Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
Written by a man who lived through it, Every Man Dies Alone is about life in Nazi Germany. Based on real life people, the novel follows Otto and Anna Quangel, who begin a private campaign of resistance after their son dies in the war. Over the course of two years, the couple writes letters and postcards denouncing Hitler and the Third Reich, and drops them all over Berlin. Surrounded by terrified and angry people, with the Gestapo hot on their trail, the Quangels strive to remain true to themselves, and to fight, in some small way, against the evil in their country.
Fallada paints a stark and true portrait of war-time Berlin, filled with snoops, snitches, and suspicious neighbors. His straight-forward and blunt leaves nothing to the imagination; this is how life was. Written in a 24 day rush and published right after Fallada’s death in 1947, this first ever translation of Every Man Dies Alone includes a biography of the author and parts of the actual Gestapo file on Otto and Elise Hampel, the real-life counterparts of the Quangels. Ultimately, Every Man Dies Alone is a story about life, love, and the human experience. It is about how people survived, and what they were or were not willing to give up in doing so, in Nazi Germany.
