[Einführung zur Rede Eleanor Roosevelts, 1949] E-Book

Thomas Mann

• Herausgeber: FISCHER E-Books
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Fischer Klassik Plus
• Sprache: Deutsch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 20

Beschreibung

Die Rede, die Eleanor Roosevelt am 8. März 1949 hielt, ist offenbar nicht abgedruckt worden. Wir können deshalb lediglich vermuten, dass sie über ihr Engagement bei den Vereinten Nationen gesprochen hat, wenn Thomas Mann hier betont: »The title of her lecture, however, indicates that the United Nations has by no means failed entirely […].« Die Bitte um seine Mitwirkung war nur eine Woche früher an ihn herangetragen worden, und Mann hatte den Wunsch nicht ablehnen wollen. Er verfasste die Einführung gemeinsam mit Erika Mann, die den Text anschließend ins Englische übersetzte. Während er Eleanor Roosevelt ebenfalls schätzte, hatte Mann insbesondere ihren 1944 verstorbenen Ehemann, den früheren US-Präsidenten Franklin D. Roosevelt, verehrt und dessen Politik entschieden unterstützt.

Leseprobe

Thomas Mann

[Einführung zur Rede Eleanor Roosevelts, 1949]

Essay/s

Fischer e-books

In der Textfassung derGroßen kommentierten Frankfurter Ausgabe(GKFA)Mit Daten zu Leben und Werk

{637}[Einführung zur Rede Eleanor Roosevelts, 1949]

Ladies and gentlemen, –

at this moment, I feel somehow reminded of a certain afternoon in October 1944 when I delivered my first and only election campaign speech – in favor of Franklin Roosevelt’s Fourth Term. Our local party organization had asked me to come out for the admirable man, and I had gladly consented. The gathering took place in a private garden in the residential district of Bel Air. Several hundred chairs were scattered all over the lawn, and everybody was having a wonderful time. It was a truly American affair: the political pep-talking and the money raising, an art in which some speakers here have developed a terrific technique, were interspersed with all sorts of numbers, of vaudeville acts and acrobatic stunts; these had nothing whatever to do with the cause at stake; yet, in their own way they contributed to the persuasiveness of the show.

At that time, this kind of thing was entirely new to me. There was a magician whose wondrous feats made you forget all politics – for the moment being. There was a female ventriloquist, a mere child, really, but first-rate in her art, who conversed so sillily and amusingly with her stony-eyed doll that I was still chuckling when I mounted the platform for my speech. I felt that, under the circumstance, it was far too serious a speech; yet, as it went, it was not too serious at all but – again in its own way – quite alright. The rest of the program was on the humorous side again, and in the end everybody had so enjoyed himself that no-one entertained the slightest doubt as to F.D.R.’s imminent re-election.

And indeed, the nation sent for him: we had him back, if for {638}a tragically short period of time. Unforgettable the day when the news of his death struck our hearts! Bent over the radio, newspaper in hand, we just stood there, dazed – feeling that at this moment a world around us was petrified. The shock, the realization of a fateful loss was all-pervading and omni-present. And even now, we can hear the words, then spoken by the great woman who is among us tonight:

»I am more sorry for the people of the country and the world than I am for us.«