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Celebrating the 150th Birthday of Thomas Mann
 A literary adaptation

Charlotte Kestner stands next to each other in evening dress on the right, her daughter Lotte on the left. They look seriously in the same direction. © DEFA-Stiftung/Ingo Raatzke, Wolfgang Ebert

June 6th 2025 is the 150th birthday of Thomas Mann, who remains one of the most important German-language writers today. His works have been adapted for film many times, both in Germany and internationally. First and foremost the novels Buddenbrooks (1901) with four film adaptations and Confessions of Felix Krull (1954), which was filmed twice. Many adaptations were received as great successes, including Luchino Visconti's classic Death in Venice (1971) and Heinrich Breloer's TV docudrama Die Manns – Ein Jahrhundertroman (2001) with Armin Mueller-Stahl and Monica Bleibtreu. The film adaptations each opened up new and sometimes even unconventional perspectives on Mann's literary worlds and his characters.

In the 1970s, GDR director Egon Günther took on the 1939 novel Lotte in Weimar. His DEFA feature film of the same name, Lotte in Weimar (1975), tells the story of Charlotte Kestner, who travels to Weimar to see her first love Johann Wolfgang von Goethe again. Charlotte's visit and her attempts to meet Goethe turn out to be a disappointment. Lilli Palmer plays Charlotte Kestner and Martin Hellberg plays J. W. Goethe. Lotte in Weimar was the first film to represent the GDR in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra played excerpts from Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony for the film and thus contributed to the prestige of the production.

Lotte in Weimar

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Director: Egon Günther
Year: 1975
Genre: Literary film adaptation
Length: 119 min.

Lotte in Weimar is the film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Thomas Mann, published in 1939. Mann tells the story of Charlotte Kestner, who, as Goethe's early love, inspired the character of Lotte in his novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. About 40 years later, Lotte visits Weimar and meets Goethe again.

A woman takes a man's face between her hands. © DEFA-Stiftung/Ingo Raatzke, Wolfgang Ebert © DEFA-Stiftung/Ingo Raatzke, Wolfgang Ebert

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