Arellano: The Thomas Mann House survived the Palisades fire. We should heed Mann's words

On the greeting of the Palisades fire, Claudia Gordon rapidly accepted that determination was lone truthful overmuch she could bash to prevention everything nether her watch.

She helps negociate the Pacific Palisades homes erstwhile owned by Thomas Mann and Lion Feuchtwanger, bestselling German writers who moved to Los Angeles successful the 1940s arsenic portion of an exodus of European intellectuals fleeing the Nazis. They transformed their residences into salons for chap refugees and warned Americans that what happened successful their homelands could hap anywhere.

Today, the Mann House and Villa Aurora, which is Feuchtwanger’s home, are taste centers that connection residency programs for writers and artists whose enactment embraces the tone of their erstwhile owners. The destiny of the houses was retired of Gordon’s hands, erstwhile it became evident that the Palisades occurrence was going to rage.

She did what she could to prevention everything else, coordinating with staffers to marque definite everyone was evacuated from the homes. At the Mann House, idiosyncratic grabbed the implicit works of Goethe, arsenic good arsenic Mann’s handwritten papers. Gordon and others took immoderate paintings and a Renaissance-era Purim scroll from Villa Aurora but had to permission thousands of uncommon books and idiosyncratic mementos behind.

Back successful her ain home, Gordon took solace and spot successful the lives of the 2 men. She particularly thought of Feuchtwanger, who refused to succumb to despair aft losing homes successful Germany and France to the Nazis and past gathering a caller beingness successful the U.S.

“If the worst happened” and the Mann House and Villa Aurora burned down, Gordon said, “that’s what we would person to do” — commencement over.

We were lasting extracurricular the sleek, two-story Thomas Mann House connected a Friday greeting past week. Accompanying america were the house’s director, Oliver Hartmann, and programme manager Benno Herz. Inside, high-powered aerial filters were sucking retired each the toxic substances near implicit from the occurrence — the lone harm incurred by the house, built successful 1942 for Mann and his household and purchased by the German authorities successful 2016 to prevention it from demolition.

“I ne'er understood however a surgeon could run for 20 hours,” said Gordon, 55, who has been manager of Villa Aurora disconnected and connected since 2002 and is besides manager of medication for some houses. “But present I cognize however it works that adrenaline carries you truthful far.”

She looked astatine the Mann House’s gleaming achromatic exterior, which had to beryllium scrubbed down by manus aft the fire. “It’s ne'er been truthful clean,” she said with a bittersweet chuckle.

This was going to beryllium a large twelvemonth for the institutions, which are funded by the German government. The Mann House had a afloat programme planned for the 150th day of its namesake. Villa Aurora was readying for the 30th day of its residency program. All events truthful acold person been canceled, postponed oregon hosted astatine different spots crossed L.A.

The Mann House hopes to bring backmost its fellows successful May. Villa Aurora besides survived but is closed indefinitely arsenic it awaits its ain heavy cleaning. But the 2 structures are astatine slightest standing. The homes of galore of Mann’s and Feuchtwanger’s chap European refugees didn’t marque it.

A country wrong the Thomas Mann House, which is present a taste center. It survived the Palisades occurrence but remains closed arsenic it gets a heavy cleaning.

(David Butow / For The Times)

Herz, who joined the Mann House erstwhile it started its residency programme successful 2018, said the concern reminds him of the COVID years.

“We’re a young institution,” the 35-year-old deadpanned, “but precise experienced successful crises.”

In 2023, I contributed to a German-language publication wherever writers were asked to bespeak connected a diagnostic successful the Mann House that spoke to modern-day L.A. I focused connected a property merchandise hanging adjacent the staircase to Mann’s chamber that quotes him saying, “In times of truthful profoundly depressing circumstances a harmonious location inheritance is of large significance.”

While writers similar Mike Davis and Joan Didion were rightfully cited arsenic prophetic voices aft the Palisades and Eaton fires, we should wage attraction to Mann and Feuchtwanger, whose words are particularly applicable successful an epoch wherever strongmen are connected the emergence worldwide and radical are escaping from failing countries.

In his 1938 lecture “The Coming Victory of Democracy,” Mann said, “Even America feels contiguous that ideology is not an assured possession, that it has enemies, that it is threatened from wrong and from without.”

Feuchtwanger, meanwhile, was criticizing the Nazis arsenic aboriginal arsenic the 1920s, culminating successful his Wartesaal (“The Waiting Room”) trilogy, a acceptable of novels that tracked the emergence of Hitler and the Nazis’ persecution of Jews and others. That led the Nazis to pain Feuchtwanger’s books and his imprisonment successful France nether the Vichy regime.

“There’s the creator Thomas Mann,” said Hartmann of the author, who won a Nobel Prize for lit successful 1929. “But there’s besides the governmental Mann, waiting to beryllium rediscovered by each generation.

“And for Lion,” the 47-year-old Hartmann continued, “for him it was truthful important to antagonistic stupidity with reason.”

He led america astir the Mann House, arsenic workers weaved astir america with hold cords and ladders. Electric portion and spray cans were everywhere. At 1 point, Gordon astir walked into a integrative expanse that sealed disconnected a hallway from the surviving room.

We ended up successful Mann’s study. Among the books that remained was a transcript of Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 caller “It Can’t Happen Here,” which imagined an America ruled by a fascist.

“It’s ever unsafe to gully governmental parallels betwixt the past and present,” Herz said, “but Mann went from becoming an admirer of FDR to experiencing the governmental displacement to McCarthyism.” He yet returned to Europe, aft the House Un-American Activities Committee and the FBI began to people him.

“The takeaway that ever stays with maine is that things tin ever change,” Gordon added. “Lion ne'er dared permission the United States due to the fact that helium was acrophobic they wouldn’t fto him backmost in. But helium wrote astir not having self-pity successful that. It was his anticipation and anticipation that exile lit would basal the trial of time.”

Outside, 25-year-old Isaac Rosales was looking astatine a bronze plaque with Mann’s look connected it. I asked if helium knew who Mann was.

“I’m assuming he’s truly important,” the Colton nonmigratory replied successful Spanish. “We [workers] ever inquire ourselves, ‘Who indispensable that antheral be?’”

I gave Rosales a speedy overview, highlighting however Mann fostered a assemblage for immigrants from the location that Rosales was present helping to restore. The autochthonal of Mexico past smiled.

“L.A.’s ever been a sanctuary for us, right?” helium said.

Charred world shows however adjacent the Palisades occurrence came to Villa Aurora, the erstwhile location of famed German writer Lion Feuchtwanger, who arrived successful Los Angeles aft fleeing the Nazi regime.

(David Butow / For The Times)

Gordon and I bid farewell to Hartmann and Herz, past proceeded to Villa Aurora connected the different broadside of the Palisades. The capriciousness of the occurrence rapidly revealed itself.

An intact flat analyzable stood crossed Sunset Boulevard from different that was wholly devastated. The fenced-off Palisades Village, which proprietor Rick Caruso had hired backstage firefighters to protect, looked eerily immaculate. We passed by a checkpoint manned by the National Guard and the LAPD, past had to halt for 20 minutes connected a constrictive hillside roadworthy arsenic a backhoe was unloaded from a flatbed truck.

The odor of fume greeted america erstwhile we entered Villa Aurora, a two-story mansion primitively built by the Los Angeles Times successful 1928 arsenic a exemplary location for a planned neighborhood. Ashes covered a impermanent publication opened to a leafage with its past signature dated Jan. 6.

Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife, Marta, moved present successful 1943.

“He had to amusement an affidavit that helium wouldn’t beryllium a load connected taxpayers, conscionable similar asylum seekers person to bash today,” Gordon said arsenic we looked astatine historical photos and walked done Villa Aurora’s expansive rooms. “Lion was fortunate that helium was a bestseller astatine the time.”

Feuchtwanger is not arsenic well-known successful the U.S. arsenic Mann, Gordon said, but helium is seen arsenic an important fig successful Germany, particularly for truthful openly and brilliantly opposing the Nazis arsenic a Jewish man.

Gordon noted that Marta, by past a widow, climbed connected the extortion with a hose to prevention Villa Aurora during the 1961 Bel-Air fire.

“They talk to the quality to support strength,” Gordon said, “in the look of catastrophe.”

Portraits of German writers Thomas Mann, Lion Feuchtwanger and Bertolt Brecht bent astatine Villa Aurora, the Pacific Palisades location erstwhile owned by Feuchtwanger.

(David Butow / For The Times)

We made our mode to a second-floor office, which featured portraits of Mann, Feuchtwanger and chap German exile Bertolt Brecht, arsenic good arsenic a spectacular presumption of the Pacific. From a balcony, I saw that the slope beneath maine was scorched close up to the Villa Aurora spot line. A dormant eucalyptus histrion inactive stood. It volition beryllium chopped down and turned into an creation portion by a erstwhile Villa Aurora chap to commemorate the Palisades disaster.

“That location implicit determination is gone,” Gordon said, pointing toward the distance. “The different location is gone.”

She stayed quiet.

“We’re closed, but we’re not closed,” she concluded. “We’re inactive going.”