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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. 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 1947 novel translated into English and published in 2009 as ''Every Man Dies Alone'' (''Alone in Berlin'' in the UK). == Life and resistance == Otto Hampel (June 21, 1897 – April 8, 1943) was born in Mühlbock, a suburb of Wehrau, now in Poland, but then part of Germany. He served in World War I and was later a factory worker.〔(Biographies under "H": click on Hampel Otto Hermann ) German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved March 5, 2012〕 Elise Lemme (October 27, 1903 – April 8, 1943) was born in the Bismark area of Stendal. Her education lasted through elementary school only. She worked as a domestic and was a member of the National Socialist Women's League.〔 The couple married in 1935.〔(Biographies under "H": click on Hampel Elise ) German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved March 5, 2012〕 After learning that Elise's brother had been killed in action, the Hempels undertook efforts to encourage resistance against the Third Reich.〔 From September 1940 until their arrest in autumn 1942, they hand-wrote over 200 postcards, dropping them into mailboxes and leaving them in stairwells in Berlin, often near 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.〔 Although nearly all the postcards were immediately brought to the Gestapo, it took two years for the Gestapo to find them.〔Johannes Groschupf, ("Das Ehepaar Hampel allein in Berlin" ) ''Die Zeit'' (April 16, 2011), p. 2. Retrieved March 8, 2012 〕 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".〔(German version ) German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved March 5, 2012〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Otto and Elise Hampel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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