Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,995
Elise and Otto Hampel - two silent heroes...!
On March 8, 1943, the married couple Elise and Otto Hampel from Berlin were murdered by the Nazis in Plötzensee prison (today a memorial) with a guillotine...:
Otto Hampel previously worked in the Siemens-Schuckert and Elise cable works as a domestic help. Simple people from the working-class milieu who had little to do with politics and the Nazis and just wanted to "make ends meet".
That changed, however, when Elise's beloved brother was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1939 and died in France in 1940 during the western campaign.
This event opened the Hampels' eyes to the reality of the state they lived in - and eventually turned them into active resistance fighters!
Between September 1940 and September 1942 they wrote postcards and around 200 leaflets calling for resistance against fascism and for obstructing war plans...:
They wrote the postcards in disguised handwriting and distributed them - always at the risk of their lives - even in Berlin mailboxes; they put the leaflets out, which was perhaps even more dangerous, in public places.
Despite considerable investigative efforts by the Secret State Police, it took two years before the Hampels were caught - they had been denounced by neighbors!
Elise and Otto Hampel were arrested on October 20, 1942.
On January 22, 1943, the 2nd Senate of the People's Court under Roland Freisler...
... sentenced her to death for "undermining military strength" and "preparing for high treason".
The Hampel couple would probably only be known to a small circle of historians today - if it weren't for the novel "Everybody dies for himself"...
...with it the writer Hans Fallada...
...to whom Hampels erected a monument in 1947!
The book was adapted into a moving feature film from 1976 starring Hildegard Knef and Carl Raddatz (director: Alfred Vohrer), which - slightly alienated - tells their story...:
In 2016 a remake was filmed as a British-German-French co-production under the title "Alone in Berlin"...:
And finally: The Quangel couple (Hans Fallada gave the Hampels this name in his novel) also appear in the DEFA (GDR) film adaptation from 1970, which, however - as a series - is broader and also illuminates other resistance groups...
In Plötzensee, a simple memorial reminds us of Elise and Otto Hampel...:
And on the house where they lived there is a memorial plaque...:
On March 8, 1943, the married couple Elise and Otto Hampel from Berlin were murdered by the Nazis in Plötzensee prison (today a memorial) with a guillotine...:
Otto Hampel previously worked in the Siemens-Schuckert and Elise cable works as a domestic help. Simple people from the working-class milieu who had little to do with politics and the Nazis and just wanted to "make ends meet".
That changed, however, when Elise's beloved brother was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1939 and died in France in 1940 during the western campaign.
This event opened the Hampels' eyes to the reality of the state they lived in - and eventually turned them into active resistance fighters!
Between September 1940 and September 1942 they wrote postcards and around 200 leaflets calling for resistance against fascism and for obstructing war plans...:
They wrote the postcards in disguised handwriting and distributed them - always at the risk of their lives - even in Berlin mailboxes; they put the leaflets out, which was perhaps even more dangerous, in public places.
Despite considerable investigative efforts by the Secret State Police, it took two years before the Hampels were caught - they had been denounced by neighbors!
Elise and Otto Hampel were arrested on October 20, 1942.
On January 22, 1943, the 2nd Senate of the People's Court under Roland Freisler...
... sentenced her to death for "undermining military strength" and "preparing for high treason".
The Hampel couple would probably only be known to a small circle of historians today - if it weren't for the novel "Everybody dies for himself"...
...with it the writer Hans Fallada...
...to whom Hampels erected a monument in 1947!
The book was adapted into a moving feature film from 1976 starring Hildegard Knef and Carl Raddatz (director: Alfred Vohrer), which - slightly alienated - tells their story...:
In 2016 a remake was filmed as a British-German-French co-production under the title "Alone in Berlin"...:
And finally: The Quangel couple (Hans Fallada gave the Hampels this name in his novel) also appear in the DEFA (GDR) film adaptation from 1970, which, however - as a series - is broader and also illuminates other resistance groups...
In Plötzensee, a simple memorial reminds us of Elise and Otto Hampel...:
And on the house where they lived there is a memorial plaque...:
