Erika Mann: Letter to Eva Herrmann (18 April 1933)
Erika Mann: Letter to Eva Herrmann (18 April 1933)
In die Fresse!
[In the gob! (ed. trans.)]
Erika Mann in a letter to Eva Herrmann, 18 April 1933
These are the words with which Erika Mann, in her letter, demands caning for all Swiss women who sympathized with the National Socialists. Renée Schwarzenbach, the mother of her close friend Annemarie Schwarzenbach, had ordered Mann, as “Communist refugee riff-raff”, to stay away from their house. In March 1933 Mann had fled to Zurich with her political cabaret The Pepper Mill. However, there it proved difficult to re-establish the cabaret. Erika feared that her impertinent texts could lead to the kidnapping and torture of members who had remained behind. However, that did not change her combative nature in the slightest. With humorous defiance she describes to Eva Herrmann the turbulent events after her flight and provides an overview of the whereabouts of mutual friends.
In March 1933 Erika Mann was looking at an uncertain future. Her cabaret could not be performed and her younger brothers and sisters were still in Germany and hence in danger. In August 1933 The Pepper Mill was able to resume its fight against National Socialist propaganda. She tried to mobilize other people and did not allow herself to be stopped by persecution, stage bans and riots. Initially the cabaret toured Europe, but was a flop in the U.S.A. because its type of humour and themes did not catch on. Despite this, in her exile Erika Mann continued to work tirelessly against Hitler’s regime as a speaker, author and war correspondent.
(Author: Malin Paul)
Further Reading:
Keiser-Hayne, Helga: Erika Mann und ihr politisches Kabarett „Die Pfeffermühle” 1933-1937. Texte, Bilder, Hintergründe. Reinbek bei Hamburg, rowohlt 1995.
Lühe, Irmela von der: Erika Mann. Eine Biographie. 2. Auflage. Frankfurt/Main, Campus Verlag 1994.
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