About us

The Thomas Mann Archive is open to the public and welcome or advise interested members of the public and researchers from Switzerland and abroad. Users are extremely welcome in the reading room on the premises.

Organisationally, the Thomas Mann Archive is affiliated to the ETH Library.

Impressions from the history of the Thomas Mann Archive

The Thomas Mann Archive was initially opened on the ETH Library's premises in ETH Zurich's main building in 1956 before moving to Bodmerhaus, which belongs to the University of Zurich, in 1961. The Thomas Mann Archive is housed at Bodmerhaus until June 2016.

Thomas Mann's study, ETH Zurich, 1956.
Photo: Thomas Mann Archive


"When we [the heirs] faced the question of what to do with my father's personal papers in 1955, how to render them accessible to scholars and enthusiasts, it soon became clear that we were not up to the task. We needed help from the state and academia. Where could we find both? From our side, this problem was soon solved."

(Golo Mann, inauguration of the Thomas Mann Archive at Bodmerhaus in 1961, BlTMG 3/1962, 24)

Invitation to inauguration of the Thomas Mann Archive at Bodmerhaus, 25 February 1961.


"To outsiders, it may have seemed odd that ETH Zurich would look after the literary legacy of an author. Our technical and scientific, state-run university gladly took on this challenging and appealing task and treasures the archive. The true engineer, scientist and mathematician senses the indivisibility of culture, the necessity to see the bigger picture and merge the manifold strengths and intellectual flows that arise from nature, human society and the observational, contemplative and often prophetic spirit of the author more consciously than in the past."

(Hans Pallmann: welcome by the President of the Swiss Education Council, inauguration of the Thomas Mann Archive at Bodmerhaus in 1961, BlTMG 3/1962, 11)

Thomas Mann's study, Bodmerhaus, 2016
Photo: Thomas Mann Archive