Otto and Elise Hampel were aworking class German couple who created a simple method ofprotest against Nazism in Berlin during the middle years ofWorld War II. They wrote postcards denouncingHitler's government and left them in public places around the city. They were eventually caught, tried, and beheaded in Berlin'sPlötzensee Prison in April 1943. Shortly after the end of the war, theirGestapo file was given to German novelistHans Fallada, and their story inspired his 1947 novel, translated into English and published in 2009 asEvery Man Dies Alone (Alone in Berlin in the UK). The story was filmed in 2016 asAlone in Berlin.
Otto Hampel (21 June 1897 – 8 April 1943) was born inMühlbock, a suburb ofWehrau, now in Poland, but then part of Germany. He served inWorld War I and was later a factory worker.[1]
Elise Lemme (27 October 1903 – 8 April 1943) was born in theBismark area ofStendal. Her education lasted only throughelementary school. She worked as adomestic servant and was a member of theNational Socialist Women's League.[2]
The couple married in 1935.[2] After learning that Elise's brother had been killed in action, the Hampels undertook efforts to encourage resistance against theThird Reich.[2] From September 1940 until their arrest in autumn 1942, they hand-wrote over 287 postcards, dropping them into mailboxes and leaving them instairwells in Berlin, often nearWedding, where they lived.
The postcards urged people to refuse to cooperate with the Nazis, to refrain from donating money, to refuse military service, and to overthrow Hitler.[2] Although nearly all the postcards were immediately brought to theGestapo, it took two years for the authorities to find the couple.[3] The Hampels were denounced in autumn 1942 and were arrested. Otto declared to the police that he was happy to be able to protest against Hitler and the Third Reich. At trial at theVolksgerichtshof, the Nazi "People's Court", the Hampels were convicted ofWehrkraftzersetzung and of "preparing forhigh treason".[4] They were both guillotined on 8 April 1943 in thePlötzensee Prison, Berlin.[5]
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Their life was fictionalized in the Hans Fallada novel, where they are called Otto and Anna Quangel, and it is their son who is killed, rather than the wife's brother.[6] The English language version of the book published byMelville House Publishing includes an appendix containing some pages from the actual Gestapo file, including mug shots, signed confessions, police reports, and several of the actual postcards used in the protest.[7]
There have been five screen adaptations of the novel:Jeder stirbt für sich allein, directed byFalk Harnack inWest Germany in 1962;[8] atelevision miniseries directed byHans-Joachim Kasprzik[9] and produced byDEFA inEast Germany in 1970; a film version directed byAlfred Vohrer in 1975, released in English asEveryone Dies Alone in 1976,[10] in whichHildegard Knef, who won the award for best actress at theKarlovy Vary International Film Festival, portrayed "Anna Quangel".[11] It was made into a three-parttelevision miniseries in theCzech Republic in 2004, directed byDušan Klein.[12] A 2016 filmAlone in Berlin, starringEmma Thompson andBrendan Gleeson as Anna and Otto, was selected to compete for theGolden Bear at the66th Berlin International Film Festival in 2016.[13]
