Gudrun Pausewang facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gudrun Pausewang
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Gudrun Pausewang in 2017
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| Born | 3 March 1928 Mladkov, Czechoslovakia
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| Died | 23 January 2020 (aged 91) Baunach, Germany
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| Other names | Gudrun Wilcke |
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Gudrun Pausewang (born March 3, 1928 – died January 23, 2020) was a German author. She wrote many books for children and young adults. Sometimes, she was also known by her married name, Gudrun Wilcke.
She became famous for books like The Last Children of Schewenborn and Die Wolke (which means The Cloud, and was translated as Fall-Out). These books were so important that they became required reading in German schools. Gudrun Pausewang often wrote about peace, protecting the environment, and warning about the dangers of nuclear energy. Her books have been translated into English and have won many international awards.
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About Her Life
Gudrun Pausewang was born in a place called Wichstadtl (now Mladkov) in Eastern Bohemia. This area was part of Czechoslovakia. She was part of the German minority living there. Her father was Siegfried Pausewang, and she was the oldest of six children.
When she was 10, the Nazis took over the area. She joined a group called the Jungmädel, which was for girls. She stayed in this group until she was 17. Her father died during World War II. After the war, her mother moved with the children to western Germany, settling in Wiesbaden.
Her Career as a Teacher
Gudrun Pausewang studied to become a teacher. She taught in German primary schools, called Volksschule. Later, starting in 1956, she taught at German schools in other countries. She lived and taught in South America, in countries like Chile, Venezuela, and Colombia.
In 1972, she returned to Germany with her son. She settled in Schlitz, Hesse, where she continued to teach until she retired in 1989. It was in Schlitz that she wrote most of her famous novels. After retiring, she earned a special degree called a Ph.D. Her research was about "Forgotten young-adult writers of Erich Kästner's generation."
Her Main Topics
Gudrun Pausewang wrote about 100 novels during her life. In 2011, she shared the four main topics she cared about most in her writing:
- "We should never experience another war." (She wrote about peace.)
- "We should never have another dictatorship." (She warned against governments that control everything.)
- "The poor conditions in South America." (She wrote about poverty she saw there.)
- "Protecting nature." (She focused on environmental issues.)
Writing About Nuclear Dangers
She wrote her novel Die Wolke (The Cloud) in 1987. This was after the Chernobyl disaster, a big nuclear accident. She used information from doctors who were against nuclear power. The book won several awards in 1988, including the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis. It was translated into English as Fall-Out in 1994.
In 2011, after another nuclear accident, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, she said she wanted to warn her readers about the dangers of her time. She believed it was important to be serious with readers, no matter their age.
Her novel Dark Hours was recognized in the United States. It was on the New York Public Library's list of Books for Teenagers in 2007. It also won a Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction.
Awards and Recognition
Gudrun Pausewang received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. This is a very high honor in Germany. Several schools were named after her because of her important work. In 2017, she received the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis for her entire life's work.
Her books Die Wolke and Die letzten Kinder von Schewenhorn became important books for many young people in West Germany. They helped shape how many people born in the 1970s and 1980s thought about important issues.
Gudrun Pausewang lived in a senior citizens' home in Baunach from 2016. She passed away there on January 23, 2020.
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