Florian Illies

Summer 1933: the situation in Europe comes to a head – and that of the Mann family: Thomas, Katia and the six children are stranded in Sanary on the French Mediterranean after an adventurous escape. And now? Thomas Mann wants to return to Munich as quickly as possible. Klaus founds an exile magazine, Michael plays the violin day and night, Erika smuggles the possessions across the border, Golo collects the money from the bank accounts and looks after the forgotten dog. When the sun goes down (2025) is a big family constellation: everyone is forced to confess. To each other. To Germany. Or against it.

Illies tells of the grief over the loss of the homeland, of the fear of Nazi looting, of defiance. And of the tug-of-war between Klaus and Erika and their father.

Florian Illies was editor of the FAZ and head of the features section of the FAS. Today he is one of the editors of DIE ZEIT; and his art podcast Augen zu with Giovanni di Lorenzo is one of the most listened to podcasts in the German language.

Moderation: Jan Wiele, FAZ