Hans Fallada: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{Short description|German writer}}

{{UPE|pre16Jun2014=yes|date=September 2020}}{{Infobox person

{{More footnotes|date=December 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Hans Fallada

| image = Hans Fallada (here-worked plaque).jpg

| alt =

| caption = Bronze plaque of Fallada.

| birth_name =Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1893|07|21|df=y}}

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*''[[Every Man Dies Alone]]'' (1947)

}}

'''Hans Fallada''' ({{IPA-|de|hans ˈfa.la.da|lang|De-Hans Fallada.ogg}}; born '''Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen'''; 21 July 1893{{spaced ndash}}5 February 1947) was a German writer of the first half of the 20th century. Some of his better known novels include ''[[Little Man, What Now? (novel)|Little Man, What Now?]]'' (1932) and ''[[Every Man Dies Alone]]'' (1947). His works belong predominantly to the [[New Objectivity]] literary style, a style associated with an emotionless reportage approach, with precision of detail, and a veneration for 'the fact'.<ref>[[Matthew Beaumont]]. ''Concise Companion to Realism'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=vctIWXfMQWYC&pg=PA151 page 151]. John Wiley and Sons, 2010.</ref> Fallada's pseudonym derives from a combination of characters found in the [[Grimm's Fairy Tales]]: The titular protagonist of ''[[Hans in Luck]]'' (KHM 83), and Falada the magical talking horse in ''[[The Goose Girl]]''.

==Early life==

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In 1899, when Fallada was 6, his father relocated the family to [[Berlin]] following the first of several promotions he would receive. Fallada had a very difficult time upon first entering school in 1901. As a result, he immersed himself in books, eschewing literature more in line with his age for authors such as [[Flaubert]], [[Dostoevsky]], and [[Dickens]]. In 1909 the family again relocated, to [[Leipzig]], following his father's appointment to the [[Reichsgericht|Imperial Supreme Court]].

A severe road accident inIn 1909 (age 16)—he, he was run over by a horse-drawn cart, then kicked in the face by the horse—andhorse. This mishap plus the contraction of [[typhoid]] in 1910 (age 17) seem to mark a turning point in Fallada's life and the end of his relatively care-free youth. His adolescent years were characterized by increasing isolation and self-doubt, compounded by the lingering effects of these ailments. In addition, his lifelong drug problems were born of the pain-killing medications he was taking as the result of his injuries. These issues manifested themselves in multiple suicide attempts.

In 1911 he made a pact with a friend, Hanns Dietrich von Necker, to stage a [[duel]] to mask their suicides, feeling that the duel would be seen as more honorable. This was due to their emerging (homo-)sexuality, and the views of the society in which they lived - one which was becoming increasingly homophobic. Hence the two young men formed their suicide pact. However, because of both boys' inexperience with weapons, it was a bungled affair. Dietrich missed Fallada, but Fallada did not miss Dietrich, killing him. Fallada was so distraught that he picked up Dietrich's gun and shot himself in the chest, but somehow survived.<ref>A different version of events is given in a ''London Review of Books'' review by Philip Oltermann (March 8, 2012, p. 27), apparently based on ''More Lives Than One: A Biography of Hans Fallada'' by Jenny Williams (Penguin): "With their first shots, they missed completely. With their second, Necker's bullet missed, but Necker himself was hit in the heart, though he remained conscious enough to beg his friend to shoot him again. Fallada, who was short-sighted, fired three more bullets: one for Necker, two for himself. The first entered his lung, the other narrowly missed his heart. Stumbling back down the path to Rudolstadt, he was found by a forester who took him to hospital. His mother's first reaction to her son attempting suicide and killing his friend in the process was: 'Thank God, at least nothing sexual.'"</ref> Nonetheless, the death of his friend ensured his status as an outcast from society.

Although he was found innocent of murder by wayreason of insanity, from this point on he would serveundergo multiple stints in mental institutions. At one of these institutions, he was assigned to work in a farmyard, thus beginning his lifelong affinity for farm culture.

==Writing career and encounters with National Socialism==

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In the wake of the war, Fallada worked at several farmhand and other agricultural jobs in order to support himself and finance his growing drug addiction. While before the war Fallada relied on his father for financial support while writing, after the German defeat he was no longer able, or willing, to depend on his father's assistance. Shortly after the publication of ''Anton und Gerda'' Fallada reported to prison in [[Greifswald]] to serve a 6-month sentence for stealing grain from his employer and selling it to support his drug habit. Less than 3 years later, in 1926, Fallada again found himself imprisoned as a result of a drug and alcohol-fueled string of thefts from employers. In February 1928 he finally emerged free of addiction.

Fallada married Anna "Suse" Issel in 1929 and maintained a string of respectable jobs in journalism, working for newspapers and eventually for the publisher of his novels, [[Rowohlt Verlag|Rowohlt]]. It is around this time that his novels became noticeably political and started to comment on the social and economic woes of Germany. His breakthrough success came in 1930/1931 with ''A Small Circus'' (German: ''Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben''; "Peasants, Bosses and Bombs") based on the history of the [[Rural People's Movement]] in Schleswig-Holstein and the farmers' protest and boycott of the town of [[Neumünster]].<ref>A. Otto-Morris, ''Rebellion in the Province: The Landvolkbewegung and the Rise of National Socialism in Schleswig-Holstein'' (Frankfurt/Main 2013) {{ISBN|978-3-631-58194-0}}</ref> Williams notes that Fallada's 1930/31 novel "..established [him] as a promising literary talent as well as an author not afraid to tackle controversial issues".<ref>Williams, 109.</ref> [[Martin Seymour-Smith]] said it is one of his best novels, "it remains one of the most vivid and sympathetic accounts of a local revolt ever written."<ref>[[Martin Seymour-Smith]], ''Guide to Modern World Literature'', page 600</ref>

The great success of ''Kleiner Mann - was nun?'' (''[[Little Man, What Now? (novel)|Little Man, What Now?]]'') in 1932, while immediately easing his financial straits, was overshadowed by his anxiety over the rise of [[national socialism]] and a subsequent nervous breakdown. Although none of his work was deemed subversive enough to warrant action by the Nazis, many of his peers were arrested and interned, and his future as an author under the Nazi regime looked bleak. A German film of the book was made by Jewish producers at the end of 1932, and this earned Fallada closer attention by the rising [[Nazi Party]]. The film, unlike the US film of 1934, bore little resemblance to the novel, and was finally released after many cuts by the Nazi censors in mid-1933.

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In 1937 the publication and success of ''Wolf unter Wölfen'' (''[[Wolf Among Wolves]]'') marked Fallada's temporary return to his serious, realistic style. The Nazis read the book as a sharp criticism of the [[Weimar Republic]], and thus naturally approved. Notably, [[Joseph Goebbels]] called it "a super book".<ref>Williams, 186.</ref> Goebbels's interest in Fallada's work would lead the writer to a world of worry: he would subsequently suggest the writer compose an anti-Semitic tract, and his praise indirectly resulted in Fallada's commission to write a novel that would be the basis for a state-sponsored film charting the life of a German family up to 1933.

The book, ''[[Iron Gustav|Der eiserne Gustav]]'' (''{{Interlanguage link multi|Iron Gustav|de|3=Gustav Hartmann (Droschkenkutscher)}}''), was a look at the deprivations and hardships brought on by [[World War I]], but upon reviewing the manuscript Goebbels would suggest that Fallada stretch the time-line of the story to include the rise of the Nazis and their depiction as solving the problems of the War and Weimar. Fallada wrote several different versions before eventually capitulating under the pressure of both Goebbels and his depleted finances. Other evidence of his surrender to Nazi intimidation came in the form of forewords he subsequently wrote for two of his more politically ambiguous works, brief passages in which he essentially declared that the events in his books took place before the rise of the Nazis and were clearly "designed to placate the Nazi authorities".<ref>Williams, 197.</ref>

By the end of 1938, despite the deaths of several colleagues at the hands of the Nazis, Fallada finally reversed his decision to emigrate. His British publisher, [[George Putnam (British publisher)|George Putnam]], had made arrangements and sent a private boat to whisk Fallada and his family out of Germany. According to Jenny Williams, Fallada had actually packed his bags and loaded them into the car when he told his wife he wanted to take one more walk around their [[smallholding]]. "When he returned some time later," Williams writes, "he declared that he could not leave Germany and that Suse should unpack."

This seemingly abrupt change of plans coincided with an inner conviction that Fallada had long harbored. Years earlier he had confided to an acquaintance that: “I could never write in another language, nor live in any other place than Germany.”<ref>Larson, Erik, "In The Garden of Beasts," Crown Publishers, 2011, p. 271</ref>

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==Postwar life==

{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2022}}

Despite a seemingly successful reconciliation with his first wife, only a few months after his release he went on to marry the young, wealthy and attractive widow UllaUrsula Losch, onlywidow aof fewthe monthsartist after[[Kurt his releaseLosch]], and moved in with her in [[Feldberg, Mecklenburg]]. Shortly after, the Soviets invaded the area. Fallada, as a celebrity, was asked to give a speech at a ceremony to celebrate the end of the war. Following this speech, he was appointed interim mayor of Feldberg for 18 months.

The time in the mental institution had taken a toll on Fallada, and, deeply depressed by the seemingly impossible task of eradicating the vestiges of fascism that were now so deeply ingrained in society by the Nazi regime, he once again turned to morphine with his wife, and both soon ended up in hospital. He spent the brief remainder of his life in and out of hospitals and wards. Losch's addiction to morphine appears to have been even worse than Fallada's, and her constantly mounting debts were an additional source of concern. Fallada wrote ''Jeder stirbt für sich allein'' (''[[Every Man Dies Alone]]'') between September and November 1946 (shortly before his death), whilst in a mental institution. He told his family that he had written "a great novel".

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At the time of Fallada's death in February 1947, aged 53, from a weakened heart from years of addiction to morphine, alcohol and other drugs, he had recently completed ''Every Man Dies Alone'', an anti-fascist novel based on the true story of a German couple, [[Otto and Elise Hampel]], who were executed for producing and distributing anti-Nazi material in Berlin during the war.<ref>Williams, 254.</ref> According to Jenny Williams, he wrote the book in a "white heat"—a mere 24 days. Fallada died just weeks before the publication of this final novel. He was buried in [[Pankow]], a borough of Berlin, but was later moved to [[Carwitz]] where he had lived from 1933 till 1944. After Fallada's death, because of possible neglect and continuing addiction on the part of his second wife and sole heir, many of his unpublished works were lost or sold.

Fallada remained a popular writer in Germany after his death. But, although ''Little Man, What Now?'' had been a great success in the United States and the UK, outside of Germany Fallada faded into obscurity for decades. In Germany, ''Every Man Dies Alone'' made a great impact. It was filmed for television in both [[German Democratic Republic|East]] and [[West Germany]].<ref name = "Buchan">{{cite web| url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/mar/07/alone-in-berlin-hans-fallada| title = The path of least resistance| author = Buchan, James| date = March 7, 2009| access-date = October 16, 2013| publisher = theguardian.com}}</ref> The novel was brought to the cinema screen in 1976, starring [[Hildegard Knef]] and [[Carl Raddatz]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073200/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt| title = Everyone Dies Alone| date = 21 January 1976| access-date = October 16, 2013| publisher = IMDb.com}}</ref> Fallada's'Every fameMan inDies theAlone'' remained untranslated in English-speaking worlduntil grew2009, when theit was rediscovered by American publisherpublishing house [[Melville House Publishing]] reissuedand severalreleased Falladain titles,the beginningUS inunder 2009the withtitle ''LittleEvery Man, WhatDies Now?Alone'',<ref>{{cite ''web |url=http://www.observer.com/2009/books/resisting-hitler-first-english-translation-important-anti-fascist-german-novel |title=Resisting Hitler: This is the First English Translation of an Important Anti-Fascist German Novel |work=[[The Drinker'',New andYork ''EveryObserver]] Man|author=James DiesMartin Alone''|date=2009-03-03 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506011220/http://www.observer.com/2009/books/resisting-hitler-first-english-translation-important-anti-fascist-german-novel Melville|archivedate=2009-05-06 House|url-status=dead licensed|access-date=2009-03-13 its}}</ref> editionin anda translation ofby ''Every[[Michael ManHofmann]]. DiesMelville Alone''House licensed it to [[Penguin ClassicsBooks]] in the UK, whichwho published Fallada's last novel underused the title ''Alone in Berlin''. It became a "surprise bestseller" in both the US and UK.<ref name =obs>{{cite "Buchan"web |url=https:/>/www.theguardian.com/books/2010/may/23/hans-fallada-thriller-surprise-hit In|title=Hans Fallada's anti-Nazi classic becomes surprise UK bestseller |work=[[The Observer]] |author=Dalya Alberge |date=May 23, 2010 |accessdate=November 8, Melville2018}}</ref> HouseIt releasedwas ''Wolflisted Amongon Wolves''the inofficial itsUK firstTop unexpurgated50 Englishfor translationall UK publishers, a rare occurrence for such an old book.<ref name=obs/>

Other German writers who had quit the country when [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] rose to power felt disgust for those such as Fallada who had remained, compromising their work under the Nazi regime. Most notable of these critics was Fallada's contemporary [[Thomas Mann]], who had fled Nazi repression early on and lived abroad. He expressed harsh condemnation for writers like Fallada, who, though opponents of Nazism, made concessions which compromised their work. “It may be superstitious belief, but in my eyes, any books which could be printed at all in Germany between 1933 and 1945 are worse than worthless and not objects one wishes to touch. A stench of blood and shame attaches to them. They should all be pulped.”<ref>Larson, Erik, “In The Garden of Beasts," Crown Publishers, 2011, p. 273</ref>

The [[Hans Fallada Prize]], a literary prize awarded by the city of [[Neumünster]], was named after the author.

In popular culture "Hans Fallada" was one of the protagonists oi Colin Wilson's 1976 novel, "The Space Vampires," turned into a major fim, "Lifeforce" in 1985.

==Works==

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'''German''':

Much of Fallada's work is available in German at [httphttps://projektwww.projekt-gutenberg.deorg/autorautoren/namen/hans-fallada-1407.html Projekt Gutenberg-DE Hans Fallada.]

* Der junge Goedeschal, 1920

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* ''[[Little Man, What Now? (1933 film)|Little Man, What Now?]]'', directed by [[Fritz Wendhausen]] (Germany, 1933, based on the novel ''[[Little Man, What Now? (novel)|Little Man, What Now?]]'')

* ''[[Little Man, What Now? (1934 film)|Little Man, What Now?]]'', directed by [[Frank Borzage]] (1934, based on the novel ''[[Little Man, What Now? (novel)|Little Man, What Now?]]'')

* ''{{ill|Altes Herz geht auf die Reise|de|Altes Herz geht auf die Reise (1938)}}'', directed by {{ill|Carl Junghans|de}} (Germany, 1938, based on the novel ''An Old Heart Goes A-Journeying''), <small>banned in Nazi Germany, released after World War II</small>

* ''[[Heaven, We Inherit a Castle]]'', directed by [[Peter Paul Brauer]] (Germany, 1943, based on the novel ''Kleiner Mann, großer Mann – alles vertauscht'')

<!-- Der eiserne Gustav (1958) is not based on Fallada's novel. -->

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* ''[[Everyone Dies Alone]]'', directed by [[Alfred Vohrer]] (West Germany, 1976, based on the novel ''[[Every Man Dies Alone]]'')

* ''{{ill|Ein Mann will nach oben|de}}'', directed by {{ill|Herbert Ballmann|de}} (West Germany, 1978, TV miniseries, based on the novel ''Ein Mann will nach oben'')

* ''{{ill|Der eiserne Gustav (miniseries)|de|3=Der eiserne Gustav (Fernsehserie)|lt=Der eiserne Gustav}}'', directed by [[Wolfgang Staudte]] (West Germany, 1979, TV miniseries, based on the novel ''Iron Gustav'')

* ''{{ill|Die Geschichte vom goldenen Taler|de}}'', directed by {{ill|Bodo Fürneisen|de}} (East Germany, 1985, TV film, based on a short story from ''Geschichten aus der Murkelei'')

* ''{{ill|Altes Herz geht auf die Reise (1987 film)|de|3=Altes Herz geht auf die Reise (1987)|lt=Altes Herz geht auf die Reise}}'', directed by {{ill|Hans Knötzsch|de}} (East Germany, 1987, TV film, based on the novel ''An Old Heart Goes A-Journeying'')

* ''{{ill|DerThe TrinkerDrinker (film)|de|3=Der Trinker (1995)|lt=DerThe TrinkerDrinker}}'', directed by {{ill|Tom Toelle|de}} (Germany, 1995, TV film, based on the novel ''[[The Drinker (novel)|The Drinker]]'')

* ''[[Alone in Berlin (film)|Alone in Berlin]]'', directed by [[Vincent Perez]] (2016, based on the novel ''[[Every Man Dies Alone]]'')

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==References==

*[[Jenny Williams (academic)|Williams, Jenny]]. ''More Lives than One: A Biography of Hans Fallada'', 1998. {{ISBN|978-1-870352-38-3}}

==External links==

{{Commons category}}

* {{Official website|http://www.fallada.de/ }} {{in lang|de}}▼

* Much of Fallada's work is available in German at [http://projekt.gutenberg.de/autor/hans-fallada-1407 Projekt Gutenberg-DE Hans Fallada.]

* [https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/autoren/namen/fallada.html Works by Hans Fallada] at [[Projekt Gutenberg-DE]] {{in lang|de}}

▲*{{Official website|http://www.fallada.de/ }} {{in lang|de}}

* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Hans Fallada}}

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110817162634/http://hansfallada.com/ Hans Fallada], unofficial English-language website▼

* {{FadedPage|id=Ditzen, Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich|name=Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen|author=yes}}

▲* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110817162634/http://hansfallada.com/ Hans Fallada], unofficial English-language website

* {{Books and Writers |id=hfallada |name=Hans Fallada}}

* {{cite news▼

*[http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/0001/bsb00016321/images/index.html?seite=33 Biography]{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{in lang|de}}

▲*{{cite news

|title=Movies: Biography for Hans Fallada

|work=[[New York Times]]▼

|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/person/309334/Hans-Fallada/biography

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520085927/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/309334/Hans-Fallada/biography

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=2011-05-20

|department=Movies & TV Dept.

▲|work=[[The New York Times]]

|author=Bruce Eder

|date=2011

|access-date=2008-08-14

}}

{{Hans Fallada}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1947 deaths]]

[[Category:People from Greifswald]]

[[Category:PeopleWriters from the Province of Pomerania]]

[[Category:Writers from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]]▼

[[Category:German male novelists]]▼

[[Category:20th-century German novelists]]▼

[[Category:20th-century German male writers]]

▲[[Category:20th-century German novelists]]

▲[[Category:German male novelists]]

▲[[Category:Writers from Mecklenburg-VorpommernWestern Pomerania]]

[[Category:People acquitted of murder]]

[[Category:Reich Labour Service members]]