Alone in Berlin was Hans Fallada's final novel, written over the course of just 24 days not long before his death in 1947. It is based on the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel, a German couple convicted of producing and distributing anti-nazi material during the war. In the book, Otto and Anna Quangel, a middle aged working class couple who lose their only son to the war, begin to mount their own quiet resistance to the regime. They write anti-nazi messages on postcards and distribute them across the city over a period of 2 years. Every page reeks of pettiness, oppression, courage, fear and despair. This is not a simple story of good versus evil, but a portrayal of the depths and heights reached by ordinary people during WWII.
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