Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Melville House (2010), Edition: 1, 544 pages
Description
Fiction. Romance. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:This never-before-translated masterpiece�by a heroic best-selling writer who saw his life crumble when he wouldn't join the Nazi Party�is based on a true story. It presents a richly detailed portrait of life in Berlin under the Nazis and tells the sweeping saga of one working-class couple who decides to take a stand when their only son is killed at the front. With nothing but their grief and each other against the awesome power of the Reich, they launch a simple, clandestine resistance campaign that soon has an enraged Gestapo on their trail, and a world of terrified neighbors and cynical snitches ready to turn them in. In the end, it's more than an edge-of-your-seat thriller, more than a moving romance, even more than literature of the highest order�it's a deeply stirring story of two people standing up for what's right, and for each other.… (more)
Media reviews
Globe and mail
Every Man Dies Alone is a good book, a readable, suspense-driven novel from an author who a) knew what he was doing when it came to writing commercial fiction, and b) had lived through, and so knew intimately, the period he was writing about. This is an extraordinary combination. I hesitate to use
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a word like "serendipity," but cruelly enough, that's exactly what it was. Show Less
To read “Every Man Dies Alone,” Fallada’s testament to the darkest years of the 20th century, is to be accompanied by a wise, somber ghost who grips your shoulder and whispers into your ear: “This is how it was. This is what happened.”
User reviews
LibraryThing member cushlareads
Hans Fallada wrote Every Man Dies Alone in 1947, but it was translated into English only last year. The novel is based on a true story of a couple, Otto and Elise Hampel, who resisted the Nazi party. There's a really interesting afterword about Hans Fallada (Rudolf Ditzen) and the Hampels. Fallada
The book opens with Eva Kluge, the postie, delivering a letter to Otto and Anna Quangel, quiet, frugal working-class Berliners whose son Otto is away fighting in France. This is a book with tons of characters, all vividly showing different ways of surviving in Nazi Berlin. There's a retired judge on the ground floor of their apartment building, the Persicke family - a thoroughly nasty bunch, especially their son Baldur - on the 2nd, the Quangels on the 3rd, and Mrs Rosenthal, who's Jewish, on the 4th. The postie's scumbag husband plays a big part too. There are subplots and many more characters all over the place, but the main story is about the Quangels.
Otto is a foreman in a carpentry factory that, by the end of the book, is making coffins. He's very shy and not particularly political - he and Anna thought Hitler wasn't too bad in the 1930s - but a comment she makes to him after she reads the letter that's delivered in Chapter 1 makes him come up with a scheme to resist the Nazis. He decides to drop postcards around Berlin with anti-Hitler messages, and he quickly convinces Anna that this is worthwhile. They imagine that their postcards will cause others to resist the regime. This isn't what happens at all.
The book is extremely tense from the first page, and very easy to read. Occasionally, for a couple of sentences, I'd forget that the police are evil here, then I'd remember that this wasn't a normal crime novel. It's fascinating watching them try to figure out who's dropping the postcards - then it's just horrible knowing that they are getting closer. It really makes you wonder what you would have done if you'd been alive when Hitler was in power, because a normal life with moral integrity came at such huge risk - keeping out of trouble without supporting the regime was enough to put you in danger. Highly recommended if you want to read a book about survival in Germany in WW2, and the best fiction I've read this year.
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was an alcoholic and a drug addict who ended up in an insane asylum near the end of WW2 after threatening his wife with a gun (and drinking 12 bottles of wine in 3 days). His own behaviour during the Nazi Party's time in power was a mix of collaboration and resistance.The book opens with Eva Kluge, the postie, delivering a letter to Otto and Anna Quangel, quiet, frugal working-class Berliners whose son Otto is away fighting in France. This is a book with tons of characters, all vividly showing different ways of surviving in Nazi Berlin. There's a retired judge on the ground floor of their apartment building, the Persicke family - a thoroughly nasty bunch, especially their son Baldur - on the 2nd, the Quangels on the 3rd, and Mrs Rosenthal, who's Jewish, on the 4th. The postie's scumbag husband plays a big part too. There are subplots and many more characters all over the place, but the main story is about the Quangels.
Otto is a foreman in a carpentry factory that, by the end of the book, is making coffins. He's very shy and not particularly political - he and Anna thought Hitler wasn't too bad in the 1930s - but a comment she makes to him after she reads the letter that's delivered in Chapter 1 makes him come up with a scheme to resist the Nazis. He decides to drop postcards around Berlin with anti-Hitler messages, and he quickly convinces Anna that this is worthwhile. They imagine that their postcards will cause others to resist the regime. This isn't what happens at all.
The book is extremely tense from the first page, and very easy to read. Occasionally, for a couple of sentences, I'd forget that the police are evil here, then I'd remember that this wasn't a normal crime novel. It's fascinating watching them try to figure out who's dropping the postcards - then it's just horrible knowing that they are getting closer. It really makes you wonder what you would have done if you'd been alive when Hitler was in power, because a normal life with moral integrity came at such huge risk - keeping out of trouble without supporting the regime was enough to put you in danger. Highly recommended if you want to read a book about survival in Germany in WW2, and the best fiction I've read this year.
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LibraryThing member brenzi
It’s 1940 and Otto Quangel’s life revolves around his job as foreman at a Berlin furniture factory and his wife, Anna, whom he loves unequivocally. He’s a quiet, undemonstrative man, preferring his private ruminations to mindless chatter with those around him. Yet when they receive word that
Based on the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel, the tale that Fallada tells is the compelling story of that plan: its inception, its execution and its final outcome. The book gets to the heart of the struggle that the average German faced every day, from food shortages and ration cards, to terror of suspicion by the mighty Gestapo, no one was safe. He paints a chilling portrait of wartime Berlin as the Quangels carry out their plan. That the book is a riveting page turner goes without saying. But this reader found herself admiring the quiet courage showed by those German people who attempted to save their fellow citizens and the country they loved from the crazed military that had taken over their lives. Can a single citizen bring about change even as all citizens are living in mortal fear?
Fallada, who refused to leave Germany at this time, demonstrates a fluid storytelling ability with a bleak irony. Certainly as in other wartime situations, your situation is improved if you know the right people, have an in. Consider this as the author describes how
“Baldur Persicke, the most successful scion of the Persicke clan, had pulled all the strings he could....and in the end he had succeeded in having the whole rotten business discreetly set aside....so the Persicke honor remained unstained. While the Hergesells were being threatened with violence and capital punishment for a crime they hadn’t committed, Party member Persicke was forgiven for one he had.”
The way in which Fallada is able to demonstrate the horror and brutality of the time with vignette’s about the lives of stunningly vivid characters makes you think you are on the streets of Berlin with them. And yet, it’s the love of a man and woman for each other and their country that makes this story so memorable. This harrowing saga should be at the top of your list of WWII literary accounts of life in Nazi Germany. Very highly recommended.
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their son has been killed at the front and Anna, in her initial stage of grief, refers to “you and your Fuhrer,” Otto knows he must do something to show her how wrong she is. He is not even a Party member, which she knows; what can he do to assure her and the world of his hate for the Nazi Party that is turning the lives of all Germans into a private hell? He devises a plan and Anna enthusiastically joins him in it, even after he warns her that if they are caught they will probably be charged with treason and executed. Based on the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel, the tale that Fallada tells is the compelling story of that plan: its inception, its execution and its final outcome. The book gets to the heart of the struggle that the average German faced every day, from food shortages and ration cards, to terror of suspicion by the mighty Gestapo, no one was safe. He paints a chilling portrait of wartime Berlin as the Quangels carry out their plan. That the book is a riveting page turner goes without saying. But this reader found herself admiring the quiet courage showed by those German people who attempted to save their fellow citizens and the country they loved from the crazed military that had taken over their lives. Can a single citizen bring about change even as all citizens are living in mortal fear?
Fallada, who refused to leave Germany at this time, demonstrates a fluid storytelling ability with a bleak irony. Certainly as in other wartime situations, your situation is improved if you know the right people, have an in. Consider this as the author describes how
“Baldur Persicke, the most successful scion of the Persicke clan, had pulled all the strings he could....and in the end he had succeeded in having the whole rotten business discreetly set aside....so the Persicke honor remained unstained. While the Hergesells were being threatened with violence and capital punishment for a crime they hadn’t committed, Party member Persicke was forgiven for one he had.”
The way in which Fallada is able to demonstrate the horror and brutality of the time with vignette’s about the lives of stunningly vivid characters makes you think you are on the streets of Berlin with them. And yet, it’s the love of a man and woman for each other and their country that makes this story so memorable. This harrowing saga should be at the top of your list of WWII literary accounts of life in Nazi Germany. Very highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Cariola
Written in 1947, this novel is based on the true story of a working class couple who left anonymous post cards in and around Berlin during the Nazi regime. The subversive cards encouraged people to sabotage the Nazi war effort by slowing down work in any way possible. The real-life couple, as well
I found [Every Man Dies Alone] difficult to read because of its relentless tension and the relentless cruelty and manipulations of the Nazis and their sympathizers. I'm sure that is exactly the effect that the author had hoped for, but: 1) I felt that I had suffered through similar books before, so there were few surprises; and 2) I just kept wishing that it would be over, since the unhappy ending was inevitable. These comments aren't meant to be disparaging; they just express the emotional impact that the book had on me personally. Would I recommend it? Yes, with the caution that it is far from a light summer read. If you appreciated (I can't say enjoyed) books like Night or Schindler's List, you might want to put Every Man Dies Alone on your wish list--but don't expect heroism, suffering, and endurance to be rewarded here, nor the evil to be punished.
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as the novel's main characters, Otto and Anna Krungl, were eventually captured and executed. There are also several subplots involving neighbors and relatives of the Krungls, including an elderly Jewish woman whose husband was taken away by the Nazis, an SS officer, a young thug making his way up the ranks of the Hitler youth, a female postal worker and her long-philandering husband, and others. Like most stories about Nazi Germany, this is the story of common people struggling just to survive and, sometimes, taking extraordinary risks along the way.I found [Every Man Dies Alone] difficult to read because of its relentless tension and the relentless cruelty and manipulations of the Nazis and their sympathizers. I'm sure that is exactly the effect that the author had hoped for, but: 1) I felt that I had suffered through similar books before, so there were few surprises; and 2) I just kept wishing that it would be over, since the unhappy ending was inevitable. These comments aren't meant to be disparaging; they just express the emotional impact that the book had on me personally. Would I recommend it? Yes, with the caution that it is far from a light summer read. If you appreciated (I can't say enjoyed) books like Night or Schindler's List, you might want to put Every Man Dies Alone on your wish list--but don't expect heroism, suffering, and endurance to be rewarded here, nor the evil to be punished.
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LibraryThing member VisibleGhost
There are plenty of reviews that cover the plot and story fictionalized in Every Man Dies Alone so I'm going to comment on the writing/translation style. Fallada wrote the book at a feverish pace: it was written in twenty four days or so. He had completed a non-fiction piece on the case so he was
The two principal characters are doomed and powerless against the powerful Nazi machine. It could have been bleak as hell but somehow it is and isn't. At times it has a noirish feel. At times it has some wicked black humor. Then there are some tragicomic moments. From there, the inane bureaucracy of the times is explored. Inept secondary characters with weird sad stories of their own are beautifully drawn. There is introspection and musing on hopeless situations. All these styles mesh into a book that is a powerful example of what literature can be.
Fallada stretches out several threads of plot and then condenses them with near brutal precision. The chapter, The Fateful Monday, is a good example of this. Some of the minor characters go from near success to great failure in quick time. Many do not see the doom approaching them including some of the Nazis. Fallada doesn't get polemical and keeps his writing voice on a even keel. Thus, he shows how life can be under a regime when one side has all the power and individuals try to survive a day at a time.
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familiar with the main characters and fairly unimpressed with their resistance efforts. I get the impression that the translator of the book into English from German, Michael Hofmann, was a deliberate, conscientious translator with a flair for capturing the mood of Fallada. The combination of frenzied writing and careful translation may have enhanced the original book.The two principal characters are doomed and powerless against the powerful Nazi machine. It could have been bleak as hell but somehow it is and isn't. At times it has a noirish feel. At times it has some wicked black humor. Then there are some tragicomic moments. From there, the inane bureaucracy of the times is explored. Inept secondary characters with weird sad stories of their own are beautifully drawn. There is introspection and musing on hopeless situations. All these styles mesh into a book that is a powerful example of what literature can be.
Fallada stretches out several threads of plot and then condenses them with near brutal precision. The chapter, The Fateful Monday, is a good example of this. Some of the minor characters go from near success to great failure in quick time. Many do not see the doom approaching them including some of the Nazis. Fallada doesn't get polemical and keeps his writing voice on a even keel. Thus, he shows how life can be under a regime when one side has all the power and individuals try to survive a day at a time.
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LibraryThing member Stbalbach
Every Man Dies Alone (1947) is a gripping crime thriller set in Berlin, it is based on the true case of a married couple who committed acts of civil disobedience/resistance against the Nazis during WWII. The German author Hans Fallada (1893-1947) was held in an insane asylum during the war, and the
The characters are fascinating because Fallada drew on his own direct experiences so we get more than 50 portraits, good and evil. It's authentic because Fallada lived through it. The bad guys are mostly criminal brutes, hardly the super-men embodiments of evil so often betrayed, just thugs corrupted by greed, drugs, sex and power. The depiction of working class life on the home front is illuminating. The literary qualities are excellent if not at times a bit old fashioned. Yet, given the time and place it was created, by a German for Germans right after the war, it's remarkably insightful and damning. Probably one reason Primo Levi once said of it "the greatest book about German resistance to the Nazis." Indeed it seems amazing Fallada wasn't killed by the Nazi's and was able to hide his true sentiments for so long. He died before seeing it in print though, completing it in a blistering 25 days. As Hans Fallada says in the novel, "Everyone facing death, especially premature death, will be kicking themselves for each wasted hour."
Every Man Dies Alone is considered the first anti-Nazi novel after the war. On the French side, the first was The Forests of the Night (also published in 1947) by Jean-Louis Curtis. It contains acid portraits of French citizens in a small town who were apathetic about the Germans, played around at resisting, or even welcomed the occupiers. It's a similar novel from the same time period and won the Prix Goncourt - it has been out of print (in English) since 1951, an actual "lost" novel.
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novel can be seen as an indictment of German society as being insane. Those who do the right thing are insane or criminal, while the criminally insane run the state. In fascist Germany, the state (Fuhrer) thinks for everyone, the individual is secondary. This creates a situation where everyone is looking out for themselves, because everyone is guilty of some transgression and doesn't want to be revealed. Alienation and isolation divide society, "we all acted alone, we were caught alone, and every one of us will have to die alone." - but in the end Fallada offers a way out of the trap: "We live not for ourselves, but for others. What we make of ourselves we make not for ourselves, but for others..."The characters are fascinating because Fallada drew on his own direct experiences so we get more than 50 portraits, good and evil. It's authentic because Fallada lived through it. The bad guys are mostly criminal brutes, hardly the super-men embodiments of evil so often betrayed, just thugs corrupted by greed, drugs, sex and power. The depiction of working class life on the home front is illuminating. The literary qualities are excellent if not at times a bit old fashioned. Yet, given the time and place it was created, by a German for Germans right after the war, it's remarkably insightful and damning. Probably one reason Primo Levi once said of it "the greatest book about German resistance to the Nazis." Indeed it seems amazing Fallada wasn't killed by the Nazi's and was able to hide his true sentiments for so long. He died before seeing it in print though, completing it in a blistering 25 days. As Hans Fallada says in the novel, "Everyone facing death, especially premature death, will be kicking themselves for each wasted hour."
Every Man Dies Alone is considered the first anti-Nazi novel after the war. On the French side, the first was The Forests of the Night (also published in 1947) by Jean-Louis Curtis. It contains acid portraits of French citizens in a small town who were apathetic about the Germans, played around at resisting, or even welcomed the occupiers. It's a similar novel from the same time period and won the Prix Goncourt - it has been out of print (in English) since 1951, an actual "lost" novel.
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LibraryThing member SqueakyChu
I have had possession of this book for a long time, but it took a while for me to start reading it. I picked up this book to actually read in the first place because my copy had this quote on the front cover: "The greatest book ever written about German resistance to the Nazis." (Primo Levi) Being
I find books about the Holocaust hard but necessary to read and tend to space them out so as not to read them too close together. I usually do not like reading fiction about the Holocaust because the truth about that event is terrible enough that I see little use for creating fiction about it. And yet. This book is a notable example of Holocaust fiction that works well because it is by a noted German author who lived in Germany his whole life - even through the darkest hours of WWII. It is also based on a true story. In this time for me of political turbulence and fear in my own country of the United States, I desperately needed to read a book about resistance to evil forces. I needed to know that moral forces can be present in the seeming abyss of the darkest hours.
This is not to say that this was as easy read. To the contrary. The plot was complicated, the book was lengthy, and there were many characters about whom I had to take notes. In addition, I wrote down a short summary of each chapter, no more than a sentence or two in length, so that I could keep track of everything that happened. This proved helpful to me. Fortunately, each chapter was short so I could do this easily.
It took me a long time to read this book. I mostly needed to stop reading after each short chapter or two to contemplate what just happened. I don't usually read books in this manner, but Holocaust reading pushes heavily on my heart for personal reasons.
I would suggest to anyone who wants to read this book to read the biography of the author first. That will give you a better perspective on why he chose to write this book.
At the end of the book, there are pictures of the couple upon whom this book was based as well as pictures of the postcards they distributed and their signed confessions.
Since my dad was a refugee from Nazi Germany in 1938, escaping penniless and fleeing for his life, my eternal gratitude goes to anyone who helped Nazi victims in any way. Resistance was not easy. The true heroes of this book are both the couple on whom this novel was based and the author himself, all of who stood for morality in a time of pervasive evil.
This is a book well worth the time and effort I put into reading it. I recommend it highly to those who are interested in learning more about Germany resistance to the Nazis during wartime.
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personally depressed about the results of the 2016 United States presidential election and seeing the American government trying to diminish democracy, I wanted to see what was done in the past in similar situations and was initially attracted to that word "resistance".I find books about the Holocaust hard but necessary to read and tend to space them out so as not to read them too close together. I usually do not like reading fiction about the Holocaust because the truth about that event is terrible enough that I see little use for creating fiction about it. And yet. This book is a notable example of Holocaust fiction that works well because it is by a noted German author who lived in Germany his whole life - even through the darkest hours of WWII. It is also based on a true story. In this time for me of political turbulence and fear in my own country of the United States, I desperately needed to read a book about resistance to evil forces. I needed to know that moral forces can be present in the seeming abyss of the darkest hours.
This is not to say that this was as easy read. To the contrary. The plot was complicated, the book was lengthy, and there were many characters about whom I had to take notes. In addition, I wrote down a short summary of each chapter, no more than a sentence or two in length, so that I could keep track of everything that happened. This proved helpful to me. Fortunately, each chapter was short so I could do this easily.
It took me a long time to read this book. I mostly needed to stop reading after each short chapter or two to contemplate what just happened. I don't usually read books in this manner, but Holocaust reading pushes heavily on my heart for personal reasons.
I would suggest to anyone who wants to read this book to read the biography of the author first. That will give you a better perspective on why he chose to write this book.
At the end of the book, there are pictures of the couple upon whom this book was based as well as pictures of the postcards they distributed and their signed confessions.
Since my dad was a refugee from Nazi Germany in 1938, escaping penniless and fleeing for his life, my eternal gratitude goes to anyone who helped Nazi victims in any way. Resistance was not easy. The true heroes of this book are both the couple on whom this novel was based and the author himself, all of who stood for morality in a time of pervasive evil.
This is a book well worth the time and effort I put into reading it. I recommend it highly to those who are interested in learning more about Germany resistance to the Nazis during wartime.
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LibraryThing member John
I liked Little Man, What Now?, but this much more so: Every Man Dies Alone is more complex, more directly political. It is a searing look into the heart of Nazi society; not just the pervasive corruption but more importantly the complete abnegation of individual and social morality, responsibility
Otto hits upon the idea of writing postcards denouncing Hitler and the Nazi regime; cards that they leave on windowsills in stairways in busy office buildings. They manage a couple of hundred plus a dozen letters before they are apprehended by the Gestapo because of bad luck, because of a slip that might have been prevented, but wasn’t. The effect of the postcard campaign is not even a pinprick, and yet the Gestapo unleash untold resources to track down the culprits and to bring them to “trial” before condemning them to death; the process is a farce (like the show trials in the USSR), but the regime needs the façade of order and process as it makes an example of those who would oppose it in even the smallest instance
Asked why he wrote and delivered the postcards, given that they had negligible or no effects, Otto replies that he did it, “Because I didn’t have any better ideas. Because I thought they would accomplish something.” And asked whether he regrets it, given that he will pay with his life, Otto says, “At least I stayed decent. I didn’t participate”. But there is a conundrum here: Otto, and Anna, undertake the campaign completely on their own and are careful not to involve any others, but the horror of the system becomes apparent when perfectly innocent people are sucked into the maelstrom and lose their lives or their sanity simply because they were in some way linked to the Quangels, because the system fed on paranoia in the extreme, and because skilled interrogators can twist anything into a culpable offence when even a negative thought is an offence, or worse, not a sufficiently enthusiastic thought or action. The world is turned upside down when, as Otto remarks, “…the man behind bars is the decent one, and you on the outside are a scoundrel…the criminal is free and the decent man is sentenced to death”.
Other characters in the novel represent cross sections of society with its true believers, the converted, the venal, the corrupt, the enablers; it is a society riven by paranoia among family members and even old, life-long friends; a society underpinned by extreme, unpredictable violence that is unchecked by any social institutions or moral restraints. It is hell. And only here and there are there lights of those who strive to remain “decent” and not to be compromised by the system, an almost impossible task in daily life and one that requires, even at that level, enormous courage.
This is a fine novel. The psychologies of the people and of the regime ring true. Small wonder that Fallada had to write the book in secret during the war. Its appearance in any form would have led him straight to death. The jacket blurb quotes Primo Levi as saying that it is, “The greatest book ever written about the German resistance to the Nazis”, and any endorsement by Primo Levi is good enough for me.
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and empathy, and the total perversion of the rule of law: as the author notes, “This Third Reich kept springing new surprises on its antagonists; it was vile beyond all vileness”. Otto Quangel is a professional carpenter, foreman in a furniture manufacturing factory that has turned from fine furniture to cheap coffins by the thousands; he is a taciturn, reserved, unapproachable person completely secure and satisfied in himself, not given to displaying emotion even with his wife of twenty-seven years. Anna, his wife, has found her place with Otto. They lead uneventful, unremarkable, uncomplaining lives. They are not Nazi supporters, but nor are they overly concerned with the disintegration of society under Nazi influences because they lead their own, quiet, unobtrusive lives. But the death of their only son in the invasion of France becomes a catalyst that opens their eyes to the murderous, rapacious nature of the Nazi regime that devours its young for the advantage of Party members and its elites. Otto hits upon the idea of writing postcards denouncing Hitler and the Nazi regime; cards that they leave on windowsills in stairways in busy office buildings. They manage a couple of hundred plus a dozen letters before they are apprehended by the Gestapo because of bad luck, because of a slip that might have been prevented, but wasn’t. The effect of the postcard campaign is not even a pinprick, and yet the Gestapo unleash untold resources to track down the culprits and to bring them to “trial” before condemning them to death; the process is a farce (like the show trials in the USSR), but the regime needs the façade of order and process as it makes an example of those who would oppose it in even the smallest instance
Asked why he wrote and delivered the postcards, given that they had negligible or no effects, Otto replies that he did it, “Because I didn’t have any better ideas. Because I thought they would accomplish something.” And asked whether he regrets it, given that he will pay with his life, Otto says, “At least I stayed decent. I didn’t participate”. But there is a conundrum here: Otto, and Anna, undertake the campaign completely on their own and are careful not to involve any others, but the horror of the system becomes apparent when perfectly innocent people are sucked into the maelstrom and lose their lives or their sanity simply because they were in some way linked to the Quangels, because the system fed on paranoia in the extreme, and because skilled interrogators can twist anything into a culpable offence when even a negative thought is an offence, or worse, not a sufficiently enthusiastic thought or action. The world is turned upside down when, as Otto remarks, “…the man behind bars is the decent one, and you on the outside are a scoundrel…the criminal is free and the decent man is sentenced to death”.
Other characters in the novel represent cross sections of society with its true believers, the converted, the venal, the corrupt, the enablers; it is a society riven by paranoia among family members and even old, life-long friends; a society underpinned by extreme, unpredictable violence that is unchecked by any social institutions or moral restraints. It is hell. And only here and there are there lights of those who strive to remain “decent” and not to be compromised by the system, an almost impossible task in daily life and one that requires, even at that level, enormous courage.
This is a fine novel. The psychologies of the people and of the regime ring true. Small wonder that Fallada had to write the book in secret during the war. Its appearance in any form would have led him straight to death. The jacket blurb quotes Primo Levi as saying that it is, “The greatest book ever written about the German resistance to the Nazis”, and any endorsement by Primo Levi is good enough for me.
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LibraryThing member CBJames
Hannah Arendt coined the term "the banality of evil" in her book Eichmann in Jerusalem about the trial of Adolf Eichmann, the architect of Nazi Germany's final solution. Arendt found Eichmann a very small man, engaged in what was basically accounting. He did not have a grand vision for the world,
Every Man Dies Alone features an ensemble cast, most of whom live in the same building in wartime Berlin. At the center of the ensemble are the Quangels, a quiet, unassuming couple who have lived an unremarkable life. Otto Quangel is a carpenter, foreman at the furniture factory where he works while Anna runs the household. Neither is political, neither has resisted the Nazi movement, until they receive a letter from the army informing them that their only child has been killed.
Soon Otto comes up with a plan. Every Sunday, for the next two years, the Quangels write out one, sometimes two, postcards with messages against the Nazis. Each card carries only one or two lines of script, all printed capital letters to avoid leaving a handwriting sample. Otto takes the cards to buildings around Berlin and leaves them where someone will find them, hoping that the messages on the cards will spread and more people will begin to resist the Nazis.
"The banality of good."
Writing a postcard against the Nazis is an offense punishable by death. The local police and the Gestapo are immediately on the case, right from the very first postcard.
Two things struck me about Hans Fallada's portrayal of wartime Berlin. The first was how petty it all was. The pro-Nazi family living below the Quangels is obsessed with the Jewish woman who lives on the top floor. They are determined to drive her from their building, not because they believe in anti-Semitism, though they certainly do, but because they are convinced she has quality bed linens and a radio, which they can steal from her apartment as soon as she is gone. The Nazis are little more than petty thugs, obsessed with their own position and their own personal wealth. They assign one police detective to do nothing but find out who is writing the postcards, as though they have the power to destroy everything.
The second thing that struck me was how omnipresent the Nazis were; everyone was spying on everyone. Anyone you met could be the person who would turn you in for making a stray anti-government remark or for not being enthusiastic enough in your praise of the war effort or your donations to the Winter Relief Fund. As a result, the longer the Quangels get away with writing their postcards, the more isolated from the neighbors, friends and family they become. Everyone in the novel, everyone in Germany, lives in fear that someone will report them to the Gestapo. An act as simple, and as harmless as writing a postcard becomes a dangerous risk, punishable by death. That it makes for such suspenseful reading is a testament to its author.
The history of Every Man Dies Alone is as interesting as the story it tells. Already a successful novelist, Hans Fallada did not flee Germany when the Nazis came to power. Believing his work was not political, and would not attract attention from the Nazis, he stayed in Germany. But his novel The World Outside was attacked for its sympathetic portrayal of convicts. Fallada spent the war supporting himself with light contemporary novels, short stories, children's stories, fictionalized autobiographies, anything he could find that avoided politics altogether. When forced to, he added a pro-Nazi ending to a film script he was commissioned to write for actor Emil Jennings. He ended the war in an asylum, a result of too much drink. After the war, Fallada was encouraged to write a novel about Otto and Elise Hampel by German author Johannes R. Becher who gave Fallada the Hempel's Gestapo file. Fallada based Every Man Dies Alone on the Hampel's story, and wrote the entire novel in two months time. He died before before it could be published.
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he was just doing a job, an everyday civil servant engaged in carrying out his orders, unconcerned with how immoral those orders were. "The banality of evil." In Every Man Dies Alone, Hans Fallada tells the stories of Eichmann's counterparts, a group of ordinary, working class people with no power, no grand vision, just a desire to do what is right in the face of overwhelming odds. "The banality of good."Every Man Dies Alone features an ensemble cast, most of whom live in the same building in wartime Berlin. At the center of the ensemble are the Quangels, a quiet, unassuming couple who have lived an unremarkable life. Otto Quangel is a carpenter, foreman at the furniture factory where he works while Anna runs the household. Neither is political, neither has resisted the Nazi movement, until they receive a letter from the army informing them that their only child has been killed.
Soon Otto comes up with a plan. Every Sunday, for the next two years, the Quangels write out one, sometimes two, postcards with messages against the Nazis. Each card carries only one or two lines of script, all printed capital letters to avoid leaving a handwriting sample. Otto takes the cards to buildings around Berlin and leaves them where someone will find them, hoping that the messages on the cards will spread and more people will begin to resist the Nazis.
"The banality of good."
Writing a postcard against the Nazis is an offense punishable by death. The local police and the Gestapo are immediately on the case, right from the very first postcard.
Two things struck me about Hans Fallada's portrayal of wartime Berlin. The first was how petty it all was. The pro-Nazi family living below the Quangels is obsessed with the Jewish woman who lives on the top floor. They are determined to drive her from their building, not because they believe in anti-Semitism, though they certainly do, but because they are convinced she has quality bed linens and a radio, which they can steal from her apartment as soon as she is gone. The Nazis are little more than petty thugs, obsessed with their own position and their own personal wealth. They assign one police detective to do nothing but find out who is writing the postcards, as though they have the power to destroy everything.
The second thing that struck me was how omnipresent the Nazis were; everyone was spying on everyone. Anyone you met could be the person who would turn you in for making a stray anti-government remark or for not being enthusiastic enough in your praise of the war effort or your donations to the Winter Relief Fund. As a result, the longer the Quangels get away with writing their postcards, the more isolated from the neighbors, friends and family they become. Everyone in the novel, everyone in Germany, lives in fear that someone will report them to the Gestapo. An act as simple, and as harmless as writing a postcard becomes a dangerous risk, punishable by death. That it makes for such suspenseful reading is a testament to its author.
The history of Every Man Dies Alone is as interesting as the story it tells. Already a successful novelist, Hans Fallada did not flee Germany when the Nazis came to power. Believing his work was not political, and would not attract attention from the Nazis, he stayed in Germany. But his novel The World Outside was attacked for its sympathetic portrayal of convicts. Fallada spent the war supporting himself with light contemporary novels, short stories, children's stories, fictionalized autobiographies, anything he could find that avoided politics altogether. When forced to, he added a pro-Nazi ending to a film script he was commissioned to write for actor Emil Jennings. He ended the war in an asylum, a result of too much drink. After the war, Fallada was encouraged to write a novel about Otto and Elise Hampel by German author Johannes R. Becher who gave Fallada the Hempel's Gestapo file. Fallada based Every Man Dies Alone on the Hampel's story, and wrote the entire novel in two months time. He died before before it could be published.
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LibraryThing member laVermeer
Every Man Dies Alone is disturbing, engrossing, and powerful. Based on the real experiences of a married couple's resistance to the Nazis, it is an insightful story of love, standing up for one's beliefs, and the atrocities committed by power that is fed by fear.
Enno and Anna Quangel are
The novel evokes consistent tension in the reader; it also speaks with immediacy and an almost ultra-real level of detail. The action is relentless, unflinching. Readers may find the novel reminiscent of Marge Piercy's Gone to Soldiers (1987) in its entwining of various plots and of Ursula Hegi's Stones from the River (1994) in its look at the daily lives of Germans under Nazism, but it is stylistically distinct. The author uses some interesting technique in tense shifting to bring the reader into the moment of the action, and the diction is exquisitely managed to enrich character, setting, and situation (kudos to the translator!).
This is a long novel — some 500 pages — but it moves extremely quickly and kept me consistently wanting to know what would happen next. The footnotes and afterword are nice touches. I was not familiar with some of the more obscure elements of Germany society under the Nazis, and greatly appreciated learning more about the author, Hans Fallada, whose work is new to me. This is a masterful novel, and learning that Fallada wrote it a matter of weeks makes it even more impressive.
Anyone interested in the Second World War, social justice, or the psychology of fear should enjoy this novel, as should anyone who simply wants a compelling read. It is extremely well written and will leave a reader with much on which to reflect.
Enno and Anna Quangel are
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middle-aged, working-class Berliners whose son is killed in France. Together they launch a private war against the Führer, dropping anonymous postcards around Berlin in an attempt to expose the Nazis as insane bullies and destructive liars. As their campaign advances, their lives entwine with dozens of other Berliners' in unimaginable ways, some compassionate, some desperate, some despicable. Their commitment to resistance is tested again and again, but Anna and Otto demonstrate how vital to human being are integrity, honour, kindness, and courage.The novel evokes consistent tension in the reader; it also speaks with immediacy and an almost ultra-real level of detail. The action is relentless, unflinching. Readers may find the novel reminiscent of Marge Piercy's Gone to Soldiers (1987) in its entwining of various plots and of Ursula Hegi's Stones from the River (1994) in its look at the daily lives of Germans under Nazism, but it is stylistically distinct. The author uses some interesting technique in tense shifting to bring the reader into the moment of the action, and the diction is exquisitely managed to enrich character, setting, and situation (kudos to the translator!).
This is a long novel — some 500 pages — but it moves extremely quickly and kept me consistently wanting to know what would happen next. The footnotes and afterword are nice touches. I was not familiar with some of the more obscure elements of Germany society under the Nazis, and greatly appreciated learning more about the author, Hans Fallada, whose work is new to me. This is a masterful novel, and learning that Fallada wrote it a matter of weeks makes it even more impressive.
Anyone interested in the Second World War, social justice, or the psychology of fear should enjoy this novel, as should anyone who simply wants a compelling read. It is extremely well written and will leave a reader with much on which to reflect.
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LibraryThing member TedCC
Hans Fallada's formerly lost novel Every Man Dies Alone deserves to become a classic. It has the kind of sweep that one associates with the great nineteenth century novels of the Russians. It makes me think of Dostoyevskii's The Possessed, in its intensity and concern with politics. It also reminds
The portraits of the characters are uncanny in their psychological insightfulness. I wanted to learn more about the young boy whose rescue serves as a coda to the entire work. There is a lot of brutality, but also tenderness.
This may be called a thriller, but I prefer to use the term psychological study. The transformation of an apolitical working class factory manager into a dedicated opponent of the fascist regime is fascinating to watch, and quite believable. So is the change of the SS investigator from someone who just does his job, to a person who finally acts to stand up for what is right, regardless of the cost to himself.
I wonder what it would be like if novels like this were being written today on current topics? It's too bad that writing in this manner has fallen out of fashion.
Let's hope this gets made into a movie that will attact attention to Hans Fallada (pen name). The story of his life at the end of this volume is itself like some sort of novel. He is no hero, just a writer who struggled and succeeded in creating unforgettable characters, who resonate with this reader and, I hope, with many others.
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us that even today there are many states (fill in the blank) that have situations analogous to what went on in Nazi Germany.The portraits of the characters are uncanny in their psychological insightfulness. I wanted to learn more about the young boy whose rescue serves as a coda to the entire work. There is a lot of brutality, but also tenderness.
This may be called a thriller, but I prefer to use the term psychological study. The transformation of an apolitical working class factory manager into a dedicated opponent of the fascist regime is fascinating to watch, and quite believable. So is the change of the SS investigator from someone who just does his job, to a person who finally acts to stand up for what is right, regardless of the cost to himself.
I wonder what it would be like if novels like this were being written today on current topics? It's too bad that writing in this manner has fallen out of fashion.
Let's hope this gets made into a movie that will attact attention to Hans Fallada (pen name). The story of his life at the end of this volume is itself like some sort of novel. He is no hero, just a writer who struggled and succeeded in creating unforgettable characters, who resonate with this reader and, I hope, with many others.
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LibraryThing member meggyweg
This has got to be the best book I've read in months, at least. Certainly the best novel. I had been waiting for it for months (the library had only one copy and others were ahead of me), and it was worth it. I sat down and read the whole book in a single day.
The premise is excellent -- a perfectly
The afterword tells of Fallada's life (basically one disaster after another) and of the real-life couple who inspired the book. It was a useful addition, but the story can stand on its own.
All I can say is: WOW. I will definitely recommend this book to all my friends.
The premise is excellent -- a perfectly
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ordinary, working-class German couple carries on their own private campaign of resistance by dropping postcards with anti-Nazi messages. I knew this was going to be a great story. But even more impressive was the author's characterization. He has the ability to make the most minor characters seem real, and altogether human -- there are no heroes in this book, not even among the resisters. And the book has many characters and many storylines all going on at once, but Fallada never once seems to lose track of anything and all the plot threads are woven seamlessly together.The afterword tells of Fallada's life (basically one disaster after another) and of the real-life couple who inspired the book. It was a useful addition, but the story can stand on its own.
All I can say is: WOW. I will definitely recommend this book to all my friends.
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LibraryThing member parrishlantern
Alone in Berlin, takes place during the 2nd world war, with Germany firmly under the Nazi jackboot. Because of the constant fear of arrest by the Gestapo, with the threat of imprisonment, torture and death Berlin was a miasma of paranoia, fear and suspicion. In a world where a family member,
Otto and Anna Quangel, are a working class couple, who were not interest in politics, and although they weren't members of the National Socialist German Worker's Party, they had tacitly supported Hitler, even voted for him.
This was all to change - when one day a letter arrived, telling them their son had died a "hero's death for Führer and Fatherland". This shocks them out of their apathy and they start a campaign that explicitly questions Hitler and his regime, writing on postcards messages such as:
"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."
These cards were then left in the stairwells of apartment blocks, in locations all over Berlin, or dropped into post boxes. It wasn't long before they caught the attention of the Gestapo. This takes takes the form of inspector Escherich, who is mapping the position of every card with the aim of pinning down the "criminals". This being Nazi Germany, Escherich himself is constantly under pressure to get results or face the direst consequences: harried & abused by Obergruppenführer Prall, the inspector will try any trick - dirty or otherwise to catch the postcard writers.
Although the postcards aren't really successful, because the population is so terrified that they hand them straight to the Gestapo, or destroy them, the cards offend the authorities and the case becomes serious and failure to solve it is not an option and it's just a matter of time before the Quangels become guests of the hellhole that is the Gestapo prison system and then it becomes a question of not will they survive, but how they die.
Alone in Berlin was originally called Every Man Dies Alone and was based on the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel a working class couple from Berlin, who came up with the idea of leaving postcards around their city denouncing Hitler and his regime. They got away with it for about two years, but were eventually discovered, denounced, arrested, tried and executed - beheaded in Berlin's Plötzensee Prison in April 1943. Hans Fallada was given the Hampel's Gestapo files by Johannes Becher, a writer friend of Fallada's, who was president of the cultural organization established by the Soviet military administration in the Soviet sector, with the aim of creating a new anti-fascist culture.
Sometimes you pick up a book that so engrosses you, that despite it's subject matter you cannot leave it alone. You know that there will be no traditional happy ending for Otto and Anna Quangel, that respect for humanity is not high on the Gestapo's list of priorities, that it is when and not if they are caught and then that they will face every form of torture from humiliation to being treated like a rag doll in the mouth of a rabid dog. None of this matters, or more accurately despite all of it, this book is beautiful, a quiet book of common decency, that reaches beyond the subject matter to reach a grandeur that, although of a tragic nature, still lights up bright enough to shine through the deepest of hellholes and to depict in letters large enough to be seen from the stars stating that despite all evidence to the contrary the human spirit and decency is never ever totally destroyed.
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neighbour or complete stranger can denounce you for a crime imagined or otherwise and even if you're not condemned to death, you'll find yourself classified an enemy of the state, ostracized and unable to find employment.Otto and Anna Quangel, are a working class couple, who were not interest in politics, and although they weren't members of the National Socialist German Worker's Party, they had tacitly supported Hitler, even voted for him.
This was all to change - when one day a letter arrived, telling them their son had died a "hero's death for Führer and Fatherland". This shocks them out of their apathy and they start a campaign that explicitly questions Hitler and his regime, writing on postcards messages such as:
"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."
These cards were then left in the stairwells of apartment blocks, in locations all over Berlin, or dropped into post boxes. It wasn't long before they caught the attention of the Gestapo. This takes takes the form of inspector Escherich, who is mapping the position of every card with the aim of pinning down the "criminals". This being Nazi Germany, Escherich himself is constantly under pressure to get results or face the direst consequences: harried & abused by Obergruppenführer Prall, the inspector will try any trick - dirty or otherwise to catch the postcard writers.
Although the postcards aren't really successful, because the population is so terrified that they hand them straight to the Gestapo, or destroy them, the cards offend the authorities and the case becomes serious and failure to solve it is not an option and it's just a matter of time before the Quangels become guests of the hellhole that is the Gestapo prison system and then it becomes a question of not will they survive, but how they die.
Alone in Berlin was originally called Every Man Dies Alone and was based on the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel a working class couple from Berlin, who came up with the idea of leaving postcards around their city denouncing Hitler and his regime. They got away with it for about two years, but were eventually discovered, denounced, arrested, tried and executed - beheaded in Berlin's Plötzensee Prison in April 1943. Hans Fallada was given the Hampel's Gestapo files by Johannes Becher, a writer friend of Fallada's, who was president of the cultural organization established by the Soviet military administration in the Soviet sector, with the aim of creating a new anti-fascist culture.
Sometimes you pick up a book that so engrosses you, that despite it's subject matter you cannot leave it alone. You know that there will be no traditional happy ending for Otto and Anna Quangel, that respect for humanity is not high on the Gestapo's list of priorities, that it is when and not if they are caught and then that they will face every form of torture from humiliation to being treated like a rag doll in the mouth of a rabid dog. None of this matters, or more accurately despite all of it, this book is beautiful, a quiet book of common decency, that reaches beyond the subject matter to reach a grandeur that, although of a tragic nature, still lights up bright enough to shine through the deepest of hellholes and to depict in letters large enough to be seen from the stars stating that despite all evidence to the contrary the human spirit and decency is never ever totally destroyed.
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LibraryThing member runner56
Every so often we pick up a book that is truly unputdownable, a book that is so well written, a book that has so much feeling and emotion it lives in the memory for a very long time...Alone in Berlin certainly did that for me. I was attracted firstly to the cover of this book in various books shops
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around Bristol and Bath and being a penguin publication the print, pages and binding were superior. I then noticed that it was originally published in 1947 and had just been republished here in the UK, the subject matter intrigued me as did the author Hans Fallada. When we consider stories set during WW2 very few are written from the German point of view and naturally we are inclined to believe that most Germans/Berliners were happy to support Hitler as he appeared to have put their country on a sound economic footing following the very lean years after the 1st WW. Alone in Berlin looks at one mans extroadinary and single handed stand against the forces of Nazism. Berlin at this time was a city of treachery, intrigue, deceipt and suspicion, citizens were encouraged to report on any unnatural activities that might undermine the word of the furher. Into all of this steps Otto, an ordinary German living in an apartment block in Berlin, when he receives a message that his only son has been killed fighting at the front. He's shocked and saddened, and decides to carry out an extroadinary act of resistance. He begins to drop anonymous postcards attacking Hitler across the city knowing that if he is caught or betrayed not only will he be tortured and killed but so will members of his immediate family. There evolves a silent war between Otto and and an ambitious Gestapo Inspector called Escherich. The prose the use of dialogue the sense of atmosphere and the enevitable sad conclusion all come together to make this a fantastic and emotional read, a read that never loses pace or sense of direction, and a read that I would certainly recommend as one of the memorable and intelligent novels of 2010. Show Less
LibraryThing member jbealy
At 500 pages, the new Michael Hoffman translation of the 1947 Hans Fallada novel, Every Man Dies Alone, is an indictment of war and all its inherent brutalities, but also of the individual ways we allow fear to rule our lives. The book has been called a thriller and, while it is indeed a fast
The story of the Quangels, an elderly couple intent on destroying Hitler’s regime of terror with a campaign of postcards dropped anonymously over a 2 year period around Berlin, is based on a true story. It is one story, one would assume among many, of the (failed) Nazi Resistance movement inside Germany during the second world war. Fallada’s rendering of the various characters, most of whom are based in one apartment block in the middle of the city, is masterful. Whether describing working class citizens trying to stay alive and out of trouble or members of the SS, an elite military unit of the Nazi party, or prisoners and their sadistic guards, Fallada has given us an extremely accessible peak inside the Third Reich and, indeed, a close study of humanity under pressure. It is not always a pretty picture but despite the atrocities, Fallada tries still to give his characters hope.
Kudos to the publisher for raising the curtain on this never before translated novel.
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moving page turner, “thriller” does not quite give justice to the intricacies of this novel.The story of the Quangels, an elderly couple intent on destroying Hitler’s regime of terror with a campaign of postcards dropped anonymously over a 2 year period around Berlin, is based on a true story. It is one story, one would assume among many, of the (failed) Nazi Resistance movement inside Germany during the second world war. Fallada’s rendering of the various characters, most of whom are based in one apartment block in the middle of the city, is masterful. Whether describing working class citizens trying to stay alive and out of trouble or members of the SS, an elite military unit of the Nazi party, or prisoners and their sadistic guards, Fallada has given us an extremely accessible peak inside the Third Reich and, indeed, a close study of humanity under pressure. It is not always a pretty picture but despite the atrocities, Fallada tries still to give his characters hope.
Kudos to the publisher for raising the curtain on this never before translated novel.
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LibraryThing member ljbwell
Loosely based on actual events, Alone in Berlin centers around the ultimately futile resistance efforts in WWII Berlin of husband and wife Otto and Anna Quangel. When their only son is killed in action, and after a few other events at work and in their apartment building, something in Otto snaps
The power of this novel is in its portrayal of the absolute fear and paranoia instilled in people during the war. Neighbor quickly turns against neighbor if it means staying - however briefly - in the good graces of the police, SS, or whichever authority they see fit. The constant overhanging threat of being turned in or discovered looms large.
The book builds up not only the tension of Gestapo inspector Escherich's homing in on the 'Hobgoblin', but of neighbor vs neighbor or even family turning against family, of the results of the slightest - even chance - malfeasance, of psychological and physical terror instilled in everyday people.
Given these dangers, therefore, even the most minor shows of resistance take on so much more power. It shows that there were those who made the dangerous decision to fight the very real threats of beatings, torture, imprisonment, death, and/or being sent to camps. They were willing to accept these (likely) consequences in order to be able to live with themselves, to create some semblance of justice and good in the face of the fear-riddled, unjust world they were living in.
This edition includes an afterword not only about Fallada and the context in which he wrote the novel, but also some of the key differences between the true story and this fictionalized version. There is also a section with copies of some of the actual documents from the case against Otto and Elise Hampel which bring the story even more to life.
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and he can no longer stay quiet. He decides to leave anonymous postcards decrying Hitler and his regime randomly (time and place) throughout Berlin. His wife helps him with the postcards. There are related threads involving family, friends, co-workers, neighbors and how their lives are affected by the war, the Nazi regime, and even the Quangels' attempted resistance.The power of this novel is in its portrayal of the absolute fear and paranoia instilled in people during the war. Neighbor quickly turns against neighbor if it means staying - however briefly - in the good graces of the police, SS, or whichever authority they see fit. The constant overhanging threat of being turned in or discovered looms large.
The book builds up not only the tension of Gestapo inspector Escherich's homing in on the 'Hobgoblin', but of neighbor vs neighbor or even family turning against family, of the results of the slightest - even chance - malfeasance, of psychological and physical terror instilled in everyday people.
Given these dangers, therefore, even the most minor shows of resistance take on so much more power. It shows that there were those who made the dangerous decision to fight the very real threats of beatings, torture, imprisonment, death, and/or being sent to camps. They were willing to accept these (likely) consequences in order to be able to live with themselves, to create some semblance of justice and good in the face of the fear-riddled, unjust world they were living in.
This edition includes an afterword not only about Fallada and the context in which he wrote the novel, but also some of the key differences between the true story and this fictionalized version. There is also a section with copies of some of the actual documents from the case against Otto and Elise Hampel which bring the story even more to life.
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LibraryThing member Schmerguls
This German novel first published in 1947 was inspired by Otto and Elise Hampel who beginning in 1940 wrote 'postcards' decrying Hitler and urging resistance to him and then left the postcards where they hoped they would be fourd. In the novel Otto and Anna Quangel distribute cards saying anti-Nazi
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things after their son is killed in the invasion of France in 1940. This seems an ineffectual thing to do but it is all they think they can do. Most of the cards promptly come into the hands of the police and Gestapo who spend lots of effort trying to see who is distributing the cards. While this is going on the book is I thought tensely exciting, since if they are caught they will probably be killed. Clearly what they did was futile but their role is to show that there were Germans resisting the evil that had conquered Germany. Show Less
LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
I had a hard time picking up Fallada's novel of quiet resistance in Berlin during the Second World War. I've read several reviews that had me eager to read it, but it's not the most cheerful of topics, so I put off reading it. But I'm trying to tackle those kinds of books this year, the long, the
Every Man Dies Alone tells the story of Otto and Anna Quangel, a factory foreman and his wife, who decide that they have to resist the Nazi regime somehow. Spurred by the death of their only child, they come up with the idea of writing postcards denouncing the Reich and dropping them in busy places all over Berlin. They envision hundreds of people heartened and inspired to resist, but the reality is a bit different. Where they do not err, however, is in their expectation of eventually being caught.
The book also features a petty malingerer and gambler whose attempts to get by doing very little go badly for him, his long suffering wife, who decides to renounce her membership in the Party (necessary for most jobs) and to move to the countryside. They, in turn, come into contact with other ordinary Berliners, some willing to collude with the state and others keeping their heads down.
She drops her voice further: "But the main thing is that we remain different from them, that we never allow ourselves to be made into them, or start thinking as they do. Even if they conquer the whole world, we must refuse to become Nazis."
"And what will that accomplish, Trudel?" asks Otto Quangel softly. "I don't see the point."
The novel is filled with an overwhelming atmosphere of fear and suspicion. Otto reacts to this by cutting ties to everyone but his wife, which does not help his relatives in the slightest. Holding onto one's dignity becomes an enormous challenge. Despite the grim subject matter, Fallada allows the reader some moments of grace and choses to end his novel with a small moment of triumph.
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challenging and the important. So I gathered my resolve and began.Every Man Dies Alone tells the story of Otto and Anna Quangel, a factory foreman and his wife, who decide that they have to resist the Nazi regime somehow. Spurred by the death of their only child, they come up with the idea of writing postcards denouncing the Reich and dropping them in busy places all over Berlin. They envision hundreds of people heartened and inspired to resist, but the reality is a bit different. Where they do not err, however, is in their expectation of eventually being caught.
The book also features a petty malingerer and gambler whose attempts to get by doing very little go badly for him, his long suffering wife, who decides to renounce her membership in the Party (necessary for most jobs) and to move to the countryside. They, in turn, come into contact with other ordinary Berliners, some willing to collude with the state and others keeping their heads down.
She drops her voice further: "But the main thing is that we remain different from them, that we never allow ourselves to be made into them, or start thinking as they do. Even if they conquer the whole world, we must refuse to become Nazis."
"And what will that accomplish, Trudel?" asks Otto Quangel softly. "I don't see the point."
The novel is filled with an overwhelming atmosphere of fear and suspicion. Otto reacts to this by cutting ties to everyone but his wife, which does not help his relatives in the slightest. Holding onto one's dignity becomes an enormous challenge. Despite the grim subject matter, Fallada allows the reader some moments of grace and choses to end his novel with a small moment of triumph.
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LibraryThing member nigeyb
Hans Fallada was all but forgotten outside Germany when this 1947 novel, Alone in Berlin (US title: Every Man Dies Alone), was reissued in English in 2009, whereupon it became a best seller and reintroduced Hans Fallada's work to a new generation of readers.
I came to this book having read More
Alone In Berlin really brings alive the day-to-day hell of life under the Nazis - and the ways in which people either compromised their integrity by accepting the regime, or, in some cases, resisted. The insights into life inside Nazi Germany are both fascinating and appalling. The venom of Nazism seeping into every aspect of society leaving no part of daily existence untouched or uncorrupted.
Alone In Berlin is also a thriller, and the tension starts from the first page and mounts with each passing chapter. I can only echo the praise that has been heaped on this astonishingly good, rediscovered World War Two masterpiece. It's a truly great book: gripping, profound and essential.
5/5
I came to this book having read More
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Lives Than One: A Biography of Hans Fallada by Jenny Williams, which was the perfect introduction into the literary world of Hans Fallada.Alone In Berlin really brings alive the day-to-day hell of life under the Nazis - and the ways in which people either compromised their integrity by accepting the regime, or, in some cases, resisted. The insights into life inside Nazi Germany are both fascinating and appalling. The venom of Nazism seeping into every aspect of society leaving no part of daily existence untouched or uncorrupted.
Alone In Berlin is also a thriller, and the tension starts from the first page and mounts with each passing chapter. I can only echo the praise that has been heaped on this astonishingly good, rediscovered World War Two masterpiece. It's a truly great book: gripping, profound and essential.
5/5
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LibraryThing member KarenDuff
This was a keep me reading all night book. The author does a really good job of keeping the tension at just the right level to keep you reading.
As this is the fictional telling of real events you know that Otto and Anna will be caught and executed but you really want them to get away with it.
As this is the fictional telling of real events you know that Otto and Anna will be caught and executed but you really want them to get away with it.
LibraryThing member jayne_charles
What an astonishing book this was: a look at Nazi Germany written by someone who lived through it, bringing to life all the paranoia, the fear and mistrust in a way that really gets through to the reader. It showed very clearly how a regime can control its population by allowing fear to percolate
I liked the author’s readable style, and the way characters were introduced in the early stages: the point of view would rest with one character who would then encounter another and the point of view would then move along with the second character in the manner of a relay race. Characters who only occupied a relatively small section of the plot were given shape and substance (thinking of Hettie in particular who was an excellent character). There was a lightness of touch about the whole thing and odd moments of humour. Around chapter 70, perhaps the most horrific phase in a book of many horrors, there were hints of Monty Python.
I will go on to read many good books in the future but suspect I will never read another book quite like this one.
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through society. The fact that it is based on real events makes it more powerful. It makes the reader think how they themselves might position themselves in such a society: amongst those who seek to profit from it, those who take a passive role and try to stay out of trouble, or those who fight (however futilely) against it.I liked the author’s readable style, and the way characters were introduced in the early stages: the point of view would rest with one character who would then encounter another and the point of view would then move along with the second character in the manner of a relay race. Characters who only occupied a relatively small section of the plot were given shape and substance (thinking of Hettie in particular who was an excellent character). There was a lightness of touch about the whole thing and odd moments of humour. Around chapter 70, perhaps the most horrific phase in a book of many horrors, there were hints of Monty Python.
I will go on to read many good books in the future but suspect I will never read another book quite like this one.
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LibraryThing member fist
I was mesmerised by this book. I didn't have high expectations for a German book from 1947, but having come straight from the precious schmaltz of The Book Thief, Every Man Dies Alone was a fantastic experience. Nowhere before have I found such a credible description of what it must have been like
Initially, I suspected that this was going to be an apologetic book, written by a contrite German a few years after WWII in order to ingratiate oneself with the Allied occupation forces. But as episodes from Fallada's own life make clear, he certainly had had great difficulties during the Nazi era, falling in and out of favour with people like Goebbels, and refusing their suggestions to add chapters to novels where the Nazis would appear as a deus ex machina for the German people. As a reader, you feel that the author has had brushes with Nazi authority and has been able to observe their methods closely. He is also an accomplished writer: characters are nicely fleshed out, and the plot is elegantly woven together by the vicissitudes of apparently isolated people. Though based on a true story, this is a work of fiction, that demonstrates how difficult it was to organise acts of resistance against the Nazis (and how easy to get caught and punished). The end notes mention Hannah Arendt's "Eichmann in Jerusalem" and its "Banality of Evil", comparing it the "banality of good" which is described in this book. Resistance doesn't always consist of great heroic acts.
Spoiler & Final note: this book read like a screenplay. I think a big screen adaptation is long overdue (even though there is no happy end, since almost every character dies - alone).
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to live as an ordinary German citizen under the Third Reich: the constant worry, the power abuse by the uniformed castes and the sense of inevitable doom. Since it was written in 1947, the Third Reich was stil in the veryrecent past. Seventy short chapters give this story a brisk pace, making this a true page-turner.Initially, I suspected that this was going to be an apologetic book, written by a contrite German a few years after WWII in order to ingratiate oneself with the Allied occupation forces. But as episodes from Fallada's own life make clear, he certainly had had great difficulties during the Nazi era, falling in and out of favour with people like Goebbels, and refusing their suggestions to add chapters to novels where the Nazis would appear as a deus ex machina for the German people. As a reader, you feel that the author has had brushes with Nazi authority and has been able to observe their methods closely. He is also an accomplished writer: characters are nicely fleshed out, and the plot is elegantly woven together by the vicissitudes of apparently isolated people. Though based on a true story, this is a work of fiction, that demonstrates how difficult it was to organise acts of resistance against the Nazis (and how easy to get caught and punished). The end notes mention Hannah Arendt's "Eichmann in Jerusalem" and its "Banality of Evil", comparing it the "banality of good" which is described in this book. Resistance doesn't always consist of great heroic acts.
Spoiler & Final note: this book read like a screenplay. I think a big screen adaptation is long overdue (even though there is no happy end, since almost every character dies - alone).
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LibraryThing member CarolynSchroeder
This amazing novel explores the many facets of the human spirit, amidst a collection of German citizens during the height of Gestapo paranoia in Berlin and its surrounding areas. The plot is rather intricate, but basically involves a mild-mannered older couple, Otto and Anna Quangel (he a
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carpenter/foreman and she his devoted but surprisingly strong wife), who after the death of their son during the war, quietly defy the Nazis by leaving resistance postcards at various locations throughout Berlin. The premise is based on a true story. The postcards are considered high treason punishable by death; and the novel follows various people in the administration (who go literally insane trying to capture the "Hobgoblin", i.e., postcard writer) and other German citizens who somehow cross paths with the Quangels. The heart of the book reminded me a lot of Eli Wiesel's explorations on how humans face oppression, fear and victimization so differently, especially during this time period. Although certainly very sad and depressing considering the time and subject matter, at the end there is actually a huge triumph of the human spirit. Absolutely nothing in this book plays out like I thought it would and in that way, it is full of interesting twists and surprises. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in how German citizens were affected by the Gestapo during WWII. This novel really is a virtually unknown masterpiece (that would be a great academic choice, in so many ways) and hopefully, it will reach a much larger audience. I now want to read everything that Fallada has written - what a discovery! Show Less
LibraryThing member labfs39
Hans Fallada, the alias for Rudolf Ditzen, wrote his last novel, Every Man Dies Alone, in 24 days and died of a morphine overdose before it could be published. A man tortured by substance abuse and his ambivalent relationship with the Nazis, Fallada wrote prolifically but with few successes. After
The story of the ficticious Otto and Anna Quangel is one of an average, working-class couple who live placidly under the Fuhrer until the death of their only son in the war. The senseless death of their son spurs them to defiance, and they begin their postcard campaign. Woven within and around their story are the stories of dozens of other people, resisters, snitchers, and Nazis, who together create a picture of life under Hitler. The richness of the character depictions are the highlights of the book. Even minor characters take on life and draw one in.
Unfortunately, the characters are almost entirely single-faceted. One is either good or evil, and only one character, the Inspector Escherich, seems to have any moral development as the story progresses. Despite this, I was interested in the fate of the characters and found the book a quick and absorbing read. Fallada creates an image of German life during the war as being as morally compromising as life under Stalin, a comparison that came quickly to mind having just finished reading The Whisperers. I was left wondering once again what I would be capable of if I were in such a situation. Would I be capable of resistance or would I collude in silence letting fear prevent action?
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stints in hospitals and even an insane asylum, Fallada was shown a Gestapo file by a friend and told it would make a good story. The file was on a German couple who resisted the Reich by dispersing hand-written postcards denouncing Hitler and the war throughout Berlin. Fallada uses the basic plot suggested by the file to create the novel.The story of the ficticious Otto and Anna Quangel is one of an average, working-class couple who live placidly under the Fuhrer until the death of their only son in the war. The senseless death of their son spurs them to defiance, and they begin their postcard campaign. Woven within and around their story are the stories of dozens of other people, resisters, snitchers, and Nazis, who together create a picture of life under Hitler. The richness of the character depictions are the highlights of the book. Even minor characters take on life and draw one in.
Unfortunately, the characters are almost entirely single-faceted. One is either good or evil, and only one character, the Inspector Escherich, seems to have any moral development as the story progresses. Despite this, I was interested in the fate of the characters and found the book a quick and absorbing read. Fallada creates an image of German life during the war as being as morally compromising as life under Stalin, a comparison that came quickly to mind having just finished reading The Whisperers. I was left wondering once again what I would be capable of if I were in such a situation. Would I be capable of resistance or would I collude in silence letting fear prevent action?
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LibraryThing member freddlerabbit
I have read a lot about the Holocaust and about how it might have felt to be a Jew in Germany, Poland, France during that time. I've read some books about the experiences of people who were gay, and people who were disabled - much narrative of the victims of the Nazi party and the German people. I
Every Man Dies Alone is the first book I have read that tells the tale not from the victim's point of view, nor from the bystander's - nor even from the perpetrators (I am sure books like that exist). It is a novel about the lives of Germans who have some knowledge of what the party does to Jews and others, but whose knowledge is limited - much the way many people don't know a lot about the details of their government. They are uncomfortable with Nazism, to varying degrees, and do the minimum in order to live their lives - pay minimal dues, sign up for the party at work but don't attend meetings. Some of them experience an event - a death, or hearing that a loved one committed atrocities in Hitler's name - that pushes them over the edge into small rebellion. None of these Germans are heroes; most of them simply wish to live their lives in peace. None of them takes so bald a risk as to stand up and publicly declaim the Nazis. But they each find their own way to resist against the Nazi morale, and the beauty of this book is that, although this resistance accomplishes nothing against the massive Nazi machine, it helps the characters learn more about how they can survive in such a place with dignity.
The argument about ordinary Germans is that they all should have risen up against the party and against Hitler, that no amount of protest could be enough until the killings stopped. This novel really brought home how dangerous even the smallest of rebellions could be; how lives could be risked by even going along with the motions, how no one is safe. It conveyed the feeling better than any other of what it was like to be under constant surveillance and at the mercy of those who could lie about you to better themselves, in a time when the lies needed nothing to back them up, to be a risk to you. I was most impressed by the book on all counts.
I couldn't believe when I read in the postscript that it had been written contemporaneously - I wouldn't have thought it possible to write such a book in 1947. Perhaps that is part of why it felt so real, and gripping.
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didn't think that I could get anything out of reading another book about the era. I was very wrong.Every Man Dies Alone is the first book I have read that tells the tale not from the victim's point of view, nor from the bystander's - nor even from the perpetrators (I am sure books like that exist). It is a novel about the lives of Germans who have some knowledge of what the party does to Jews and others, but whose knowledge is limited - much the way many people don't know a lot about the details of their government. They are uncomfortable with Nazism, to varying degrees, and do the minimum in order to live their lives - pay minimal dues, sign up for the party at work but don't attend meetings. Some of them experience an event - a death, or hearing that a loved one committed atrocities in Hitler's name - that pushes them over the edge into small rebellion. None of these Germans are heroes; most of them simply wish to live their lives in peace. None of them takes so bald a risk as to stand up and publicly declaim the Nazis. But they each find their own way to resist against the Nazi morale, and the beauty of this book is that, although this resistance accomplishes nothing against the massive Nazi machine, it helps the characters learn more about how they can survive in such a place with dignity.
The argument about ordinary Germans is that they all should have risen up against the party and against Hitler, that no amount of protest could be enough until the killings stopped. This novel really brought home how dangerous even the smallest of rebellions could be; how lives could be risked by even going along with the motions, how no one is safe. It conveyed the feeling better than any other of what it was like to be under constant surveillance and at the mercy of those who could lie about you to better themselves, in a time when the lies needed nothing to back them up, to be a risk to you. I was most impressed by the book on all counts.
I couldn't believe when I read in the postscript that it had been written contemporaneously - I wouldn't have thought it possible to write such a book in 1947. Perhaps that is part of why it felt so real, and gripping.
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LibraryThing member pokarekareana
After their son falls in the war, Otto and Anna Quangel begin their own tiny act of resistance. Over the course of years, they leave hundreds of anonymous handwritten postcards in public places all over Berlin. Unbeknownst to them, most of the cards fall into the hands of the Gestapo almost
This book was delicious in places, and unbearable in others. Slow to get off the ground, I staggered through the first half, but the second half was excellent and the ending was breathtaking. The characters were mostly unpleasant, but I found myself intrigued by their fate. The writing itself was lyrical, but I found it hard to love this book because I came so close to giving up on it early on. I’d recommend it, but be prepared to persevere with it to get to the good stuff towards the end.
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immediately, and one policeman is consumed by the need to discover who is behind the cards.This book was delicious in places, and unbearable in others. Slow to get off the ground, I staggered through the first half, but the second half was excellent and the ending was breathtaking. The characters were mostly unpleasant, but I found myself intrigued by their fate. The writing itself was lyrical, but I found it hard to love this book because I came so close to giving up on it early on. I’d recommend it, but be prepared to persevere with it to get to the good stuff towards the end.
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Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — 2011)
Spear's Book Award (Spear's — 2009)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction & Poetry — 2009)
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Fiction — 2009)
Globe and Mail Top 100 Book ([2009])
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1947
2009 (English translation)
Physical description
544 p.; 5.45 inches
ISBN
1935554042 / 9781935554042