Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada

Alone in Berlin

When I was studying for my A Level in Modern History, I got wind of the controversial book, entitled Hitler’s Willing Executioners, by Daniel Goldhagen. It put forth the argument, that ordinary German citizens were as guilty as the Nazi regime, and complicit in the atrocities. This culpability is apparently due to Germany, being a deeply anti-Semitic nation-state, that fostered such an atmosphere of hatred, that Hitler was able to come to power easily.

I must admit, rather ashamedly, and despite not having read the book, I bought into the interpretation. I just couldn’t understand how an entire population could cave to a pack of murdering thugs, without a squib of resistance or ounce of defiance. It seemed the equivalent of a dog laying down to be shot. 

Thankfully, today my views have changed. Fiction had a way of reaching us that historical records can’t and after reading Vassily Grossman’s masterpiece Life and Fate, it dawned on me what tyranny is really about. The devastating affect it has on ordinary citizens. Since reading Hans Fallada’s, Alone in Berlin, my belief has only been confirmed. Living under a such a government is akin to being a caged mouse, with a hungry cat watching just outside the bars!

Written in 1946, by a German who lived through the Nazi regime, Alone in Berlin fictionalizes the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel, who waged their own little war of resistance against Hitler, writing inflammatory postcards and planting them across the capital. In the novel these two individuals become the Quangels, a quiet working class couple, who litter the city with pamphlets, after the death of their son on the frontline. The novel depicts a dangerous and oppressive world where the ordinary citizen lives under the perpetual blade of a guillotine, where the ‘Gestapo was the state.’ 

Despite this, life goes on. The reason for the government's continuing existence, is because of the self-perpetuating ideology of Nazism which was backed up by violence. This breeds either ignorance or fear. On one hand we have: ‘Hitler apotheosized. Hitler in excelsis, lord of the universe, all-powerful, all-seeing, all-forgiving. [...] The war rages on slaughtering millions and still they believe in him.’ On the other, ‘Quangel is right to call Hitler a murderer and me his henchman [...] it disgusts me to keep those fellows supplied with fresh prey [...] I also want to fight./But its impossible [...] They would catch me [...] and my flesh screams when they torture it. I’m a coward.’ The cogs of the state are rusting on the axle but somehow still continue to turn, because in one way or the other, society has bought into the myth.

As such, the citizens of Berlin are caught up in their own doublethink. On one hand each individual is well aware of the danger that encompasses them, on the other, they pretend it doesn’t pose a threat. This little bit of false hope, driven by barely contained dread, is what gives rise to justification and conformism. But how people respond, differs according to their type. 

In the novel, Berlin has a wide variety of people. Megalomanic officers of the Reich such as Judge Feisler and Officer Prall. The sadistic thugs of the Gestapo and SS like Balder Persicke and officer Karlemann. The hapless dispossessed fools like Enno Kluge and Borkhausen. The politically smart Jobsworths like Inspector Escherich and Dr Martens. And finally a small segment of good people. These are the heros of Alone in Berlin. Leading the charge are the Quangels, then Judge Fromm, Trudel Baumann, Chaplain Friedrich Lorenz and Dr Reichhardt. The last group are all effectively playing russian roulette with their lives, and for such heroic acts only few are brave enough. The other Germans, who conformed to the party ideology we can only pity. The novel makes clear its a matter of survival, they had loved ones, children and wives to protect.

In this world, those who resist Hitler and his regime often come to harm, but this only reasserts the dangers of a totalitarian government. ‘These days everyone has something to hide.’ Inspectors, Party-Stalwarts, Attorneys, Doctors, the foolish, the weak, and the strong, all fall foul of the Nazi regime. Tyranny is so encompassing, so prevalent, that no-one can possibly be outside of it. Each character will try to navigate the treacherous waters, but most will drown because a chain of association will eventually forge a link to their own life.

On face value, the Quangels do more harm than good and their campaign endangers others. Despite this we all know they are heroes and acted out of the goodness of their hearts. As such, their act should be judged by intention rather than result. Ultimately, it is an outstanding display of human courage, and emblem of the human spirit and its eternal belief in freedom. As Quangel himself learns:

‘It would have been a hundred times better if we’d had someone who could have told us, such and such is what you have to do; our plan is this and this. But if there had been such a man in Germany Hitler would never have come to power in 1933. As it was, we all acted alone, we were caught alone, and everyone of us will have to die alone. But that doesn’t mean that we are alone, Quangel, 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.’