Thomas Mann never wrote it. He did write an essay in 1914, "Frederick II and the Great Coalition" which tells us how Germany invading Belgium is just like Fritz invading Saxony, and the current enemies of Germany were just like those Fritz faced in the 7-years-war. Most telling sentence:
"The Koalition may have changed a Little, but it is his Europe, the Europe allied in hate, which does not want to endure us, does still not want to endure him, the King, the Europe which has to learn again in lengthy Detail, maybe even through another seven years, that it will not manage to murder him."
("Die Koalition hat sich ein wenig verändert, aber es ist sein Europa, das im Haß verbündete Europa, das uns nicht dulden, das ihn, den König, noch immer nicht dulden will, und dem noch einmal in zäher Ausführlichkeit, in einer Ausführlichkeit von sieben Jahren vielleicht, bewiesen werden muß, daß es nicht angängig ist, ihn zu beseitigen.")
Oh, Tommy, as Heinrich would have said and did say. Just last year, I discovered there's a Fritz novel which is also a Brothers Mann novel, with a great premise: in their exile years, at which point they've long been reconciled (but the past is unforgotten), they decide to write a Friedrich novel together, only it's going to be a Fritz-and-his-brother-Heinrich novel. Guess who gets two write whom? Heinrich is uncertain whether roleplaying feuding Hohenzollern brothers is really a good idea, given, you know, but can't resist, and they start writing chapters, at which point the novelist does a credible parody of both Thomas Mann's style and Heinrich Mann's style, but then, alas, the whole thing collapses and stopped being credible, and I stopped reading.
No, Heinrich didn't send the second letter. They were reconciled in 1922 or 23 (I Forget which), when Heinrich was really dangerously ill and Thomas made a tearful appearance at his hospital bed.
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Re: Other Fritz fans of note in German history
Date: 2019-08-28 05:21 pm (UTC)"The Koalition may have changed a Little, but it is his Europe, the Europe allied in hate, which does not want to endure us, does still not want to endure him, the King, the Europe which has to learn again in lengthy Detail, maybe even through another seven years, that it will not manage to murder him."
("Die Koalition hat sich ein wenig verändert, aber es ist sein Europa, das im Haß verbündete Europa, das uns nicht dulden, das ihn, den König, noch immer nicht dulden will, und dem noch einmal in zäher Ausführlichkeit, in einer Ausführlichkeit von sieben Jahren vielleicht, bewiesen werden muß, daß es nicht angängig ist, ihn zu beseitigen.")
Oh, Tommy, as Heinrich would have said and did say. Just last year, I discovered there's a Fritz novel which is also a Brothers Mann novel, with a great premise: in their exile years, at which point they've long been reconciled (but the past is unforgotten), they decide to write a Friedrich novel together, only it's going to be a Fritz-and-his-brother-Heinrich novel. Guess who gets two write whom? Heinrich is uncertain whether roleplaying feuding Hohenzollern brothers is really a good idea, given, you know, but can't resist, and they start writing chapters, at which point the novelist does a credible parody of both Thomas Mann's style and Heinrich Mann's style, but then, alas, the whole thing collapses and stopped being credible, and I stopped reading.
No, Heinrich didn't send the second letter. They were reconciled in 1922 or 23 (I Forget which), when Heinrich was really dangerously ill and Thomas made a tearful appearance at his hospital bed.