"The cloud"
"The Cloud" is a book by Gudrun Pausewang that was made into a film in 2006. After reading or watching the film, many wonder if the story is based on a true story. The answer is that there is at least some real core to it.
The cloud - the plot at a glance
- Gudrun Pausewang's book "Die Wolke" is about Janna-Berta (14), a completely normal girl who lives in the small town of Schlitz. One day at school, suddenly the disaster alarm goes off. Janna quickly learns that something terrible has happened: In the nearby Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant, there was a disaster and radioactive radiation has leaked.
- Janna immediately flees home. Her parents are out of town, so Janna and her brother are on their own. Suddenly the two find themselves in a horror scenario. All around them are fleeing from the radioactive cloud that is now on its way to Schlitz. Janna and her brother Uli finally flee on their bikes, but Uli is run over while trying to escape.
- The shocked Janna is first rescued, but then gets caught in the radioactive rain that the cloud brings with it. She is exposed to radiation and ends up in a makeshift infirmary, where she becomes infected with radiation sickness. After this first part of the book it is about the "after". Janna's hair is falling out, but she survives. Her parents, just like Uli, perished and so she is passed back and forth among the remaining relatives.
- Finally she ends up with an aunt who sees herself as "Hibakusha", a survivor of the catastrophe. From this she draws her new purpose in life, namely to educate and help. In the end, Janna gains strength and even dares to show her bald head to her grandparents, who are downplaying the catastrophe.
The real story behind the film
Although it is in Germany There are nine active nuclear power plants and more than 20 more were added at the height of nuclear energy, so far there has not been a catastrophic disaster. The accident in Grafenrheinfeld (in the film: Markt Ebersberg) never took place. Thus one could argue that "The Cloud" is not based on any true occurrence.
Gudrun Pausewang is a unique German author of children's books whose ...
- Here, however, the time when the book was written becomes interesting: It was published in 1987, just one year after the Chernobyl reactor disaster. In this accident, which struck the Ukrainian city of Pripyat, exactly what Pausewang describes in her book happened. There was a reactor explosion that released large amounts of nuclear energy in an uncontrolled manner.
- The radiation discharged in several radioactive clouds over large parts of Europe. An area of 30 kilometers around the reactor was particularly badly affected, but increased radiation was measured even in distant Sweden and also in Germany.
- To this day, the area around Pripyat is considered to be heavily contaminated, only a few people live there. How many victims the GAU claimed is still a point of contention today, as the long-term consequences of cancer are difficult to assess. However, more than a million people are said to be affected.
- In 1986 the catastrophe caused international upheaval and strong protests by the anti-nuclear movement. In Germany, too, many people were shaken up and made aware that such a disaster could happen anywhere. But does Pausewang's book have anything to do with it?
Pausewang's motivations - background to the book
Indeed, Gudrun Pausewang is a declared opponent of nuclear power. The background to this runs through her entire biography: Born in 1928 in poor conditions, she lived through the time of National Socialism and the manipulative forces that were at work at the time. After understanding and processing these experiences, she resolved to always be a responsible citizen. One of their main concerns was the protection of nature. As early as the 1970s she was skeptical about nuclear energy, and Chernobyl then confirmed her fears in the most saddest way. Although the nuclear disaster did not take place in Germany, it was close enough to shake people up in this country too. Since it is already appropriate for adults literature there, Pausewang decided to make her contribution to the education through a youth book. "The Cloud" was not only successful in the eighties, but also became relevant again in 2011 with the Fukushima disaster. To this day, Pausewang is active in the anti-nuclear power movement and announces that he will warn of the dangers of nuclear energy as long as it is alive.
