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Address Unknown
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Themes
Radicalization
Address Unknown is the story of gradual radicalization, where one adopts radical social and political beliefs. The series of letters charts the journey of one man’s radicalization at the hands of fascism and another man’s radicalization due to immense grief.
The radicalization of Martin is the clearest example of this theme. Between March 1933 and August 1933, Martin is hesitant about the new political system being built in his native country. Max asks him for news about “this Adolf Hitler” (9), who he fears is weaponizing antisemitism to gain power. All that Martin sees is the recovering German economy; he believes that antisemitic violence is a small price to pay for the recovery of his country. This is the turning point for Martin. By dehumanizing others, he too loses his humanity. He is gradually swayed to the Nazi cause, to the point where he is soon defending his “Glorious Leader” to a man he once regarded as a friend. Martin is radicalized to believe in the fascist movement, and Max is forced to watch from afar.
The process of radicalization is closely entwined with identity. In his first letter, when both men are still friends and business partners, Max sympathizes with Martin, who has “never become American despite [his] success” (5). Martin was wealthy and happy in America. His children spoke English (more so than they spoke German), and he lived a comfortable lifestyle with his old friend Max. However, he never felt like he belonged. He never felt attenuated to American culture because he could not abandon his German identity, even when that identity was associated with losing World War I and was economic devastation. On returning to Germany, Hitler and the Nazis are able to sell him a hollow vision of a different kind of German identity. They offer him the strength, pride, and inclusion that he was lacking in America. Martin’s radicalization is made easy by his desire to feel German again.
Martin’s actions also radicalize Max. After Martin fails to protect Griselle, Max decides to take revenge and stops being the empathic, warm Max of the initial letters. He undermines Martin’s German identity, framing Martin as a Jewish collaborator. Martin is powerless to stop Max. The same identity he craved—that of the strong German man, backed by a powerful Nazi state—becomes his undoing.
The Impact of Paranoia and Fascism
The fascist state described in Address Unknown is inherently paranoid. The letters between Max and Martin begin in 1932 and end in 1934. These are the formative years of Nazi Germany, when Adolf Hitler was reconstructing the state in his hateful image. In the letters, one can see how Hitler’s Germany masked weakness with displays of strength.
Martin exhibits this tendency as well. He writes that he has liked Max in spite of his Jewish identity, not because of it. Martin hides his own fractured identity crisis by scapegoating others. He has failed to integrate into American culture, so he criticizes Jewish people—people who have been subject to centuries of persecution—for a perceived failure to integrate into German culture. Like the paranoid fascist state, Martin hides his own weaknesses by directing them at others. Paranoia about his own flaws becomes hatred of other people.
Martin is aware of the paranoid nature of his beloved state. When he writes to Max, he begins to use “the stationery of [his] bank” because he is afraid that people are reading his letters (13). His fears are justified, as his correspondence with Max will eventually lead to his arrest and potentially his execution. Even in its formative state, Nazi Germany is demonstrating a tendency toward totalitarianism, where a dictatorial state has total control over its citizens. All communications are assumed to be read, even private letters between friends.
Through increasingly desperate means, the men continue to exchange letters, but the state tightens its grip on the people. A feedback loop is created, in which the paranoia of the government forces people to become more paranoid, as they cannot communicate in private. With citizens acting desperately, the government seizes even more control of civil liberties.
Ultimately, Max weaponizes the paranoia of the fascist state against the man who failed to save his sister. He leans into Martin’s worst fears, using his letters to frame Martin as a Jewish collaborator. The same paranoia that spread antisemitic violence across the country comes for Martin. He is killed by the fascist forces who killed Griselle, an ironic twist that forces him to confront the nature of the state he has supported for so long.
The Loss of Friendship and Family
Max’s first letter to Martin is relentlessly positive. He is delighted at how Martin is returning to his native land. Max’s friendship with Martin is strong; he is keen to ask about Martin’s family, to the point that he refers to Martin’s wife as “our dear jolly Elsa” (5). He is close enough to Martin and confident enough in their friendship that he frames them as one big happy family, seen by the choice of the word “our.” Their friendship could not be closer. Over the course of the ensuing letters, however, Max’s enthusiasm for Martin’s family changes in tone. The positivity ebbs into politeness.
By May 18, 1933, Max fears for Griselle’s safety and the safety of all Jewish individuals in Germany. Max ’s references to Martin’s family are reduced to “warmest protestations of faith and friendship” (12). As the friendship becomes increasingly fractured, mentions of family fade away. Max is forced to understand that he may have considered himself a part of Martin's family, but Martin may never have felt the same way.
Despite the general positivity of the early letters, there are hints that Martin’s domestic life is not entirely without problems. Max mentions that Griselle is in Austria, but he treads carefully when mentioning her to Martin. Max hopes that he is able to bind himself to his friend by acting as a confidant, but Martin is less enthusiastic. He betrays his friend, and he betrays Griselle, refusing to give her shelter and leaving her to be executed. His letter informing Max of her death is blunt and without emotion. Any affection he once felt for Max or Griselle has been completely subsumed by his turn to Nazism. By this time, Martin cannot envision himself as a family member or a friend to a Jewish person. His antisemitism now defines his relationships.
Ultimately, Martin and Max lose their families and friendships to bigotry. Max loses Griselle, the only family member he mentions in his letters. He also loses Martin, his friend and business partner. After failing to protect Griselle, Martin is punished by Max. Due to his abandonment of friends and family members, Martin loses everything. Max may succeed in punishing Martin, but his only reward is loneliness.
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