The Hans Fallada Archives

The Hans Fallada Archives are located on the writer’s estate in Carwitz, immediately adjacent to the Hans Fallada Museum. Scholars can conduct research here, while children and young people can take part in project activities.

The core of the Archives is the writer Hans Fallada’s literary estate, which was acquired by the Academy of Arts of the GDR in 1978 and became the property of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 1995. It includes novel manuscripts such as the handwritten manuscript of Fallada’s most successful novel, Kleiner Mann – was nun? (Little Man, What Now?), correspondence – including approximately 2,000 letters to and from Fallada’s publisher Ernst Rowohlt –, autobiographical and journalistic writings, reviews and personal documents.

These holdings are supplemented by the collection of Literaturzentrum Neubrandenburg e. V., which was founded in 1971 and has made further documents and historical objects available for public use through decades of work. Important archival materials offering insights into the writer’s life and work were assembled with particular support from Anna Ditzen, Hans Fallada’s first wife, and his sons. They include family letters, Hans Fallada’s work calendars from 1933 to 1943 and an extensive photographic collection.

Other private individuals have given the Archives documents such as Hans Fallada’s school reports, original manuscripts including an early epic love poem, and extensive book collections containing a large number of foreign-language editions of Fallada’s works. The Literature Centre continues to collect press reports, reviews, academic studies and other publications about the writer.

Access and contact