Timeline
1893 - 1920 childhood and youth
1893
- Rudolf Ditzen born on 21 July in Greifswald, Germany, the third of four children of Wilhelm Ditzen, a regional court judge, and his wife Elisabeth Ditzen
1899
- Wilhelm is transferred to the Kammergericht (highest court in the state of Prussia) in Berlin and the family moves there.
since 1906
- Bismarck Grammar School in Berlin-Wilmersdorf
1909
- His father is appointed as a judge at the Reichsgericht (Imperial Supreme Court).
- The family moves to Leipzig, where Rudolf attends the Königin-Carola Grammar School.
1911
- He attends the Fürstliches Grammar School in Rudolstadt
- a duel takes place between Rudolf and his schoolmate Hans Dietrich von Necker, who is killed. A warrant for Rudolf’s arrest is issued, the case tried in court, and Rudolf undergoes a psychiatric examination at the university hospital in Jena.
1912
- Admission to the psychiatric hospital in Tannenfeld, Saxony
- educated by his aunt, Adelaide Ditzen
1913
- Trainee farmhand on an estate in Posterstein, Thuringia
1914
- Volunteer in the First World War
- served 11 days in the Ordnance Corps in Leipzig
1916
- Assistant at the Landwirtschaftskammer (Chamber of Agriculture) in Stettin
- research assistant at the Kartoffelanbau-gesellschaft in Berlin, a company dealing with potato cultivation
1917
- Withdrawal treatment for drug addiction in Carlsfeld, Halle
- accounts clerk on various estates
1919
- Freelance writer in Berlin.
- Completes first novel Der junge Goedeschal (Young Goedeschal)
- Baumgarten manor estate near Dramburg/ Pommerania
- Drug withdrawal treatment in Tannenfeld, Saxony
1920
- Der junge Goedeschal published by the Rowohlt publishing house
- Drug withdrawal treatment in Carlsfeld and Rinteln an der Weser
- Estate administrator in Marzdorf/ West Prussia
1921
- Patient in the Provincial Pomeranian Mental Sanatorium in Stralsund
- Lived and worked in locations between Rostock, Stralsund and Rügen
1922
- Position near Bad Doberan/Mecklenburg
- Administrator on the Neu Schönfeld estate in Lower Silesia
- Work in Marzdorf/West Prussia
- In Gudderitz on the island of Rügen
ab 1923
1923
- Novel Anton und Gerda
- In Gudderitz on Rügen
- Administrator on the manor estate Radach near Drossen
- Bookkeeper in the grain trade in Drossen/Neumark
1924
- Drossen
- Prison in Greifswald
- In Gudderitz on Rügen
1925
- Accountant in Lübgust/Pommerania
- Estate administrator in Neuhaus near Lützjenburg/Holstein
- Prison in Neumünster
1928
- Engagement to Anna Margarete Issel
- works as an address clerk in Hamburg
1929
- Marries on 5 April
- works as local-news editor and advertisement seller for the General-Anzeiger newspaper in Neumünster
1930
- Salaried employee with the Ernst Rowohlt publishing house in Berlin
- birth of his son Ulrich on 14 March
1931
- Novel Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben (Peasants, Bosses and Bombs)
- purchases a house in Neuenhagen, an outlying district of Berlin
1932
Worldwide success of the novel Kleiner Mann, was nun?
(Little Man, What Now?)
(Little Man, What Now?)
1933
- The family moves to Berkenbrück near Berlin
- Fallada is arrested by the SA (Storm Troopers) and detained for 11 days in the prison in Fürstenwalde
- Birth of his daughter Lore on July 18
- purchase of property in Carwitz, near Feldberg, Mecklenburg
1934
- Novels Wer einmal aus dem Blechnapf frisst (Once a Jailbird) and Wir hatten mal ein Kind (Once We Had a Child)
1935
- Novel Das Märchen vom Stadtschreiber, der aufs Land flog (Sparrow Farm)
1937
- Novel Wolf unter Wölfen (Wolf Among Wolves)
- death of his father on 14 April
1938
- Novel Der eiserne Gustav (Iron Gustav)
1940
- Novel Der ungeliebte Mann (The Unloved Man)
- birth of his third child, Achim, on 3 April
1943
- Novel Ein Mann will hinauf (A Man Wants to Move Up )
- trip to France with the Reichsarbeitsdienst (Imperial Labour Service)
1944
- Divorce from Anna Ditzen on 5 July
- meets Ursula Losch
- compulsory hospitalization in the psychiatric prison in Strelitz
- Trinkermanuskript (Drinker Manuscript) is written
1945
- Marries Ursula Losch on 1 February
- appointed mayor of Feldberg
- moves to Berlin
- meets Johannes R. Becher
- becomes a freelance writer for the Tägliche Rundschau newspaper
1946
- Work on the novels Der Alpdruck (The Nightmare) and Jeder stirbt für sich allein (Alone in Berlin)
- admission to the psychiatric clinic of Charité hospital in Berlin
1947
- Dies of heart failure on 5 February in Berlin-Niederschönhausen
