Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada - A Page-turning Moral Thriller

Hans Fallada was born in 1893 in Greifswald in north-east Germany and he was one of the most famous German writers of 20th century who lived a chaotic life.

“Alone in Berlin” is a 1947 novel by Hans Fallada, which outlines about German resistance to the Nazis. It is based on the true story middle-aged couple who committed acts of civil disobedience in Berlin during World War II. The story begins in June 1940 in a Berlin apartment, where the old Persicke -- a drunkard retired publican, and his ambitious Nazi sons celebrate the fall of France. At that time postwoman Eva Kluge delivers a devastating letter to a quiet and self-contained couple -- Otto and Anna Quangels in that apartment, the couple learns that their only son has been killed in the war.

The apartment was occupied by an elderly Jewish woman Frau Rosenthal on the top floor whose husband is dragged off by the Gestapo, and seeks some help from Judge Fromm, the retired intellectual. While in the rear tenement, Evil-minded Emil Borkhausen -- a blackmailer and pimp who sniffs around for a chance to earn a quick profit is living with wife Otti who has five children by various men, and entertains her clients. The Quangels couple gets frustrated over their son’s death and decides to begin a campaign of resistance by dropping hundreds of anonymous postcards attacking Hitler in stairwells and offices all over the city, hoping that these postcards will instigate a wider revolt against the Party.

Soon, these cards come to the notice of the ambitious Gestapo inspector Escherich who tries to trace out the people behind this act. Knowing about the postcards issue, Borkhausen, along with little Enno Kluge -- the postwoman's estranged husband who is a pathetic gambler and womanizer gets themselves involved in this act, so that they can earn money through their blackmail and betrayal acts which will tighten the Quangels’ neck. Will the couple get caught?