The following article attempts to reconstruct the European way of life as represented in the essays and the ‘life-forms’ of André Gide and Klaus Mann. The one represented by Gide, individualistic at its core, can basically be characterized as an ongoing education resp. Bildung of the individual in its own national-cultural uniqueness through the modest dialogue with other (European) cultures. The one represented by Mann, with more of a political approach, can be characterized as a unity of liberal constitution, tolerable life circumstances and progress of society on the one hand, and of an openness towards other nations and cultures on the other. The European way of life of both authors is to be seen as a humanist dialogue and a refusal of all varieties of totalitarianism.