EVERY MAN DIES ALONE

EVERY MAN DIES ALONE BY HANS FALLADA

22.4.18

I had never heard of Hans Fallada. Recently  I went to a book exhibition and out of curiosity entered a conference room. I sat on a back seat. The topic was great books written by little known authors. There for the first time I heard the name of Hans Fallada a German author who lived in Berlin during the Nazi regime. I purchased his book 'Every man dies alone' written in 1944.  

It is a extraordinary story of a old German couple Otto Quangel and Anna whose only son dies in the war.

The couple realizes that the Nazi regime is cruel and that ordinary people are being killed ,tortured and made to endure endless hardships just to satisfy the needs of a insane ideology.

The Jews were hunted and exterminated. A extraordinary censor was imposed on the people. Everyone was being spied upon. The Gestapo and the SS were a law unto themselves. The courts became a part of the Nazi regime and instead of  dispensing justice were issuing death sentences to anyone suspected of raising the voice against the Nazi regime.

The middle classes and the common man just did not raise enough voices against these injustices. Most of the people remained silent and did not want to invite any trouble by raising their voices against the policies and actions of the Nazi regime.

Under these troublesome conditions the old couple decided that something has to be done to make the people aware that the Nazis were taking the country to the dogs. Hitler was behaving like a mad person and was waging war after war and taking over countries. Countless lives were being lost. All this was being done in the name of German nationalism. A distorted nationalism which aimed to destroy everything in its path. A nationalism which had no place for decency and humanity A meaningless nationalism  which defined love for the country as hate against those who do not agree with their definition of nationalism. Following are some quotes from the book.

 

1. " Because you could see it with your eyes closed, the way they were making separations between ordinary citizens and Party members. Even the worst Party member was worth more to them than the best ordinary citizen."

2. " But foreman Quangel liked equality and fair-dealing. To him a human being was a human being, whether he was in the Party or not.

3. “But the main thing is that we remain different from them, that we never allow ourselves to be made into them, or start thinking as they do. Even if they conquer the whole world, we must refuse to become Nazis.”

4. We are like good seeds in a field of weeds. If it wasn’t for the good seeds, the whole field would be nothing but weeds. And the good seeds can spread their influence…

5. “Show me one that isn’t afraid!” said the brownshirt contemptuously. “And it’s so unnecessary. They just need to do what we tell them. It’s because people have got in the habit of thinking. They have the idea that thinking will help them.They need to do as they’re told. The Führer can do their thinking for them.”

 

 

The old couple decided to write small cards educating the people about the evils of Hitler regime. Their sons being slaughtered in the unnecessary war waged by Hitler. The injustices being meted by courts by giving out biased judgments. The hate against the Jews and their killings. The couple used to enter surreptitiously residential buildings and office complexes and drop these cards. After some time these postcards came to the notice of the Gestapo and they started their investigation.  And  one day the Gestapo catches up with them. They are arrested.

They are sentenced to death and till the end remain defiant to the cruel tortures of the Gestapo .

They die with their decency intact their heads held high.

 

As I read the novel it reminded me of the current state of affairs of our nation. It seemed to me we are also moving on the same path which the Nazi regime treaded some 80 years back. A vicious version of nationalism which we had never heard before is being thrust upon us. A religious nationalism in which Hindutva is the God and humans and humanity has no place in it. Where killings and lynching's of Muslims, demeaning of minorities are overlooked with a snide smile. Heinous crimes like rapes of minorities are defended. Perpetuators of genocides of minorities are set free by the courts. Cases of those involved in such communal crimes are withdrawn. If anybody questions these acts they are labeled as anti nationals. Judiciary refuses to hear petitions asking for enquiry into suspicious deaths allegedly by state actors. Such petitions are termed as insult to the judiciary by the highest court. Media instead of questioning the rulers questions the opposition.

I would suggest that you must read this book and decide for yourself whether you would prefer silence or raise your voice if such a Nazi like situation is developing in our country. Nazi Germany was ultimately destroyed but at what cost. Nobody wants that to happen here.

Hans Fallada wrote this book in 24 days and thereafter died before it was published.

 

ASHOK KUMAR