137. [Every Man Dies Alone] by [[Hans Fallada]]. This book was translated this year by [[Michael Hoffman]] although it was published in 1947 in Germany just after the author ( real name [Rudolf Ditzen]) died of a morphine overdose. The author's story is as interesting as the actual book.Fallada stayed in Germany during the war although his work was denounced by the Nazis. He was able to write works that were considered subversive and this novel ( on the New York Times 100 Notable books for 2009) is very powerful. Based on a true story, the plot describes how a working class couple in Berlin created their own resistance against the Nazis during the early 1940's. Otto and Anna Quangel were devastated by the death of their only son, a soldier in the army. Otto determined that he would do something to show his opposition to the war. He wrote postcards with slogans denouncing the Nazis and Hitler. He would then take walks through neighbourhoods in Berlin on and drop off the cards in office buildings. Anna would help him sometimes but he wanted to do anything dangerous by himself. The novel also related the stories of petty thieves and thugs whose dealings were linked to the search for the Quangels and the policemen who began to look for the perpetrator of this "crime." There were some decent people-the retired judge in the Quangel's apartment building who tried to help a Jewish woman hide from the Nazis, a former wife of one of the thieves, and the daughter-in-law of the Quangels. The narration moves from one character to another chronicling the cruelty and absolute power of the government. The fear of the people towards the hierarchy of the Gestapo, the S.S. and the officials who carry out unspeakable torture is depicted without emotion by the author. The simple dignity of Otto and Anna Quangel as they are captured and punished becomes a very moving theme. One detail that Fallada does emphasize is of the over 200 postcards left at various locations, all were turned in to the police. Only 18 were not. This fact is used by the Gestapo to taunt Otto Quangel. But Otto is firm in his belief that he had to make a stand against tyranny. The book also includes a brief biography of the author and information on the real couple who did distrubute postcards and were excuted in 1943. This book was very moving and certainly a must read for readers interested in World War II studies. ( )

Hans Fallada (real name: Rudolf Ditzen) wrote Every Man Dies Alone over the course of twenty-four days in late 1946, shortly after the Nazi defeat. Suffering from lifelong alcohol and drug addictions, Fallada died in a mental hospital just before Every Man Dies Alone was published. Based on the true story of Elise and Otto Hampel, this novel spotlights a Berlin couple who undertook a dangerous campaign of Nazi resistance by writing and distributing hundreds of anti-Nazi postcards over a three-year period during World War II. Thanks to Melville House, Every Man Dies Alone is now available in English for the first time.

Fallada’s personal conflicts with the Nazi regime (including denunciation and censorship) are apparent in his evocative portrayal of Berlin during the war, particularly the pervasive atmosphere of fear and oppression. Every Man Dies Alone is full of finely-drawn characters, many with real-life counterparts, who range from brave Nazi resisters to loyal and brutal supporters of Hitler’s regime. This novel’s unadorned prose and quick pacing give it the feel of a thriller, but this is a thriller with a deeper purpose. Fallada uses a lively plot to examine the motivations for resistance and to question its worth, particularly in those cases where unsophisticated subversions are destined to end in failure.

At its center, Every Man Dies Alone stands for the principle that all actions attempting to suppress evil, even failed actions, are necessary to uphold human dignity. After all, as one character notes, “no one could risk more than his life,” and this is true regardless of the impact of the action. Another resistor explains:
"[W]e all acted alone, we were caught alone, and every one of us will have to die alone. But that doesn’t mean that we are alone [] or that our deaths will be in vain. Nothing in this world is done in vain, and since we are fighting for justice against brutality, we are bound to prevail in the end.”
Despite its bleakness, Every Man Dies Alone is ultimately hopeful and is “dedicated [] to life, invincible life, life always triumphing over humiliation and tears, over misery and death.” A dark but uplifting tribute to human dignity and courage in the face of relentless brutality.

This review also appears on my blog Literary License. ( )

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 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. ( )

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, 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. ( )

I actually found Every Man Dies Alone to be an absolute yawner. It is far to long and drawn out for my taste and took me weeks to even get anywhere.
I suppose if you are a fan of epic Nazi literature then it would be right up your alley. I however am not.