Strong tea and good books

Alone in Berlin is set during the Second World War and is based on a true story, of a couple who opposed the Nazi regime after the loss of a family member. Written by Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen under his pseudonym 'Hans Fallada' (taken from the Grimm Fairy Tales) in 1946 and published posthumously in 1947.

Ditzen himself was an opponent of the Nazi regime who remained in Germany throughout the time the Nazis were in power and who was a famous author in Germany before the war. Although he opposed the regime, he was not vocal about it and had to be mindful of what he chose to write about in novels, for fear of being persecuted.

This story, was written shortly after the end of the Second World War from source documents handed to him by a friend. He wrote the novel in nine weeks but never lived to see it published, dying in December 1946. The novel was a commercial success in Germany, it took however until 2009 for it to be translated into English for the first time, in the US, under the title 'Every Man Dies Alone', and in the UK, as 'Alone in Berlin'.

A novel about resistance to the Nazi regime in Germany, it is both powerful and challenging, and explore many complicated themes. A recommended read for those interested in the period or the genre.