Manon Gropius
Manon Gropius (full name Manon Alma Anna Justine Caroline Gropius, nickname: Mutzi ; * October 5, 1916 in Vienna , † April 22, 1935 ibid) was the daughter of Walter Gropius and Alma Mahler-Werfel . Her half-sister Anna Mahler was the daughter of Alma Mahler-Werfel's first marriage with the composer and conductor Gustav Mahler . She received the first name Alma after her mother, the first name Manon after the mother of her father Manon Gropius nee. Scharnweber (1855-1933).
Numerous contemporary witnesses such as Elias Canetti or Ernst Krenek report in their memoirs how Alma Mahler-Werfel , who was strongly influenced by anti - Semitism , always emphasized the Aryan ancestry of her daughter, who, unlike her half-siblings, was not married to a Jew. They tell how the good-looking as well as the acting talented daughter - who, however, was rather reserved in nature - was presented by her mother as a "showpiece". Oliver Hilmes (biographer of Alma Mahler-Werfel) also points out that the mother made efforts to marry the young girl to the much older Austrian politician Anton Rintelen .
Manon Gropius fell ill with polio during a stay in Venice in April 1934 . At the time, a polio epidemic that was concealed by public authorities was rampant there. A year later, on April 22, 1935, she died of complications from the disease at the age of 18. The funeral was a major social event. The theologian and religious priest Johannes Hollnsteiner , at the time her mother's lover, gave the funeral speech. A necrology by Ludwig Karpath appeared in a Viennese newspaper. Alban Berg composed his concerto for violin and orchestra for Manon Gropius and called it In Memory of an Angel . Her stepfather Franz Werfel described her life and death in two stories (including Manon ).
Manon Gropius is buried with her mother Alma Mahler-Werfel in the Grinzinger Friedhof (group 6, row 6, number 7) in Vienna.
literature
- Oliver Hilmes: widow delusional. The life of the Alma Mahler-Werfel . Siedler, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-88680-797-5 .
Web links
- Short biography
- Manon Gropius in the database of Find a Grave (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gropiusstrasse. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near Kaupert )
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Gropius, Manon |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gropius, Manon Alma Anna Justine Caroline (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian daughter of Alma Mahler and Walter Gropius |
DATE OF BIRTH | October 5, 1916 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna |
DATE OF DEATH | April 22, 1935 |
Place of death | Vienna |