Every Man Dies Alone

Based on a true story, this novel focuses on Anna and Otto Quangel, a working-class married couple who begin to resist the Nazis after losing their only son in the fighting. The novel is dense, immersive, and rich with characters, ranging from rabid Nazi members to those opposing the murderous goals of the party and those in the middle trying to survive the regime. “Most people today are afraid, basically everyone, because they’re all up to something forbidden, one way or another, and are worried someone will get wind of it,” Quangel thinks to himself. Fallada wrote the novel in… show more.

Written in 1947 Every Man Dies Alone was discovered by the English-speaking world half a century later. I read it in 2009 and was taken by its suspense and authenticity. The novel is based on the story of Otto and Elise Hampel, a working-class couple who had conducted a postcard campaign against Hitler. For two years the Gestapo was unable to detect them. Captured in October 1942, they were sentenced to death. After the war, Hans Fallada (real name Rudolf Ditzen) read the Hampels’ Gestapo files and produced this novel in 24 days. Having spent the war in Berlin, he… show more.