With this letter to the American consul in Tijuana, film producer Wolfgang Reinhardt, who had emigrated to Hollywood in 1938, supported Heinrich Mann’s application for permanent residency in the USA. In it, he praises the German writer’s efforts and commitment in his work for Warner Brothers – with success: in the spring of 1941, Mann received the “permanent resident” status he had sought.

After his arrival in the USA and like many other fellow emigrants, the author of the 1930 novel Professor Unrat [Small Town Tyrant], which had been successfully adapted for the cinema, initially found a job in the region around Los Angeles, which he referred to somewhat contemptuously as a film district. Alongside Alfred Döblin, Franz Werfel, Leonhard Frank and Alfred Polgar, Heinrich Mann also received a one-year contract as a script writer and developer for the two motion picture companies Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Brothers, which secured him a meagre living. Despite effusive letters of recommendation – from the likes of director John Huston and others – Mann’s contract was not renewed after the twelve months had lapsed. Now a septuagenarian, Mann’s financial situation thus became significantly worse. From that point on, his wife was forced to work as a nurse for them to have a livelihood. Heinrich’s brother Thomas Mann, who lived comparatively well-off only a few kilometres away, also helped him out by continually sending him checks. Artistically, Heinrich Mann’s time in Hollywood was disappointing: none of his story ideas were turned into movies. All the same, the material subsequently led to the novels Lidice (published in Mexico in 1943) and Empfang bei der Welt (published posthumously in 1956).