# Everyone Dies Alone > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Everyone_Dies_Alone > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Everyone_Dies_Alone.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyone_Dies_Alone > Source revision: 1343180182 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1976 West German film Everyone Dies Alone Courtroom scene: Carl Raddatz and Hildegard Knef as Otto and Anna Quangel Directed by Alfred Vohrer Screenplay by Miodrag Cubelic Anton Cerwik Based on Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada Produced by Karl Spiehs Starring Hildegard Knef Carl Raddatz Cinematography Heinz Hölscher Edited by Jutta Hering Music by Gerhard Heinz Production companies Lisa Film Constantin Film Terra-Filmkunst Distributed by Constantin Film Release date 21 January 1976 (1976-01-21) Running time 102 minutes Country West Germany Language German ***Everyone Dies Alone*** / *[Alone in Berlin](/source/Alone_in_Berlin)* (Original title: ***Jeder stirbt für sich allein***) is a 1976 West German [drama film](/source/Drama_film) adapted from the [Hans Fallada](/source/Hans_Fallada) novel *[Every Man Dies Alone](/source/Every_Man_Dies_Alone)*. The book was based on the story of two ordinary Germans, [Otto and Elise Hampel](/source/Otto_and_Elise_Hampel), who committed acts of [civil disobedience](/source/Civil_disobedience) against the [Third Reich](/source/Third_Reich), were caught and sentenced to death. ## Synopsis The film takes place in [Berlin](/source/Berlin) in 1940, during [World War II](/source/World_War_II) as [Adolf Hitler](/source/Adolf_Hitler) is at the height of his power. Anna and Otto Quangel, a working class couple, live in Berlin in simple circumstances and are not particularly interested in politics. Then, their only son is killed in action during the [Battle of France](/source/Battle_of_France) and as they grieve for their son, the desire to resist the Nazi regime grows within them. When a Jewish neighbor is also killed, Anna decides to join the [German Resistance](/source/German_resistance_to_Nazism). She begins writing very personal flyers on postcards, which she at first alone and then with her husband, leaves in public places and slips into mailboxes. The two are discovered, arrested and eventually sentenced to [death](/source/Death_penalty). Otto Quangel commits suicide in the courtroom with a [cyanide pill](/source/Cyanide_pill); his wife is executed two months later. ## Reception The *Lexikon des deutschen Films* published in 1995 by German publisher [Reclam](/source/Reclam-Verlag) called the film Vohrer's most challenging work, stating further, "albeit somewhat sentimental, but without sensationalist moments, this film adaptation comes near Fallada's original. Especially haunting is the focused and unadorned performance by Hildegard Knef." ## Other screen versions There are two earlier screen adaptations of Fallada's book and one later. The first filmed version was [Falk Harnack](/source/Falk_Harnack)'s 1962 television play, *[Jeder stirbt für sich allein](/source/Jeder_stirbt_f%C3%BCr_sich_allein_(1962_film))* produced and broadcast in [West Germany](/source/West_Germany). Anna and Otto Quangel were played by [Edith Schultze-Westrum](/source/Edith_Schultze-Westrum) and [Alfred Schieske](/source/Alfred_Schieske). In 1970, [DEFA](/source/DEFA) produced a three-part miniseries, *[Jeder stirbt für sich allein](/source/Jeder_stirbt_f%C3%BCr_sich_allein_(1970))* in [East Germany](/source/East_Germany), directed by [Hans-Joachim Kasprzik](/source/Hans-Joachim_Kasprzik).[1] [Elsa Grube-Deister](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elsa_Grube-Deister&action=edit&redlink=1) and [Erwin Geschonneck](/source/Erwin_Geschonneck) played the main roles and supported by [Wolfgang Kieling](/source/Wolfgang_Kieling) and [Fred Delmare](/source/Fred_Delmare) among others. In 2004, a [Czech](/source/Czech_language) version, *I ve smrti sami*, was produced as a television miniseries, directed by [Dušan Kleina](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Du%C5%A1an_Kleina&action=edit&redlink=1) and broadcast in the [Czech Republic](/source/Czech_Republic).[2] ## Cast - [Hildegard Knef](/source/Hildegard_Knef) as Anna Quangel - [Carl Raddatz](/source/Carl_Raddatz) as Otto Quangel[3] - [Martin Hirthe](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martin_Hirthe&action=edit&redlink=1) as Escherich - [Gerd Böckmann](/source/Gerd_B%C3%B6ckmann) as Schröder - [Sylvia Manas](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sylvia_Manas&action=edit&redlink=1) as Trudel Baumann - [Peter Matić](/source/Peter_Mati%C4%87) as Enno Kluge - [Heinz Reincke](/source/Heinz_Reincke) as Emil Borkhausen - [Beate Hasenau](/source/Beate_Hasenau) as Karla Borkhausen - [Hans Korte](/source/Hans_Korte) as Obergruppenführer Prall - [Alexander Radszun](/source/Alexander_Radszun) as Otti Quangel - [Rudolf Fernau](/source/Rudolf_Fernau) - [Brigitte Mira](/source/Brigitte_Mira) - [Heinz Ehrenfreund](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Heinz_Ehrenfreund&action=edit&redlink=1) - [Edith Heerdegen](/source/Edith_Heerdegen) - [Wilhelm Borchert](/source/Wilhelm_Borchert_(actor)) - [Pinkas Braun](/source/Pinkas_Braun) - [Friedrich G. Beckhaus](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Friedrich_G._Beckhaus&action=edit&redlink=1) [[de](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_G._Beckhaus)] - [Kurt Buecheler](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kurt_Buecheler&action=edit&redlink=1) - [Dietrich Frauboes](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dietrich_Frauboes&action=edit&redlink=1) - [Jacques Breuer](/source/Jacques_Breuer) - [Wolf Goldan](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wolf_Goldan&action=edit&redlink=1) - [Renate Grosser](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Renate_Grosser&action=edit&redlink=1) - [Heinz Spitzner](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Heinz_Spitzner&action=edit&redlink=1) - [Klaus Miedel](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Klaus_Miedel&action=edit&redlink=1) - [Arnold Marquis](/source/Arnold_Marquis) - [Otto Czarski](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Otto_Czarski&action=edit&redlink=1) ## See also - [List of Germans who resisted Nazism](/source/List_of_Germans_who_resisted_Nazism) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Filmsterne biography of Erwin Geschonneck](http://www.defa-sternstunden.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=282&Itemid=4) [DEFA](/source/DEFA). Retrieved March 5, 2012 (in German) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Dobro a zlo u Dušana Kleina"](http://hn.ihned.cz/c1-13978210) *Hospodářské Noviny* (February 16, 2004). Retrieved March 4, 2012 (in Czech) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Biographie Carl Raddatz](http://filmmuseumpotsdam.de/de/480-1659.htm) Film Museum Potsdam. Retrieved March 5, 2012 (in German) ## Sources - [Hans Fallada](/source/Hans_Fallada): *Jeder stirbt für sich allein. Roman*. Aufbau-Verlag Berlin, ungekürzte Neuauflage 2011, 704 S., [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-3-351-03349-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-351-03349-1) ## External links - [*Everyone Dies Alone*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073200/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) - [*Jeder stirbt für sich allein*](https://archive.today/20130210232718/http://www.filmportal.de/df/19/Credits,,,,,,,,987262F45587490DBCD1D937B1874BC0credits,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.html) Filmportal.de - [*Jeder stirbt für sich allein... (mit Hildegard Knef, Hans Korte)*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjRaXVwTVJc) [YouTube](/source/YouTube) v t e Films directed by Alfred Vohrer Schmutziger Engel (1958) My Ninety Nine Brides (1958) Crime After School (1959) Until Money Departs You (1960) The Dead Eyes of London (1961) Our House in Cameroon (1961) The Door with Seven Locks (1962) The Inn on the River (1962) The Squeaker (1963) The Indian Scarf (1963) An Alibi for Death (1963) Mark of the Tortoise (1964) Der Hexer (1964) Among Vultures (1964) Neues vom Hexer (1965) Old Surehand (1965) Long Legs, Long Fingers (1966) The Hunchback of Soho (1966) Winnetou and Old Firehand (1966) Creature with the Blue Hand (1967) The College Girl Murders (1967) The Hound of Blackwood Castle (1968) Im Banne des Unheimlichen (1968) The Gorilla of Soho (1968) The Man with the Glass Eye (1969) Seven Days Grace (1969) The Sex Nest (1970) Perrak (1970) Und Jimmy ging zum Regenbogen (1971) Love Is Only a Word (1971) The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of (1972) Tears of Blood (1972) All People Will Be Brothers (1973) Three Men in the Snow (1974) Only the Wind Knows the Answer (1974) Crime After School (1975) Everyone Dies Alone (1976) Silence in the Forest (1976) Authority control databases GND --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Everyone Dies Alone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyone_Dies_Alone) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyone_Dies_Alone?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.