Background
Katia was also a granddaughter of the writer and women"s rights activist Hedwig Dohm. Katia was born in Feldafing near Munich, into one of the wealthiest families in Germany.
artist conductor mathematician writer
Katia was also a granddaughter of the writer and women"s rights activist Hedwig Dohm. Katia was born in Feldafing near Munich, into one of the wealthiest families in Germany.
Her twin brother Klaus Pringsheim was a conductor, composer, music writer and music pedagogue, active in Germany and Japan. She was the grand-daughter of German-Jewish industrialist Rudolf Pringsheim and the great-niece of the banker Hugo Pringsheim. She continued her studies as a guest student for another four semesters.
Katia and Thomas Mann had six children (see section "" infra).
Katia Mann became ill in Autumn 1911, a year after Monika"s birth. The illness was first suspected to be tuberculosis, but later X-ray examinations could not find any physical changes.
Her mother, Hedwig, put the illness down to exhaustion. Katia had given birth to four children and suffered two miscarriages in less than five years.
Thomas Mann"s visits to her there inspired his novel The Magic Mountain.
Up to May, 1914, Katia spent several months in sanatoriums, which (according to her) strengthened her so that she could "stand it all". She was not just the good spirit of the family, but the connection point that kept them all together. She died in Kilchberg near Zürich.
Thomas Mann made a sort of "portrait" of her in his novel Royal Highness.