Every Man Dies Alone

A cross section of characters from disparate social strata—postal clerks, judges, petty crooks, and Gestapo officials—caught in the deadly network of Nazi protocol and underground resistance fills the pages of Hans Fallada's devastating 1947 novel, Every Man Dies Alone. Creating a fictionalized account based on an actual criminal trial, Fallada tells the story of Otto and Anna Quangel, mild-mannered citizens and tacit supporters of Hitler's economic policies who are driven to a silent form of insurrection and revolt when their son is killed in battle. Fallada follows them in and around Berlin as they enact their plan, undaunted by the poisoned atmosphere they're operating in—an atmosphere where nobody is independent or above betrayal, and where everybody is under suspicion. As the ripple effect of the couple's scheme widens, taking in more people, Fallada audaciously steps out from behind his authorial voice to address the reader, pointing out the hideous truths of life and death in such a soul-destroying environment. For the book's last section, Fallada abandons his bitterly ironic tone and relates the protracted and cruel trials of the Quangels—and their foregone verdicts—with profound and stirring empathy. Melville House has done the world a great service by bringing this nearly forgotten book back into print.