The Decision by German-born author Britta Böhler is a book that I discovered last year when Stu reviewed it at Winston’s Dad – and I bought it as a companion to Summer before the Dark by Volker Viedermann (also reviewed by Stu) because they share the same theme. They’re about famous Jewish authors confronting the perils of Nazi Germany… The works of those authors-in-exile were all exponents is called Exilliteratur, literature written in German by those who opposed or fled the Hitler regime.
The Decision is a fictionalised account of three tense days in 1936, when the renowned author Thomas Mann is in Switzerland, weighing up the implications of publicly denouncing his homeland Germany. At this time he had published, among many other works, Buddenbrooks, (1901, see my review); Death in Venice (1912); and The Magic Mountain (1924, see my review). He had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929. His was a powerful voice, and – having left Germany for Switzerland in 1933 when Hitler came to power, he had to decide how best to use his celebrity.
He has written a letter denouncing the regime to the Zurich-German press, that when published would amount to cultural suicide. It is not just that he cannot ever go back unless things change, it is also that he is tormented by the idea that he shares the same cultural tradition as new regime, and may be tainted by it. He’s not even sure if he can still enjoy the sublime music of Wagner, now that it’s been appropriated by the Nazis.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/11/04/the-decision-by-britta-bohler-translated-by-... ( )