Otto and Elise Hampel

Memorial plaque at the Hampels' former residence, Amsterdamer Straße 10, Berlin

Otto and Elise Hampel were a working-class couple who created a simple method of protest while living in Berlin during the early years of World War II.^[1] They composed postcards denouncing Hitler's government and left them in public places around the city. They were eventually caught, tried, and beheaded in Berlin's Plötzensee Prison in April 1943. Shortly after the end of the war, their Gestapo file was given to German novelist Hans Fallada, and their story inspired his now-classic 1947 novel Jeder stirbt für sich allein, recently translated into English and published in 2009 as Every Man Dies Alone (or Alone in Berlin (UK)). In the novel the details of the Hampels are modified slightly and they are called the Quangels.^[2] The American version of the book published by Melville House Publishing includes an appendix containing some pages from the actual Gestapo file, including mug shots, signed confessions, police reports, and several of the actual postcards used in the protest.

Elise Lemme married Otto Hampel in 1935.^[1] She was a domestic servant and a member of the National Socialist Frauenschaft (Women’s League).^[1] Otto had served in World War I and was a factory worker.^[3]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Elise Hampel (October 27, 1903 - April 08, 1943), biography at Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand (German Resistance Memorial Center)
2. ^ "Postcards from the Edge", by Liesel schillinger in The New York Times, March 1, 2009.
3. ^ Otto Hermann Hampel (June 21, 1897 - April 08, 1943), biography at Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand (German Resistance Memorial Center)

External links

• Otto Hermann Hampel (de)
• Elise Hampel (de)
• Otto Hermann Hampel (June 21, 1897 - April 08, 1943), biography at Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand (German Resistance Memorial Center)
• Elise Hampel (October 27, 1903 - April 08, 1943), biography at Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand (German Resistance Memorial Center)