(Everyone Dies Alone) is a 1962 West German made for television political drama film based on a best-selling 1947 novel by Hans Fallada, itself based on the true story of a working class couple, Otto and Elise Hampel, who committed acts of civil disobedience against the government of Nazi Germany and were executed. Directed by former German Resistance member Falk Harnack—whose brother, sister-in-law and cousins were executed during the Nazi regime—it was the first screen adaptation of Fallada's novel.

Background The teleplay was adapted by Robert A. Stemmle from the Hans Fallada novel Every Man Dies Alone."Programm vom Donnerstag, dem 19. Juli 1962" TV Programme. Retrieved March 4, 2012 Though written in 1947, it was virtually unknown to the English-speaking world until it was translated into English in 2009.Liesl Schillinger, "Postcards From the Edge" The New York Times (February 27, 2009). Retrieved March 6, 2012 The German edition achieved early success, spawning translations into Russian,Каждый умирает в одиночку (fb2) Либрусек. Retrieved March 8, 2012 Polish,Każdy umiera w samotności Worldcat. Retrieved March 8, 2012 Romanian,"Fiecare moare singur (Trad. după orig. în limba germana) Worldcat. Retrieved March 8, 2012 Czech,Christoph Bartmann, "Překvapivý bestseller I ve smrti sami" Literární.cz Retrieved March 8, 2012 Norwegian,Den veien du går alene Worldcat. Retrieved March 8, 2012 French,Seul dans Berlin Worldcat. Retrieved March 8, 2012 and Italian."Ognuno muore solo" Post (June 6, 2010). Retrieved March 8, 2012 The 2009 English version soon became a bestseller in both England and the United States, bringing more international success and translations into HebrewJohannes Groschupf, "Das Ehepaar Hampel allein in Berlin" Die Zeit (April 16, 2011), p. 2. Retrieved March 8, 2012 and Dutch.

In addition to the 1962 teleplay, there have been three subsequent screen adaptations of Fallada's novel: a television miniseries entitled Jeder stirbt für sich allein broadcast in East Germany in 1970;Filmsterne biography of Erwin Geschonneck DEFA. Retrieved March 5, 2012 a feature film in 1975, released in English in 1976 as Everyone Dies Alone;Hildegard Knef Palazoo. Retrieved March 5, 2012"Everyone Dies Alone" Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 5, 2012 and a television miniseries in the Czech Republic in 2004."Dobro a zlo u Dušana Kleina" Hospodářské Noviny (16 February 2004). Retrieved March 4, 2012

The 1962 teleplay, the first screen adaptation of Fallada's book, was directed by Falk Harnack, who had been active in the German Resistance against the Nazism and the Third Reich.Carsten Gansel, Werner Liersch, Zeit vergessen, Zeit erinnern: Hans Fallada und das kulturelle Gedächtnis V&R unipress in Göttingen, (2008), pp. 181–2. Retrieved March 9, 2012 His own arrest and trial led to acquittal, but several members of his family and many friends were arrested»Keine Träne, aufrecht« Die Zeit (November 24, 2009). Retrieved March 2, 2012 and executed, including his brother, ArvidArvid Harnack timeline Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved March 9, 2012 and his sister-in-law, Mildred Harnack, a translator and professor of literature, who had visited Fallada in 1934.Shareen Blair Brysac, 2000. Mildred Harnack: Cast of Characters , TRACES.org. Retrieved March 19, 2012.

Broadcast and synopsis The 1962 teleplay aired on station Sender Freies Berlin (SFB), then an affiliate of German broadcaster ARD. It tells of an ordinary couple who began to resist the Nazis after their only son was killed in World War II. The television film was broadcast the evening of 19 July, the day before the 18th anniversary of the 20 July 1944 attempt on Adolf Hitler's life.

In wartime Berlin, a factory foreman, Otto Quangel and his wife, Anna learn that their only son, Paul, has been killed in action in France.Carsten Gansel, Werner Liersch (2008), p. 185 Retrieved March 9, 2012 In their grief, the couple decide to take action against the Nazi regime. They create their own form of resistance, writing postcards urging people to resist Hitler and the Nazis and quietly distributing the postcards around Berlin. Various people enter the picture, showing the fear and distrust of the times. People, such as the actor Harteisen, find the cards and race to turn them in, lest they be found with them and come under suspicion. The police and the Gestapo are baffled for over a year, but finally find the source of the cards. The Volksgerichtshof sentences the Quangels to death.

The television listing for the broadcast read, "An impressive teleplay, this will be broadcast on the eve of 20 July to commemorate the many unknown fighters against Nazi terror, in memory of the people who were pursued by the Gestapo and executed by an inexorable judiciary."

Cast Alfred Schieske as Otto Quangel Edith Schultze-Westrum as Anna Quangel Anneli Granget as Trudel Baumann Hartmut Reck as Karl Hergesell Friedrich Siemers as Franz Grigoleit Harry Riebauer as Dr. Sommer Martin Hirthe as SS Brigadeführer Prall Werner Peters as Kriminalkommissar Escherich Benno Hoffmann as Assistant Kriminalkommissar Schröder Hugo Schrader as Enno Kluge Erich Gühne as Volunteer policeman Persicke Friedrich Schoenfelder as Harteisen, actor Rudolf Fernau as Dr. Toll, lawyer Theodor Vogeler as Dr. Menz, doctor Reinhold Bernt as Police station superintendent Klaus Miedel as Judge-President of the Volksgerichtshof Paul Albert Krumm as "Stranger" Reinhard Kolldehoff as SA man Hilde Sessak as Frau Gesch Ethel Reschke as Pub owner

See also List of Germans who resisted Nazism

References

External links