Every Man Dies Alone, by Hans Fallada (1947; English Translation 2009)
If you read only one book this year, that book should be Every Man Dies Alone, by Hans Fallada. It was originally published in Germany in 1947, but was recently translated and published in English. Every Man Dies Alone is the best book I have read in a long, long time.
The novel was based on a true story of a couple who quietly, but tragically tried to object to Hitler’s regime. The setting is Berlin in early 1941. Otto and Anna Quangel were a quiet middle-aged couple who lived a solitary live. Anna was a housewife and Otto was a furniture factory foreman. Their son and only child was sent off to fight. When the Quangels learn that their son, also named Otto, was killed, they decide to devise a campaign to protest the war, even though they know if they are caught, it will cost them their lives.
The Quangels lived in an apartment building, but they keep to themselves. Other residents of their building include an elderly Jewish woman, a judge who is sympathetic to the Jews, and a low-class Nazi family. The judge does what he can to protect the elderly Jewish woman, although she finds her confinement in his apartment too restrictive. The Nazi family continually enters her apartment to steal her meager belongings. The descriptions of the Quangels neighbors helps to set the scene of the Berlin environment during this period of the war.
Until the death of his son, Otto was non-political. He was not a member of the Nazi Party, which limited his job opportunities, however, he was satisfied being foreman at the factory. As the war deteriorated for the Germans, the factory switched from making furniture to coffins.
After his son’s death, Otto got the idea of writing postcards with containing anti-Nazi sentiments and leaving them around town. When Anna learns of his plan, she initially protests, but then decides to join him in his quiet protest. Each week, Otto and Anna begin dropping their postcards throughout the city. In their quiet way, Otto and Anna are fighting back. Their first card simply read: Mother! The Führer has murdered my son. Mother! The Führer will murder your sons too, he will not stop till he has brought sorrow to every home in the world!
Unknown to Otto and Anna, however, when the postcards are found, they are immediately reported to the Gestapo. Finders of the postcards realize that holding such inflammatory statements places them at risk.
Inspector Escherich is charged with finding the writer of the postcards. In his methodical way he traces where the postcards are located and develops a profile of the writer. Escherich knows that if he fails to find the postcard writer, his own life is in peril, as his boss is a violent Nazi officer who enjoys harming and humiliating.
The real-life Otto and Anna Quangle were Otto and his wife Elsie Hampel. After Elise’s brother was killed in the war, she and her husband began their own postcard campaign. They continued dropping their postcards for two years before they were caught and sentenced to death. Like Otto and Anna, the bulk of their cards were immediately turned over to the Gestapo.
The author, Hans Fallada is an interesting individual in his own right. He apparently wrote Every Man Dies Alone in 24 days after being given a copy of the Hampel’s Gestapo files. Hans Fallada was the pen name for Rudolf Ditzen, a psychologically damaged German writer. As a young man, Fallada and a friend had entered into a suicide pact, whereby each was to fight a duel. The friend was killed, but Fallada was merely injured. The case was quite sensational, hence, when he began to write, he was encouraged to write under a pseudonym.
Every Man Dies Alone is a great testimony to the righteous Germans who protested Hitler’s Germany. The English translation captures the mode of Berlin during this tragic period of German history.
Read: December 24, 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment