Thomas Mann received the Nobel Prize in 1929 for his novel "Buddenbrooks" (1901). While the poet retires to his study every morning, Katia takes care of the children, the household, the manuscripts and her husband's correspondence. They did not return to Germany from a reading tour in February 1933 because they realized that they did not want to live in a country ruled by National Socialists. Thomas Mann's brother Heinrich (1871 - 1950; Jürgen Hentsch), who became famous through his novels "Professor Unrat" (1905) and "Der Untertan" (1914) and openly criticized the National Socialists, moved to Paris around the same time away. He first has to leave the entertainer Nelly Kröger (Veronica Ferres), who has been his lover for some time, behind in Berlin. (He separated from his wife Maria Kanova in 1928.)