View source for Otto and Elise Hampel

{{Short description|German resistance members}}
[[File:Elise and Otto Hampel.png|thumb|Elise and Otto Hampel's 1942 [[Gestapo]] pictures]]
'''Otto and Elise Hampel''' were a [[working class]] German couple who created a simple method of [[German resistance to Nazism|protest against Nazism]] in Berlin during the middle years of [[World War&nbsp;II]]. They wrote postcards denouncing [[Adolf Hitler|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 1947 novel, translated into English and published in 2009 as ''[[Every Man Dies Alone]]'' (''Alone in Berlin'' in the UK). The story was filmed in 2016 as ''[[Alone in Berlin (film)|Alone in Berlin]]''.

==Life and resistance==
[[File:Hampel postcard.jpg|thumb|One of the Hampels' postcards; in the middle is a postage stamp bearing Hitler's face, scrawled with the words "worker murderer"]]
Otto Hampel (21 June 1897 – 8 April 1943) was born in [[Ołobok, Lower Silesian Voivodeship|Mühlbock]], a suburb of [[Osiecznica, Lower Silesian Voivodeship|Wehrau]], now in Poland, but then part of Germany. He served in [[World War&nbsp;I]] and was later a factory worker.<ref name=gdw-otto>{{cite web | url=http://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/recess/biographies/index_of_persons/biographie/view-bio/otto-hermann-hampel/?no_cache=1 | title=Otto Hermann Hampel | publisher=[[German Resistance Memorial Center]] | access-date=January 18, 2017}}</ref>

Elise Lemme (27 October 1903 – 8 April 1943) was born in the [[Bismark, Germany|Bismark]] area of [[Stendal]]. Her education lasted only through [[Elementary school#Germany|elementary school]]. She worked as a [[Domestic worker|domestic servant]] and was a member of the [[National Socialist Women's League]].<ref name=gdw-elise/>

The couple married in 1935.<ref name=gdw-elise>{{cite web | url=http://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/recess/biographies/index_of_persons/biographie/view-bio/elise-hampel/?no_cache=1 | title=Elise Hampel | publisher=[[German Resistance Memorial Center]] | access-date=January 18, 2017}}</ref> After learning that Elise's brother had been killed in action, the Hampels undertook efforts to encourage resistance against the [[Third Reich]].<ref name=gdw-elise/> From September 1940 until their arrest in autumn 1942, they hand-wrote over 287 postcards, dropping them into mailboxes and leaving them in [[Stairway#Other terminology|stairwell]]s in Berlin, often near [[Wedding (Berlin)|Wedding]], where they lived.

The postcards urged people to refuse to cooperate with the Nazis, to refrain from donating money, to refuse military service, and to overthrow Hitler.<ref name=gdw-elise/> Although nearly all the postcards were immediately brought to the [[Gestapo]], it took two years for the authorities to find the couple.<ref name="zeit">Johannes Groschupf, [http://www.zeit.de/kultur/literatur/2011-04/hans-fallada-widerstand/seite-2 "Das Ehepaar Hampel allein in Berlin" (pg. 2)] ''[[Die Zeit]]'', 16 April 2011; retrieved 8 March 2012. {{in lang|de}}</ref> The Hampels were denounced in autumn 1942 and were arrested. Otto declared to the police that he was happy to be able to protest against Hitler and the Third Reich. At trial at the ''[[Volksgerichtshof]]'', the Nazi "People's Court", the Hampels were convicted of ''[[Wehrkraftzersetzung]]'' and of "preparing for [[high treason]]".<ref>[http://www.gdw-berlin.de/de/vertiefung/biographien/personenverzeichnis/#H German version], gdw-berlin.de; retrieved 5 March 2012.{{in lang|de}}</ref> They were both guillotined on 8 April 1943 in the [[Plötzensee Prison]], Berlin.<ref>{{cite news |author=Andreas Mix |url=http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/hans-falladas-roman--jeder-stirbt-fuer-sich-allein--hat-ein-wahres-vorbild--die-geschichte-von-elise-und-otto-hampel--die-gegen-die-nazis-zettel-verteilten-das-fallbeil-zerschlug-auch-ihre-ehe,10810590,10786988.html |title=Das Fallbeil zerschlug auch ihre Ehe |language=de |work=[[Berliner Zeitung]] |issue=112, Magazin |date=2011-05-14 |page=8 |access-date=2016-11-24 |archive-date=2016-02-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224153821/http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/hans-falladas-roman--jeder-stirbt-fuer-sich-allein--hat-ein-wahres-vorbild--die-geschichte-von-elise-und-otto-hampel--die-gegen-die-nazis-zettel-verteilten-das-fallbeil-zerschlug-auch-ihre-ehe,10810590,10786988.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Gedenktafel Amsterdamer Str 10 (Wedd) Elise und Otto Hampel.jpg|thumb|Memorial plaque at the site of the Hampels' former residence, Amsterdamer Straße 10 in Berlin {{efn| The plaque reads: "Here stood the house in which OTTO HAMPEL 21.6.1897 to 8. 4.1943 and ELISE HAMPEL 27.10.1903 to 8. 4.1943 lived from 1934 until their arrest. The working-class couple was executed on 8 April 1943 in Berlin- 
Plötzensee. Their rebellion against contempt for human beings  of the Nazi regime was the model for Hans Fallada's novel ''Everyone dies for himself.''"}}

]]
Their life was fictionalized in the Hans Fallada novel, where they are called Otto and Anna Quangel, and it is their son who is killed, rather than the wife's brother.<ref>Liesel Schillinger, [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/books/review/Schillinger-t.html "Postcards from the Edge"] ''[[The New York Times]]'', 27 February 2009; retrieved 5 March 2012.</ref> The English language 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.<ref>See the appendix in the English language version of the book published by [[Melville House Publishing]].</ref>

There have been five screen adaptations of the novel: ''[[Jeder stirbt für sich allein (1962 film)|Jeder stirbt für sich allein]]'', directed by [[Falk Harnack]] in [[West Germany]] in 1962;<ref>[http://www.tvprogramme.net/view_tag.php?tag=1962-07-19 "Programm vom Donnerstag, dem 19. Juli 1962"], TVProgramme.net; retrieved 4 March 2012. {{in lang|de}}</ref> a [[Jeder stirbt für sich allein (1970 miniseries)|television miniseries]] directed by [[Hans-Joachim Kasprzik]]<ref>[http://geschonneck.com/erwin "Mein Vater Erwin Geschonneck"] Geschonneck.com; retrieved 4 March 2012.{{in lang|de}}</ref> and produced by [[DEFA]] in [[East Germany]] in 1970; a film version directed by [[Alfred Vohrer]] in 1975, released in English as ''[[Everyone Dies Alone]]'' in 1976,<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073200 ''Everyone Dies Alone''] imdb.com; retrieved 4 March 2012.</ref> in which [[Hildegard Knef]], who won the award for best actress at the [[Karlovy Vary International Film Festival]], portrayed "Anna Quangel".<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000384/1976 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 1976], imdb.com; retrieved 5 March 2012</ref> It was made into a three-part [[television miniseries]] in the [[Czech Republic]] in 2004, directed by [[Dušan Klein]].<ref>[http://hn.ihned.cz/c1-13978210 "Dobro a zlo u Dušana Kleina"] ''Hospodářské Noviny'', 16 February 2004; retrieved 4 March 2012. {{in lang|cs}}</ref> A 2016 film ''[[Alone in Berlin (film)|Alone in Berlin]]'', starring [[Emma Thompson]] and [[Brendan Gleeson]] as Anna and Otto, was selected to compete for the [[Golden Bear]] at the [[66th Berlin International Film Festival]] in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-12-11|title=Berlinale 2016: First Films for Competition and Berlinale Special|url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/presse/pressemitteilungen/wettbewerb/wettbewerb-presse-detail_29588.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222084559/http://www.berlinale.de/en/presse/pressemitteilungen/wettbewerb/wettbewerb-presse-detail_29588.html|archive-date=2015-12-22|website=[[Berlinale]]}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Germans who resisted Nazism]]
* [[White Rose]]
* [[Sophie Scholl]]
* [[Hans Scholl]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control| additional = Q1707942, Q1330633}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hampel, Otto and Elise}}
[[Category:Executed German Resistance members]]
[[Category:People executed by guillotine at Plötzensee Prison]]
[[Category:Married couples]]
[[Category:Executed German women]]
[[Category:Executed German people]]
[[Category:People from Berlin executed at Plötzensee Prison]]
[[Category:German anti-fascists]]
[[Category:People from Mitte]]