"Edhin Krokowski aus Linde bei Pinne, Provinz Posen.": Judentum und Antisemitismus im Zauberberg und seiner Vorgeschichte

In The Magic Mountain, the only literary text by Thomas Mann in which German anti-Semitism is an object of satire, it remains uncertain whether a number of individuals are to be considered Jewish, or not. These uncertainties are symptomatic of the novel's protracted genesis, and especially of Thomas Mann's lifelong, historically and biographically conditioned efforts to distance himself from the anti-Semitic typologies evident in his early work. The most prominent of the relevant individuals in The Magic Mountain, Dr. Krokowski, exemplifies this phenomenon. The various characteristics attributed to Krokowski evoke the continuing memory of a literary figure through whom Thomas Mann had previously only intended to relieve his anti-Semitic resentments. Thus Krokowski has a dual significance, representing Thomas Mann's early anti-Semitism and his later and vigorous, but nevertheless not entirely successful, attempts to overcome it. (YE; in German)