 Fallada was given the Hampels' Gestapo files by Johannes Becher, a poet, novelist and friend of Fallada's, who returned from exile after the war and became president of the cultural organization established by the Soviet military administration in the Soviet sector.In his job to create a new anti-fascist culture, he went through the Nazi files of executed Resistance fighters and then sought authors who would write these stories according to the new anti-fascist model.He gave the Hampels' files to Fallada in autumn 1945 in an effort to help him recover by giving him good subject matter for a book.