Germany was not a pleasant place to live in during the first half of the 20th century. With dictatorship ruling the majority, only those closely acquainted with the minority were placed in well-acceptable circumstances. Because of this nationwide undesirable political situation, a lot of literary writers have placed pen to paper in an attempt to educate, stimulate and move citizens to make a change. One of the said literary geniuses was Hans Fallada.
Hans Fallada, or Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen, was one of the contemporary war literary writers who first gained recognition during the first quarter of the 20th century. With his debut book ‘Der junge Goedeschal’, Hans Fallada became a known name amongst published authors. However his morphine addiction, stemmed from his previous accident, was worsening and the death of his brother did not make things any easy for him.
Nine years after publishing his first book, Hans Fallada got married to Suse Issel. During his marriage to Issel, Fallada was able to maintain a number of respectable journalism jobs without any inclination to return to his old proceedings. It was within this environment that Hans Fallada regained his passion for literary works. With the release of his novels Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben and Kleiner Mann- was nun?, Hans Fallada finally received the acclaim and promising future that he rightfully deserved.
Fallada’s novel, Peasants, Bosses and Bombs, was released in 1931 and it was the ultimate novel that earned him a rightful place amongst German literary writers like Thomas Mann. When the book ‘Little Man, What Now?’ came out, the novel still gained its popularity even if the threat of the Nazi government was hanging down low. Because of these anti-Nazi novels, Hans Fallada was able to gain a reputation of being fearless. Fearless of creating novels which spoke of such honesty and vividness that depicted fascism and the repression that Germany was grudgingly enduring at that time.
Hans Fallada is not like other writers who quickly fled the country when the Nazi government was at its peak. Instead, he stayed in Germany with his wife and faced the music. Whilst other literary writers may deem this action with contempt, Hans Fallada was a nationalist who loved and fought for his country in the way he best knew how. As Hans Fallada stated “I cannot write in any other country than my own”. And he did. With his other novels, The Drinker, Once we Had a Child and Wolf amongst Wolves, Hans Fallada kept fighting for Germany’s much-needed freedom.