Apart from the brilliantly interwoven storyline and the strength of the characters, what’s truly amazing about Alone in Berlin is that Hans Fallada wrote it just two years after the second world war (1946). Though his own actions during the war have been called into question (in particular, the fact that he remained in Nazi Germany and wrote under their instructions) what endures is the spirit and belief that any level of resistance is valid, irrespective of its impact.
Though there are many interwoven subplots, the overall story follows the futile resistance of Otto & Anna Quangel to Nazi ruled Germany during the war. Dropping post-cards all over Berlin containing messages against Hitler’s regime after the death of their son at the front, the tension mounts for the couple as the net tightens and the Gestapo draws ever closer to their little plot.
A story that skilfully depicts life in Nazi Germany, Alone in Berlin makes you feel the fear that overshadowed every decision in life and the claustrophobic watching stare of the neighbours through their peep holes waiting for their chance to step up upon your corpse. Though the horror of Jewish life in Hitler’s Germany is only hinted at, the fact that it was undoubtedly much worse than the life of the characters in the book shows how bad things must have been.
What’s worse is that large amounts of the book are based upon the real-life events of Otto and Elise Hampel, a working class couple in Berlin who began committing acts of civil disobedience when they discovered that Elise’s brother had dies in the war.
Irrespective of Hans Fallada’s history (real name Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen), or the conditions of his writing Alone in Berlin, the book should really only be judged by it’s story and it is here that Fallada has excelled. Creating a tapestry of life, with weaving story-lines, tense encounters and memorable characters, he delivered a little piece of iron that reminds you of the importance of speaking out, even if your voice is small or your handwriting is littered with mistakes.
It was always a matter of time before the story was adapted for the big screen, with such a powerful and tense plot, and the Alone In Berlin film has now been confirmed for early 2017 in the UK. Starring Emma Thomson (Bridget Jones’s Baby) as Anna, Brendan Gleeson (Assassin’s Creed (2016)) as Otto and Daniel Brühl (Captain America: Civil War) as Escherich, the Gestapo investigator desperately trying to crack the case, it looks like it should go on to do the book justice with a strong cast and taught delivery hinted at in the trailer.
Hans Fallada, Alone in Berlin review: 4.4/5
