Shortly before his death, Thomas Mann decided to hand over his diaries to posterity.
"Cheerful discoveries then in God's name," he jubilantly noted in his diary.
And added tellingly: “The world knows me!” Of course, this meant nothing else than the secret of his “underlying” homosexuality, which until now has only been revealed to knowledgeable readers.
The discoveries that Thomas Mann himself made when his older brother died in 1950 were less cheerful. Pornographic material. Heinrich had drawn like others keep diaries. Hundreds of sheets.