Every Man Dies Alone

subconscious fear Germans of their sentences. Up to the Every Man Dies Alone lived in of saying or doing end they didn’t waiver in something that could be con- their loyalty to each other or by Hans Fallada sidered unpatriotic, and doubt that writing and dis- (Melville House, 2009) which could be reported to tributing the postcards was the Gestapo by a neighbor, the right thing to do. Review by Hans Sherrer co-worker, or stranger they passed on the street. Inform- Although Every Man Dies very Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada ers were everywhere. Alone can be read on a num- Eis a semi-historical novel based on the ber of levels: as a love story real-life event of a husband and wife distrib- It is driven home in Every between Otto and Anna; as a uting several hundred handwritten post- Man Dies Alone that under story of the extremes a cou- cards throughout Berlin from 1940 to 1942. Nazi rule all of Germany was ple will go to in the memory Those postcards encouraged people to pas- a prison and no one — not of their son; it drives home sively resist the German government by even police officers — were with a sledge hammer that a engaging in work slowdowns and to not safe from instantly being totalitarian regime such as contribute to the “winter relief fund” that treated as an inmate on the slightest suspi- the Nazis depends on the good in people was used to support the war. cion of disloyalty. Being picked-up by the being co-opted by their willingness to at Gestapo for questioning was a traumatic least acquiesce to that regime’s evil actions Fallada (the pen name of Rudolf Ditzen) re- experience, and a person held in Berlin’s and do nothing to undermine it. That is why lied on his personal experience of living in Gestapo headquarters could turn to jelly the resources of the Reich were quietly di- Germany during the entirety of the Nazi era when threatened with being sent to the rected towards crushing the Quangels so (1933-45) to create a portrait of wartime Ger- “basement” where there were no rules lim- their work towards a peaceful Germany many that is so realistically grim that you can iting an interrogation. wouldn’t inspire others. Otto had the clarity not just understand, but almost feel the emo- after his arrest to observe the absurdity that tional turmoil that caused two middle-aged However, the German government — even the gang of criminals ruling Germany working class Germans who had been loyal to under its control by the Nazis — followed branded everyone who didn’t support them the government and tried to mind their own the general form of established protocols in as a criminal. business, to embark on their own non-violent criminal prosecutions, and when arrested the campaign opposing Hitler and the Nazis. Fal- Quangels were charged with the capital Stylistically Every Man Dies Alone is some- lada makes painfully clear it was a campaign crime of treason. Although the outcome of what unusual, at least in its English transla- that was nothing less than a suicide mission. their trial was a foregone conclusion because tion. Fallada doesn’t try to seduce the reader it was presided over by Roland Freisler, the with flowery words and catchy phrases, or Otto and Anna Quangel were jolted out of most fanatical pro-Nazi judge in Germany, plot contrivances. The Quangels were un- their lethargy of simply accepting the Nazi it was surreal with moments of levity and complicated people with limited educations regime as a given by the death of their son high drama. Anna’s lawyer valiantly tried to and Fallada doesn’t try to imbue them with during the 1940 invasion of France. introduce evidence to mitigate her sentence qualities they didn’t have. The postcards since she and her hus- Otto wrote had short and direct Wanting to do something to un- band had pled guilty to messages because he wasn’t dermine the Nazis hold on pow- treason for writing and used to expressing his thoughts er and hasten the day when distributing the post- in writing. Neither were the parents wouldn’t have to endure cards. Freisler would stool pigeons Otto and Anna their anguish, Otto came up have nothing to do had to constantly keep an eye with the idea of writing anti- with considering the out for complex people: they Nazi messages on postcards mitigating evidence, primarily wanted to be paid a that they would distribute by and for trying her law- reward or garner the good will placing in public places around yer felt the icy wind of of a policeman to overlook Berlin. The postcards would let Freisler’s wrath. An- some illegality of their own. people know they weren’t alone Otto Hermann Hampel na’s lawyer is the only Elise Hampel (October in opposing the government’s (June 21, 1897 - April 08, person in Every Man The Quangels in real life they 1943). Gestapo photo 27, 1903 - April 08, policies. Otto and Anna em- taken after Otto’s arrest. Dies Alone involved in 1943). Gestapo photo were Otto and Elise Hampel, and barked on their postcard cam- the machinery of the taken after Elise’s arrest. it was her brother who was killed paign by setting aside Sunday to work on German government who acts in in 1940 during Germany’s inva- them after which Otto would distribute them. a way that can be described as heroic. Even sion of France. Fallada was a prominent writ- though his efforts were futile to change her er in Germany, and after WWII a friend One can imagine the reaction of the Berlin sentence, he took risks in trying to inject provided him with the Hampel’s Gestapo file, police and the Gestapo when they learned reason and sanity into the proceedings. Ot- suggesting he consider writing a book based postcards critical of the Nazi regime were to’s lawyer on the other hand didn’t pretend on their case. Every Man Dies Alone was being found all over Berlin: top priority was to have anything but disgust for Otto or published in Germany just weeks after Falla- given to finding the traitors. make any effort to represent him. da’s death at 53 in February 1947. However, the Hampel’s story was not generally known The magnitude of what the Quangels em- A significant portion of the book is com- outside of Germany until the book was trans- barked upon is put in perspective by Falla- prised of how Otto and Anna dealt with lated and published in English in 2009, be- da’s evocative description of the being imprisoned while awaiting execution Fallada cont. on page 19 JUSTICE DENIED: THE MAGAZINE FOR THE WRONGLY CONVICTED PAGE 18 ISSUE 58 - WINTER 2015 Fallada cont. from page 18 try and survive the war by silently going inflection, and emotion described by Falla- along to get along. da. However, Every Man Dies Alone is far cause all but a few of their postcards were more than just a compelling work of fiction; turned over to the police by the people who The obedience of all but a small fraction of it is a homage to the courage of the Hampels found them. In contrast, the leaflet campaign people to the directives of an authority fig- and others who acted to undermine support by the White Rose, a loosely knit group of ure has been well documented in a number for the Nazis, however feeble those actions mostly young people, became known during of controlled experiments beginning with might have seemed at the time, or even from World War II when one of their leaflets criti- those of Stanley Milgram at Yale University the perspective of 70 years later. It also cal of the Nazi regime and that encouraged in the early 1960s. Psychologist Philip Zim- exposes the hypocrisy of the tens of mil- passive resistance was smuggled to England. bardo observed in The Lucifer Effect: Un- lions of Germans who after the war tried to derstanding How Good People Turn Evil absolve themselves of guilt by claiming The Hampels were convicted of treason in (Random House, 2007) that what needs to they didn’t know how bad the Nazi regime Judge Freisler’s court on January 22, 1943 be understood is why such a tiny percentage was — when the Hampels knew and they and sentenced to death by beheading. One of people are able to muster the intestinal were at the bottom rung of German society. month later, on February 22 the first three of fortitude to not acquiesce by participating in the White Rose members who were cap- something they think is wrong, or stand by Endnote: tured -- Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans without protest while others do so. The 1 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “From Under The Ruble,” ed. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Little Brown, Boston, Scholl, and Christoph Probst -- were con- small number of Germans willing to do 1975, p. 249 (emphasis in original) victed of treason in Judge Freisler’s court more than just privately criticize Hitler and and sentenced to death. Others involved in the Nazis were no match for the overwhelm- the White Rose were later captured, and ing numbers of those who wouldn’t do so. sentenced to death or prison after their conviction in Judge Freisler’s courtroom. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn knew first-hand Improper Submissions: Records about persecution by a despotic government, of a Wrongful Conviction The Hampels were not naive about the con- and he wrote in his essay The Smatterers By Erma Armstrong sequences if their identity was discovered.

Load more