Frido Mann: What Thomas Mann would have said to Trump

Frido Mann is often asked about his famous grandfather. On the occasion of his grandfather's 150th birthday, his favorite grandson explores the question: How would Thomas Mann have viewed our present?

The big morning begins in style with a hint of marzipan on the first floor of the Lübeck headquarters of the world-famous confectionery manufacturer Niederegger. On Friday, June 6, 2025, the 150th birthday of Thomas Mann , the brick colors outside the windows here in the café and the fluttering of flags and seagull wings outside remind us how close the sea is. Frido Mann sits at a table overlooking the Gothic town hall towers; he is a professor of psychology, musicologist and religious studies scholar, and, of course, the favorite grandson of Thomas, the world-famous literary figure and Nobel laureate born in Lübeck in 1875, who is celebrated not only here on this day.