# Is "Every Man Dies Alone (Alone in Berlin)" by Hans Fallada a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Every Man Dies Alone (Alone in Berlin) by Hans Fallada (Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin, 1947) is identified by: Jeder stirbt für sich allein was published posthumously (Fallada died in February 1947) by Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin, in 1947, collating 539 pp and issued in half-linen (linen spine); postwar paper means age-browning is normal rather than a condition defect. The German Aufbau edition of 1947 is the true first; no English translation existed until 2009.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Jeder stirbt für sich allein was published posthumously (Fallada died in February 1947) by Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin, in 1947, collating 539 pp and issued in half-linen (linen spine); postwar paper means age-browning is normal rather than a condition defect
- The decisive textual point is editorial: Aufbau's editor Paul Wiegler shortened the book and altered it in places for political reasons, apparently without the author's consent, and changed the character name Barkhausen to Borkhausen — the 1947 first edition reads 'Borkhausen'
- The uncut text taken from the surviving original manuscript was not published until Aufbau's new German edition in spring 2011, so any copy carrying the restored/ungekürzte text is by definition later
- Publisher imprint reads Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Hans Fallada |
| Publisher | Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin |
| Year | 1947 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Jeder stirbt für sich allein was published posthumously (Fallada died in February 1947) by Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin, in 1947, collating 539 pp… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Jeder stirbt für sich allein was published posthumously (Fallada died in February 1947) by Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin, in 1947, collating 539 pp and issued in half-linen (linen spine); postwar paper means age-browning is normal rather than a condition defect. The decisive textual point is editorial: Aufbau's editor Paul Wiegler shortened the book and altered it in places for political reasons, apparently without the author's consent, and changed the character name Barkhausen to Borkhausen — the 1947 first edition reads 'Borkhausen'. The uncut text taken from the surviving original manuscript was not published until Aufbau's new German edition in spring 2011, so any copy carrying the restored/ungekürzte text is by definition later.

## Is this the true first?
The German Aufbau edition of 1947 is the true first; no English translation existed until 2009. Both 2009 English firsts are collected and carry different titles from the same Michael Hofmann translation: Melville House, 'Every Man Dies Alone' (543 pp, afterword by Geoff Wilkes), and Penguin Classics, London, 'Alone in Berlin' (black cloth boards lettered in white to the spine, afterword by Geoff Wilkes plus facsimiles of the Hampel Gestapo file). Precedence between the two is NOT established: Wikipedia states Penguin licensed the book from Melville House, implying the US came first, while trade records date the Penguin UK hardback to early 2009 and Melville House to March 2009. Collect both; do not assert one over the other.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition documented for the 1947 Aufbau. Reprint tells: Aufbau's 2011 ungekürzte Neuausgabe and the later 'Neuausgabe der Fassung von 1947' are modern reissues, and the Borkhausen/Barkhausen reading distinguishes the 1947 edited text from restored later ones. Both 2009 English editions were followed quickly by paperbacks (Melville House 2010; Penguin Classics paperback January 2010), and the Penguin Modern Classics and film tie-in issues are later still.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Every Man Dies Alone (Alone in Berlin)* by Hans Fallada a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/every-man-dies-alone-alone-in-berlin
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.