March 1933 for Paris, later spending time in Amsterdam and Switzerland. With Annemarie Schwarzenbach, Fritz Landshoff, and the Dutch publisher Emanuel Querido he founded the exile literary magazine ''Die Sammlung'' in Amsterdam in September 1933 and edited it until it closed in 1935. The Nazi regime stripped him of German citizenship in November 1934, and he became a Czechoslovak citizen. His novel ''Mephisto'' (1936), first published in Amsterdam, portrays an actor who sells his soul by tying his career to the rise of the Nazis; its protagonist was modeled on his former brother-in-law, the actor Gustaf Gründgens, and the book was long banned in West Germany on personality-rights grounds. It was later adapted for the stage by Ariane Mnouchkine and filmed in 1981 by István Szabó, starring Klaus Maria Brandauer.


It was made into a successful film of the same name in 1981. He was the son of Thomas Mann, a nephew of Heinrich Mann and brother of Erika Mann (with whom he maintained a lifelong close relationship) and Golo Mann. Mephisto remained under legal taboo, even after Gründgrens death—on grounds of personality rights.
Mann moved to the United States in 1936, living in Princeton, New Jersey, and New York; he arrived in Hollywood on 20 December 1937 but returned to Europe, to Spain, in June 1938. His novel ''Der Vulkan'' (1939) portrayed European exiles, and ''Escape to Life'', written with Erika, sought to unite German intellectuals against Nazism. In 1940 he founded the exile magazine ''Decision'' while living at February House in Brooklyn, where his housemates included W. H. Auden and Carson McCullers, and he later moved to his father's house in Pacific Palisades when he could no longer support himself.


Klaus moved to the United States to escape Nazism, and after training in counterintelligence as one of the Ritchie Boys, he served in Europe during World War II, becoming one of the first eye-witnesses to report on the horrors of the concentration camps. His books Escape to Life (co-written with his sister Erika Mann), and The Turning Point have attained importance as frequently cited primary documents of the experience of exile undergone by members of the German intelligentsia and arts community who fled the Third Reich. Biographers have disagreed as to whether his death was accidental or suicidal, depressed by his treatment in the U.S.
Mann entered Camp Ritchie on 5 April 1943 and was assigned to the 1st Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company as a staff sergeant. His naturalization, delayed by an FBI investigation into his political and personal life, was completed at Camp Crowder on 25 September 1943. In his autobiography ''The Turning Point'' he criticized the segregation of Black soldiers he observed at Camp Ritchie. On 11 February 1944 he sailed for Italy, where he was assigned to the Fifth Army's Psychological Warfare Branch and also served with British forces, designing leaflets aimed at German soldiers and taking part in difficult interrogations of German prisoners, including SS officers. In summer 1945 he was sent to Germany and reported for ''Stars and Stripes''; visiting liberated concentration camps in an official capacity, he was among the first eyewitnesses to report on the Nazi mass murders.
 
as a homosexual and alleged communist.
 
The book was initially banned in West Germany after the war because its protagonist was modeled on Mann's former lover Gustaf Gründgrens.


Mann died in Cannes, France, on 21 May 1949 of an overdose of sleeping pills. His death is generally described as suicide, linked to financial pressures, addiction, and his treatment in the United States as a gay man and alleged communist, although his biographer Frederic Spotts argued it may have been accidental. He was buried in Cannes at the Cimetière du Grand Jas. His books ''Escape to Life'' and ''The Turning Point'' remain frequently cited records of the German intellectual exile.


== Research notes ==
== Research notes ==
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== Timeline ==
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* Born 18 November 1906 in Germany, son of Thomas and Katia Mann (Jewish).
* 1925 — First literary works published; drama critic for a Berlin newspaper.
* March 1933 — Moved to Paris.
* September 1933 — Founded ''Die Sammlung'' in Amsterdam (editor until 1935).
* November 1934 — Stripped of German citizenship; became a Czech citizen.
* 1936 — Published ''Mephisto''; moved to the United States.
* 20 December 1937 — Arrived in Hollywood, but in June 1938, returned to Europe (Spain).
* 1939 — Published ''Der Vulkan''.
* 1940 — Founded the magazine ''Decision''.
* 5 April 1943 — Entered Camp Ritchie and assigned to MRBC1 as S/Sgt.
* 25 September 1943 — Naturalized as U.S. citizen at Camp Crowder.
* 11 February 1944 — Sailed to Sicily, assigned to Fifth Army Psychological Warfare Branch.
* Summer 1945 — Reported from Germany for ''Stars and Stripes''.
* 21 May 1949 — Died in Cannes, France of sleeping pill overdose.
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== Sources ==
== Sources ==
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Mann Wikipedia: Klaus Mann]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Mann Wikipedia: Klaus Mann]
* Camp Ritchie class roster (classes 1–31), merged research file
* Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
* Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
* NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
* NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
* 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
* 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
* Dan Gross, ''Timeline of Mann, Klaus for Camp Ritchie'' (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
* Dan Gross, ''Timeline of Mann, Klaus for Camp Ritchie'' (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: KLAUS MANN.doc)
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