Portrait: The German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist and essayist Thomas Mann

25 April 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  10 minutes

Thomas Mann at Hotel Adlon in Berlin, 1929 © Bundesarchiv/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Thomas Mann at Hotel Adlon in Berlin, 1929 © Bundesarchiv/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Paul Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas are noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. Mann’s work influenced many future authors, including Heinrich Böll, Joseph Heller, Yukio Mishima, and Orhan Pamuk.   read more…

The Baltic seaside resort of Travemünde

16 March 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Kurhaus Hotel © Asterion

Kurhaus Hotel © Asterion

Travemünde is a borough of Lübeck, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, and the Danes subsequently strengthened it. It became a town in 1317 and in 1329 passed into the possession of the free city of Lübeck, to which it has since belonged. Its fortifications were demolished in 1807.   read more…

The Holstein Switzerland

16 March 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Eutin Castle © Oliver Raupach

Eutin Castle © Oliver Raupach

Holstein Switzerland (German: Holsteinische Schweiz) is a hilly area with a patchwork of lakes and forest in Schleswig Holstein, Germany, reminiscent of Swiss landscape. Its highest point is the Bungsberg (168 metres above sea level). It is a designated nature park as well as an important tourist destination in Northern Germany situated between the cities of Kiel and Lübeck.   read more…

Lübeck, the Queen of the Hanseatic League

2 June 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

Town Hall on Market Square © Mylius

Town Hall on Market Square © Mylius

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the “capital” of the Hanseatic League (“Queen of the Hanse”) and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. In 2005 it had a population of 214,000.   read more…

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