Eine todbringende Wolke über Deutschland. Was niemand wahrhaben wollte, passiert: Deutschland erlebt einen Super-GAU. Die 14-jährige Janna-Berta verliert ihre Familie und landet selbst im Lazarett.
**
Fall-out
by Gudrun Pausewang
translated by Patricia Crampton
Following a spillage from a nuclear power plant, 15 year-old Janna and her brother, Uli, are caught up in the chaos with tragic results. Uli dies and Janna gets radiation sickness.
(This German novel about a nuclear disaster certainly makes a strong impression, but it is more sensational than sensitive in tackling urgent social issues. Janna, the 14-year-old heroine, becomes one of thousands of orphans and refugees when a catastrophic accident occurs at a nuclear power plant. In the terrifying opening sequences, Janna and her younger brother, Uli, set off by bicycle to escape the ominous “cloud” blowing in their direction: they pedal madly alongside stalled traffic, vehicles filled with panicked people who have evacuated their homes. Uli falls off his bike into the path of an oncoming car and, in a characteristically unflinching passage, the reader learns that his head, “half shrouded by the cap, lay strangely flattened, in a pool of blood which was visibly widening.” Many elements of Pausewang’s apocalyptic scenario reflect distinctly German preoccupations-Janna’s grandparents, who also refuse to talk about their experiences in WWII, are abroad at the time of the disaster, and they utterly ignore all the news about it; citizens cannot believe that the government has ordered police and soldiers to gun down certain survivors. This is harsh, frightening fare for young readers, who may also be put off by a decidedly British, often awkward translation.)
Die Wolke
von Gudrun Pausewang
(1987)
Eine todbringende Wolke über Deutschland. Was niemand wahrhaben wollte, passiert: Deutschland erlebt einen Super-GAU. Die 14-jährige Janna-Berta verliert ihre Familie und landet selbst im Lazarett.
**
Fall-out
by Gudrun Pausewang
translated by Patricia Crampton
Following a spillage from a nuclear power plant, 15 year-old Janna and her brother, Uli, are caught up in the chaos with tragic results. Uli dies and Janna gets radiation sickness.
(This German novel about a nuclear disaster certainly makes a strong impression, but it is more sensational than sensitive in tackling urgent social issues. Janna, the 14-year-old heroine, becomes one of thousands of orphans and refugees when a catastrophic accident occurs at a nuclear power plant. In the terrifying opening sequences, Janna and her younger brother, Uli, set off by bicycle to escape the ominous “cloud” blowing in their direction: they pedal madly alongside stalled traffic, vehicles filled with panicked people who have evacuated their homes. Uli falls off his bike into the path of an oncoming car and, in a characteristically unflinching passage, the reader learns that his head, “half shrouded by the cap, lay strangely flattened, in a pool of blood which was visibly widening.” Many elements of Pausewang’s apocalyptic scenario reflect distinctly German preoccupations-Janna’s grandparents, who also refuse to talk about their experiences in WWII, are abroad at the time of the disaster, and they utterly ignore all the news about it; citizens cannot believe that the government has ordered police and soldiers to gun down certain survivors. This is harsh, frightening fare for young readers, who may also be put off by a decidedly British, often awkward translation.)
**
みえない雲
by グードルン パウゼヴァング
translated by 高田ゆみ子
あるドイツの原子力発電所で爆発事故が起き、町はパニックに陥った。学校に未だかつて聞いたことのない警報が鳴り響く。十四歳のヤンナ‐ベルタは、弟とともに右往左往の避難を開始し、その間にも汚染された空気が迫ってくる。はたして彼女は家族と無事に会えるのか…。死傷者数万人ともいわれた世界の原発史上最悪の事態となった旧ソ連・チェルノブイリ爆発事故。その翌年に発表された本作品が、事故後二十年を経て映画化された。ドイツの約三倍の原発を持つわが国にとって、改めて危機感を募らせる衝撃的な近未来小説である。
(sk)
ドイツという敗戦国で書かれた本が、戦勝国のアメリカでも出版された。多少評判にはなったが、ドイツほどには売れなかった。
同じ本は、日本でも出版された。広島に原爆を落とされ、戦争に負け、福島を経験した日本だから、大きな評判をよぶかと思いきや、アメリカほどにも評判にならなかった。
ヒトラーは死に、戦後のドイツはナチズムを完全に否定した。ドイツ人は、ナチスを止められなかった責任を負ったが、戦争責任はナチスにあったということにした。そんなこともあってか、ドイツ人は環境問題にも原発の問題にも、とても厳しい。
日本は大日本帝国を否定せず、天皇は生き続けた。戦争責任を天皇が負うことはなく、かといって国民が負うこともなく、うやむやにされた。そんな国に住んでいる私たちが、環境問題や原発の問題をうやむやにしていくのは、自然の流れではないだろうか。