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Krick-Aigner 103
Girls Coming of Age During World War Two and the
~, Postwar in Austria:
I,
Novels by Christine Nostlinger and Renate Welsh
Kirsten A. Krick-Aigner
Since World War Two numerous Austrian novels
and memoirs have dealt with persecution, survival on
the home front, and the post-war experience for
women. More specifically, narratives dealing with
childhood themes and girls coming of age during war
include such novels as Ilse Aichinger's Die groflere
Hoffnung (Herod's Children, 1948),short stories by
Marlen Haushofer and Ingeborg Bachmann from the
1950s to the 1970s, and more recent memoirs from the
1980s through 2000 by Lore Segal, Elizabeth Welt
Trahan, Graziella Hlawaty, Martha Blend, and Ruth
Kluger. These novels and memoirs discuss childhood
from the perspective of adulthood and are written for
a mature readership. By contrast, Renate Welsh and
Christine Nostlinger have written about childhood
during war and the postwar in Austria for young I
I
readers. As adults these authors have reconstructed I
I
their own coming-of-age memories and rewritten the I,
I
past from the perspective of childhood. I examine I
these works by reading them in a cultural historical
context while taking into consideration the larger
I'
I
body of Austrian postwar writings by women on war,
as well as the target audience of young readers.
The narratives, Welsh's Johanna(1980)and
Nostlinger's Maikiifer,flieg! (Junebug, Fly! 1973) and
Zwei Wochenim Mai (Two Weeks in May, 1981) offer
young readers today a perspective on the lives of
children touched by war, and reflect on individual
responsibility and the lessons of war offered to a
future generation. 1 1will trace themes of childhood
and war in these narratives and explore how
Nostlinger and Welsh hope to inspire activism,
vigilance and personal responsibility in their readers.
The authors reflect on postwar Austrian history by
recreating the past, targeting young readers in a more
age-appropriate narrative style and language. Such
narrative techniques include shorter chapters and
 1Iio~"'"
Krick-Aigner 104
sub chapters, a profusion of dialog, both simple
sentence structures as well as lengthy sentences
expressing associative, non-linear thoughts, as well as
the inclusion of colloquial language and vocabulary
from Austrian regional dialects.2 Although the themes
of all three narratives center on war and the
immediate postwar on the Austrian home front, such
as the experiences of fear, loss, trau:f:l1.a,
mourning,
I hunger and starvation, the portrayal of war also
provides a context for other important issues such as
the general growing pains of coming of age:
, I
education, illness, homesickness, friendships, and
j
familial issues such as parent-child relationships,
sibling rivalry, and finally, first loves and sexual
awakening.
More importantly the three works clearly target a
specific audience. Not only are the publishers
marketing to a particular age group by writing that
the novels are appropriate for ages twelve and
thirteen, but the cover designs of all three novels are
clearly eager to draw a younger female audience. This
is despite the fact that fathers, grandfathers, brothers,
and boyfriends (especiallyin the case of Johanna)are
very much featured in these works and might also
,
~
< appeal to male readers. The cover of Welsh's Johanna
~ i
features an edited photograph of a young woman
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carrying a heavy basket of laundry to an outdoor well
or fountain. Her figure is stooped, her eyes are
directed at her work, the laundry. The images make
apparent to readers that this is not a story about a
carefree youth; rather it calls for the hard work of
coming to terms with history. The title Johannadraws
attention to the life of a young girl and her fate as a
foster child who survives as a maid to farmers in
rural, prewar Austria. Her relationship with the
socialist Peter, who attempts to counter the growing
National Socialist movement in rural Austria, evolves
into a happy union after an unplanned pregnancy.
The private life of a young girl coming into her own is
portrayed in the context of more public prewar
politics. Welsh's dedication, "For Johanna's
grandchildren," targets the children of today whose
grandmothers came of age during the prewar and
Wodd War Two. The table of contents indicates a
narrative grounded in historical events. The five parts
of the novel are presented in linear progression from
prewar events occurring in 1931 to the final part
entitled "Beginning," which takes place in 1936. The
subtitles of the parts, such as "Farewell,"
"Homesickness," "Sickness," and "Fear," clearly deal
with more serious concems.3 The postlude by Johann
Luger, "Historical Overview," provides a synopsis of
 106
Krick-Aigner
the socio-cultural and political life in Austria from
1931 to 1935.4 According to Luger, the roots of
Austria's involvement in World War Two are to be
found in the fall of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy
and the end of World War One. Luger points out
that in 1931, the first year detailed in the novel,
Austria counted 302,000 unemployed, not to mention
the high numbers of graduating students who could
not find jobs. Farmers, he notes, were less affected by
the economic crises of the war and postwar years.
However, Luger simplifies Austria's involvement in
National Socialism and its willingness to take part in
the German annexation by portraying the relationship
as a "way out of economic difficulties and mass
unemployment" (Welsh 187). He then continues to
portray the National Socialists as enemies of a social'
democratic nation who through "waves of terror" in
January, June, and July of 1934, murdered the
Austrian Chancellor Engelbert DollfuB, and initiated
a steady decline of social democracy and the rise of
the Nazi regime. Luger ends his historical portrait
with a description of Hitler's troops marching into
i, Austria on March 12,1938 and Hitler announcing
Austria's annexation a few days later. Luger omits
that Hitler's troops were greeted by cheering crowds
.' of Austrian citizens in the Viennese Heldenplatz who
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welcomed the regime of National Socialism. This
postlude reinforces the now dubbed "the historical
lie" (Geschichtsliige) of the immediate postwar that
Austria was a victim of Germany and National
Socialism, thereby diminishing Welsh's intention to
urge readers to be personally responsible for their
actions and for history. Luger's emphasis on ideals of
nationalism and patriotism as the cause of war and
tragedy counter the specificity in Welsh's narrative of
personal actions and decision-making that lead to
what is later described as history.
Nostlinger's two novels also provide a historical
context that attract readers while at the same time I .I
hoping to fulfill a didactic component. Both are
written in the first person from the perspective of
Nostlinger as a child about World War Two and the
postwar period on the Austrian home front. Both
Maikiifer,flieg! and Zwei Wochen im Mai are marketed
to appeal to young readers eager to learn more about
Austria's history during the war and postwar period.
Both front covers are of historical black and white
photographs. Maikiifer,flieg! portrays an anxious
young girl with a haunted gaze standing by a house
as a war plane flies overhead while what seem to be
tracer shells, or the overexposed images of June bugs,
rush through the sky.s The cover of Zwei Wochenim
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Krick-Aigner 108
~
Mai is of two photographs,one aboveanother,the
bottom-one portraying a line of people in typical
Austrian dress.One young girl, a suspicious'and
annoyed gazedirected at the camera,leansagainsta
wall, most likely waiting for food rations. The young
girls' gazes are directed at the viewer, urging them to
uncover the root of their anxiety and sadness.
Instead of a historical postlude asin Welsh's
novel, Nostlinger's Zwei Wochenim Mai closes with a
four-page montage of advertisements from the 1945
newspaper WienerKurier,portraying the postwar
experience for Austrians. Food shortages call for ads
for books such as "Canning without sugar," a manual
for the homemaker who must can fruits without
sugar. Strangely, an ad on the next pagemakesthe
canning instruction booklet irrelevant: 25,000tons of
raw sugar have arrived from Cuba, bought by the US
for Austrian aid, raising hope: "Additionally a ship
with sugar is on its way on the high seas."6 A short
article points out the need for more available
educational facilities following war. The movies
Michael Curtiz's Casablanca and JulijReismann's Die
letzteNacht(TheLast Night) are showing at the Apollo
and Tabor theaters. The visually centered topics of
food and advertisements for films underscore the
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trauma of the war experience for Nostlinger as a
child.
The visual impact of the book covers and the
historical context offered by postludes and
advertisements provide a framework for these
narratives and validate their significance ashistorical
reference. Here, memories are recreated to paint a
picture of the self; an attempt to shape a linear
narrative of the self, one that calls for a filling in of the
memory gaps, providing a historical context for
events that initially had no significance in childhood.
It is the individual experience, relived in fragmented
memories, that takes on a more cohesive form when
viewed as a shared experience.
The preface of Nostlinger's Maikiifer,flieg! situates
the fictionalstory within the context of the shared
experience of history. The preface tells readers that
this story is twenty-five years old, having first been
published in 1973. Nostlinger's reference to the
children's song of wartime, "Junebug, fly! Father is at
war,"7 continues with the stanza "Powder land has
burned."B The author reminds readers that,
"However, the June bugs were never at fault when
Powder land bums; even twenty five years ago."9It is
within this context of "Vergangenheitsbewaltigung"
(coming to terms with history) and historical revision
 Krick-Aigner
110
.,
th~t Nostlinger seeks out the truth of Austria's role in
World-W ar Two, and more importantly, the lasting
consequences for children traumatized by war. The
back cover of the second edition from 1996 states:
"The story told here is a Powder land story, and it
really happened."IO
In the opening passage of Nostlinger's novel the
eight-year old Christine says of her childhood: "It was
war. War had existed for a long time. I could not
remember at all that once war had not existed. I was
used to war and the bombs toO/'ll The story goes on
to narrate the events of war: bombs dropping in and
around Vienna, the losses of life on the home front,
the father's return after five years on the Russian
front, his hospitalization and escape to the
countryside, the Russian soldiers who occupy their
house, the cook Cohn from Leningrad whom
Christine befriends, her relationship with her
grandparents, and the end of the war which brings
new challenges. Certain themes, such as game-
playing as a therapeutic pastime, stand out as typical
" I
experiences of childhood. Such detailed descriptions
of games and their symbolic value are also
pronounced in Blend and Segal's autobiographies of
their childhood in exile during war. Games created by
children allow them to control their environment and
III
Krick-Aigner
provide structure and organization to a daily routine
overturned by war. Since there is no school, Christine
and her friends play school with garden gnomes:
"The one with the whetstone was the stupid one in
the class. Hildegard was the teacher. I imitated the
voices of umpteen gnome students. My favorite role
was the stupid one with the whetstone." 12 School,
and the typical aversion of children to school and
authority, takes on an important role in stories of war
from the perspective of a child. At one point
Christine's mother prepares her daughter for postwar
schooling by demanding that she unlearn the swear
word "ScheiBe" (shit) learned from adults in the
household by telling Christine's father: "'She has to
unlearn that. The times will slowly turn normal, and
she can't talk like that when school begins!"'13 The
narrator vows never to stop swearing, never to go to
school again, and to do everything possible so that I
times will never again be normal; she decides "to I I
never want normal times again."14
In another game called "Which-Uncle-Am-I- I
Thinking-About-Game" (An-welchen-Onkel-denke- I '
I
ich-Spiel) Christine and her sister take turns guessing
of which "uncle," from the many portraits of elderly I I
men hanging in the villa's music room they are
thinking: "The 'Which-Uncle-Am-I- Thinking-About- I I
 - --
Krick-Aigner
Game' was not an easy game. The uncles all looked
very mu.ch the same. They all had light blue bug eyes
and a beard and ears that stuck out and they were
partially bald."ls The father entertains his daughters
in the villa by making paper ships out of books found
in the owner's library. N6stlinger as an adult writer
sees the irony in the game whereby the father tears
pages from a book of Hitler's speeches, the cover of
which reveals a large black swastika.16 This episode
. demonstrates that game playing is therapeutic for
children as well as adults; Christine's father is able to
act out and deal with his hatred of the FUhrer and the
war.
Nostlinger's novel voices the popular Austrian
fear of the Russian occupation during the postwar,
yet demonstrates that the majority of Russian soldiers
stationed in Austria were also deeply affected by the
hardships of war. Christine tells her father that she
heard that Russians "chop up women, then throw
them into barrels and salt them."17 Her sister agrees
that "the Russians cut women's breasts off and shoot
children and plunder houses and torch everything
and everyone burns."ls When Christine's family
apartment in Vienna is bombed they move to the
countryside into Mrs. Von Braun's villa. When the
Russians occupy the country house Christine learns
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Krick-Aigner 113
that the Russian soldiers wish that they too were at .
home in Russia and not following orders to remain in
Austria. Christine befriends the cook Cohn, whose
character incorporates the possibility of coming to
love the "other," in this case the feared Russian, and
comes to represent the ideals of understanding,
tolerance, and forgiveness in war. Christine remarks
that "Cohn was the first ugly, stinking, crazy person
whom 1ever loved."19She explains further that she
had "loved the cook because he was not the war.
Nothing in him was war, not a thing. [...] He was an
enemy and had a gentle, deep, sleepy voice. He was a
victor and got kicked so hard that he would fly right
through the outdoor kitchen."20Later in the novel,
.
when Christine's grandfather shields her from
strangers, whom he fears are Russian soldiers, she
tells him what she has learned from her own
experiences, that "the Russians rarely do bad thingS.21
N6stlinger deals with loss through the eyesof
children by showing how children can demonstrate
understanding and empathy. When her friend Gerald
cannot come to terms with his father's death,
Christine recalls similar reactions among her friends:
"1thought of Berger Schurli from our bombed house.
Despite the death notice hanging outside he didn't
believe that his father was dead, even though 1

Krick-Aigner 114
explained it to him many times. Nothing could be
done. I said: 'It's possible! Maybe your father joined
the resistance and is now fighting the last Nazis.'
Gerald liked that."22
As in the novels, such as Elisabeth Reichart's
Nachtmiir (Nightmare), Johanna Nowak's Gehorsam
(Obedient) from 1994, and Welles' 1990 Am Rande der
Geschichte(On the Edge of History), the figure of the
grandmother plays an essential role in Nostlinger's
account of the narrator's childhood experience of war.
The grandmother represents the voice of reason and
truth, as painful and absurd as it may seem. Whereas
the eight-year old narrator views her grandmother as
merely "wild," she understands that the neighbors
believe her to be crazy, and a danger to herself and to
her community during the war (8). The narrator is
tom between respecting her grandmother's
observations about Hitler and the horrors of war, and
protecting her from National Socialist neighbors, as
the narrator fears: "That Mrs. Brenner already said a
couple of times that women like my grandmother
should be reported to the Gestapo."23 Later Christine
tells Cohn all about her grandmother, exaggerating
how mean and wild she can become.24Later she
recalls "that in her stories her grandmother became
bigger and fatter and wilder."25 Nostlinger as an adult
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analyzes her admiration for her grandmother, and her
own knack for manipulating reality into a good story
to relieve her own anxie,ties and to please others. She
says of her storytelling that she "told a lot of stories,
told long stories, and even if she did not always stay
with the truth, she did so only so that her mother
would find them funny and friendly."26 The
grandmother and grandfather physically survive a
bombing, however, Christine's grandmother is
forever changed, traumatized, not wild in spirit
against injustice, b~t spiteful, irrational and now the
deranged person as others had viewed her at the
beginning of the war: "My grandmother did not
really exist anymore. Of course, my grandmother was
never so wild and big and wonderful as I had
described to Cohn, but my grandmother was never so
small, so shaky and pitiful as that old one there, the
one standing in the doll kitchen, that was not my
grandmother."27 By tracing the grandmother's state of
mental health Nostlinger shows readers that war not
only destroys physically but also psychologically and
emotionally. The conclusion of the novel describes the
family's return to Vienna. When the mother urges
Christine to look at everything once again in order to
remember this episode in her life she closes her eyes.
The novel based on personal experiences represents
 Krick-Aigner 116
~,b Nostlinger's ability to open her eyes again and seeher
!
childhood and her experiences of war from the
vantage point of adulthood.
In Nostlinger's sequel, Zwei Wochen im Mai, she
describes, from her perspective as a twelve-year old,
her life in postwar Austria during its reconstruction,
three years following the end of the war. She
describes the occupation, the Russian and American
soldiers, the food shortages and rations, the black
market, the ruins, the human losses, and daily
survival. She had, however, imaged peace differently:
plentiful food and nice clothes. Published in 1981, the
author states in her preface that her story is now more
than thirty years old, although relevant today.
Although everything 'in Austria has changed since .
then, the author finds the roots of today's culture in
that time: "But everything began then, what still
exists today."28 She feels that adults were thought to
'. teach children how to act in postwar Austria, but that
she herself felt more comfortable within the context of
war:
I had known war well, I had known my way
around in war. I had to first learn peace and I
was not a good student of learning peace,
because what I was supposed to learn there
had nothing to do with that which my
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Krick-Aigner
children's-war-belief had imaged as 'peace.'
And the adults were not honest teachers.
Because today they are also often not honest,
myoId story is perhaps still fitting.29
Here Nostlinger seeks to draw in a younger audience,
defiant of authority and questioning social hypocrisy.
The themes discussed here center on parent-child
relationships, especially that of the first person
narrator and her father. Christine's growing fondness
of her friend Hansi and her sexual awareness also
play an important role, especially since sex is
portrayed in the world of adults as a form of escape
from the harsh postwar realities. Christine dreams
that one day she and Hansi will meet more
intimately: "1saw myself with Hansi in the graveyard
sitting in the grass between the fallen tombstones and
learning Latin."30Later Christine and Hansi are
caught by her father as they emulate the embrace
shared by adults: "First [his lips] were cold and tasted
like chives."31Almost immediately Christine's father
urges Hansi's mother to send him to a foster family in
Switzerland who will care for him as he has suffered
from malnourishment. The narrator wonders in
conclusion what came of Hansi: "'It was really only
for your own protection,' my father said. But I don't
believe it. Even today I don't believe him. He just
 - - - -- - - - - ~ ~~ ~ ..
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htI
r.;.
~ ,. couldn't stand it that I could love someone else as
much as him. He just wouldn't stand for it."32
f N6stlinger's narrative confirms the strong bond
I childhood during war unique.
between father and daughter while at the same time
r: acknowledging the genuine emotion felt for her first
.i
love.
l~ I'
As in her first novel, N6stlinger explores the false
L
t: morals of the war and postwar period. The first
I"!
person narrator questions the truth as proposed by
:t adults: "And all this about honesty, that much I knew,
was not so with adults. Most of them stole after the
war. They had cleaned out food storages. They had
taken things from apartments from which people had
fled. And they had stolen the last buckets of coals
from the cellars."33Her grandfather shares with her
his wartime morality: "Only,.one can never, under
any circumstance, take something from somebody
who has less than oneself. One has to decide on a case
, by case basis if one can take something from
someone."34 N6stlinger also portrays cert~ rituals
I reserved for the pre-teen years, such as the eating of
so-called boogers and scabs, in order to appeal to
I
young readers. Hansi challenges the reader's
tolerance for such childhood experiments by asking
Christine: "Aren't you grossed out?"35It is the
exploration of such childhood pleasures, as well as its
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Krick-Aigner
clear delineation between childhood and adulthood,
that make this body of children's literature about
Renate Welsh, also a well-known Austrian
children's book author, wrote Johannain 1979 to show
young readers how the present has been shaped by its
past. Welsh describes the life of rural Austria during
the prewar with a backdrop of growing National
Socialism. Welsh recounts the life story of Johanna, a
foster girl who is sold to a farming family, at age two
months and is later sent to another farm where she
works hoping to one day learn the trade of
seamstress. Welsh describes the life of farmers whose
lives are touched by the growing National Socialism
in prewar Austria. The farmer Firstner is sent to the
concentration camp W6llersdorf when he preaches
. socialism (144). Johanna's boyfriend Peter, also a
socialist, tells her that even though Nazis are
forbidden, those who resist do so only if part of a
larger group, "because each dictatorship needs the
same kind of people, regardless of what dictatorship
it is. And all of them can make nice words."36 When
Johanna one day goes shopping in the town of
Gloggnitz she notices that the Austrian Jew L6wy's
shop has been destroyed. The words: "Jews, out"
Guden raus) are prominently spray-painted on the
Krick-Aigner
walls and Mister Lowy has been attacked and
wound~d. Joharma perceives this as a tragic injustice
not only because of the violence but also"because the
Lowys were the first to treat her as an equal despite
her low socio-economic standing. Welsh describes
this event in order to portray the prejudice against
Jews during the prewar and to provide a historic
background to Johanna's story: IIAlmost all the
people said that Jews were to blame for everything.
For unemployment, for the high prices. Some claimed
that Jews were ruling the world.1I37Johanna's union
with the socialist Peter and her pregnancy signal hope
. for a new Austria, one representing an Austria apart
from National Socialism. Readers, for whom
Johanna's story is unfolded chronologically, are left to
imagine her fate during the war and postwar. The
final line of the narrative indicates Johanna's
newfound self-esteem and empowerment as an
employed, soon-to-be-wife and mother, as her new
employer remarks of her proud posture: IIHow you
carry your stomach so in front of yoU.1I38
Welsh and Nostlinger's narratives represent
literature that captures childhood from the
perspective of adulthood. Themes of childhood, such
as game-playing, body consciousness, sexual
awakening and relationships with adults who
120
Krick-Aigner 121
represent the lIother,/Iseparate these narratives from
novels written by postwar women authors, such as
Ingeborg Bachmann and Elisabeth Reichart, whose
focus is largely on how war trauma plays out in
adulthood. Unlike diaries by children about children
during war, such as that by Anne Frank, the themes
by adult authors are portrayed within an historical
context, in which events are recast and retold by way
of more analytical and critical thought processes.
. Fearful that war might again be initiated by those
untouched by the horrors experienced there,
Nostlinger and Welsh write in an effort to educate
about World War Two in Austria. The authors'
narratives motivate readers to seek peace, to practice
vigilance in the face of autocratic governments,
uncooperative superpowers and especially to practice
responsibility toward self and community. When
Nostlinger's younger self says /IIclosed my eyes,II39
we as readers have already witnessed war through
her narrative and are urged to keep our own eyes
open in the present.
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Notes
I A June bug is also called a cockchafer.
2Such examples include the Austrian word "Tuchent" for "Federdecke."
Christine Nostlinger, Zwei Wochen im Mai (Weinheim: Beltz Verlag, 1988) 65.
12"Dermit dem Schleifstein war der Blode in der KIasse. Hildegard war
die Lehrerin. Ich ubemahm die Stimmen samtlicher Zwergschiiler. Meine
Lieblingsrolle war der Blode mit dem Schleifstein." Nostlinger. Maikiifer,flieg! 68-
69.
13 "Sie muss sich das abgewohnen. Die Zeiten, die werden langsam wieder
normal werden, und wenn dann die Schule anf'angt, kann sie doch nicht so
redenl"

3 All translations are mine. A selection of German subtitles are: "Anfang"

16'''Dann wird sie schon aufhoren damit!' murmelte mein Vater. Ich
and "Abschied," "Heimweh," "Krank," "Angst."
schwor mir, nie damit aufzuhoren und nie mehr in die Schule zu gehen und alles
zu tun, dass die Zeiten nicht mehr normal wiirden. Ich beschloss, nie mehr
6 "Zeitgeschichtlicher Oberblick," Renate Welsh, Johanna (Reinbek by
normale Zeiten zu wollen." Nost1inger. Maikiifer, flieg! 172-173.
Hamburg: Rohwohlt, 1998) 185.

15 "Das 'An-welchen-onkel-denke-ich-Spiel' war kein leichtes Spiel. Die

5 Thanks go to Dr. AI Gurganus of The Citadel for identifying the images
Onkel sahen sich sehr ahnlich. Sie hatten aile hellblaue Glotzaugen und einen
of tracer shells and the possibility of overexposed June bugs on the book cover.
Bart und abstehende Ohren und eine Halbglatze." Nost1inger. Maikiifer, flieg! 36-
37.
6" AuBerdem ist ein Schiff mit Zucker noch auf hoher See unterwegs."
16 "[Der Vater] riss dazu die Seiten aus einem Buch, das er im Schreibtisch
Nost1inger, Zwei Wochen im Mai, Postlude.
der Frau von Braun gefunden hatte. Auf dem Buchdeckel war ein groBes
schwarzes Hakenkreuz. 1m Buch waren Fiihrer-Reden abgedruckt." Nost1inger.
7 "Maikafer fliegl Der Vater ist im Krieg." Nost1inger, Zwei Wochen im Mai
5. Maikiifer, flieg! 38.

17"Mir hat es der Berger Schurli gesagt. Dem hat sein Onkel erzahlt, dass
8"Pulverland ist abgel;>rannt."Nostlinger, Zwei Wochen im Mai 5. The die Russen die Frauen zerstiicke1n, und dann schmeiBen sie sie in Fasser und
Austrian term "Powder land" suggests the German "Pommerland," or the region
salzen sie einl" Nost1inger. Maikiifer,flieg! 32.
of Poland under siege during World War II. "Pulverland" refers to an area at war
during World War Two. 18 "Die Russen schneiden Frauen die Busen ab und erschieBen die Kinder
und rauben die Hauser aus und zunden alles an und aile verbrennen."
9 "Doch die Maikiifer waren nie schuld, wenn Pulverland abbrannt; auch
Nost1inger. Maikiifer, flieg! 32.
vor fiinfundzwanzig Jahren nicht." Nost1inger, Zwei Wochen im Mai5.

19"Fur mich war [Cohn] der erste hass1iche, stinkende, verriickte Mensch,
~, 10"Die Geschichte, die hier erzahlt wird, ist eine Pulverlandgeschichte,
den ich je geliebt habe." Nostlinger. Maikiifer, flieg! 104.
und sie ist wirklich passiert." Nost1inger, Zwei Wochen im Mai, back cover.

20 "Ich liebte den Koch, weil er kein Krieg war. Nichts an ihm war Krieg
11"Es war Krieg. Es war schon lange Krieg. Ich konnte mich uberhaupt
gar nichts. [...] Er war ein Feind und hatte eine sanfte, tiefe Schlafstimme. Er war
nicht daran erinnem, dass einmal kein Krieg gewesen war. Ich war den Krieg
ein Sieger und bekam Tritte, dass er quer durch die Lufthauskiiche flog."
gewohnt und die Bomben auch." Nostlinger. Maikiifer,flieg! 7.
Nostlinger. Maikiifer,flieg! 105.

21 "Die Russen tun selten etwas Boses." Nostlinger. Maikiifer, flieg! 192.
 II
Krick-Aigner 124
Krick-Aigner 125

22"Mir fiel der Berger Schurli aus unserem zerbombten Haus ein. Der 30 "Ich sah mich und den Hansi auf dern Friedhof zwischen den
hatte trotz ausgehiingter Todesanzeige nicht geglaubt, dass sein Vater tot war,
umgefallenen Grabsteinen im Gras hocken und mit ihm Latein lemen."
sooft ich es ihm auch erldart hatte. Da war nichts zu machen. lch sagte: 'Kann
Nostlinger. lwei Wochenim Mai 157.
alles sein! Vielleicht ist dein Vater zur Untergrundbewegung gegangen und
kampft jetzt gegen die letzten Nazis!' Das gefiel Gerald." Nostlinger. Maikiifer,
31"Zuerst waren [seine Uppen] kalt und schmeckten nach Schnittlauch."
flieg! 133.
Nostlinger. lwei Wochen im Mai 185.

2J "Die Frau Brenner hatte schon ein paar Mal gesagt, dass solche Frauen
32 "Es war wirklich nur zu deinem Schutz," hat mein Vater gesagt. Aber
wie meine GroBmutter bei der Gestapo angezeigt gehoren." Nostlinger. Maikiifer,
das glaubte ich nicht. Bis heute glaube ich es ihm nicht. Er hat es einfach nicht
flieg!, 10.
ausgehalten, dass ich jemand anderen genauso stark liebe wie ihn. Nur das hat er
nicht zuge1assen." Nostlinger. Zwei Wochen im Mai 203.
24 "lch erziihlte ihm, wie bos und wie wild die GroBmutter werden konnte,
und iibertrieb dabei gewaltig." Nostlinger. Maikiifer, flieg! 154.
33 "Und gar so weit her mit dieser Ehrlichkeit, das wusste ich, war es bei
den erwachsenen Leuten nicht. Nach dem Krieg, da hatten die meisten
25"In meinen Geschichten wurde die GroBmutter von Tag zu Tag groBer
gestohlen. Lebensmittellager hatten sie ausgeraumt. Aus den Wohnungen, wo
und dicker und wilder." Nostlinger. Maikafer, flieg! 158.
Leute geflohen waren, hatten sie Sachen geholt. Und aus den KeUem hatten sie
sich gegenseitig den letzten Kiibel Kohlen gestohlen." Nostlinger. Zwei Wochen
26"lcherziihlte viel, erziihlte lang, und wenn ich nicht immer bei der im Mai 184.
Wahrheit geblieben bin, so nur deshalb, damit es meine Mutter lustig und
freundlich fand." Nostlinger. Maikafer,flieg! 211.
34 "Nur jernanden, der weniger hat als man seIber [...] darf man unter gar

keinen Umstiinden etwas wegnehmen. Wo man den anderen etwas wegnehmen

21 "Meine GroBmutter gab es wirldich nicht memo Sicher, so wild und so
darf [...] muss man von Fall zu Fall entscheiden" Nostlinger. Zwei Wochen im Mai
groB und so herrlich, wie ich sie Cohn geschildert hatte, war die GroBmutter nie 185.
gewesen, aber so Idein und so zittrig und jiimmerlich wie die Alte, die da in der
35"Graust dur denn nicht?" Nostlinger. Zwei Wochenim Mai 185.
Puppenkiiche stand, war meine GroBmutter nicht." Nostlinger. Maikafer,flieg!
187.
36 "weil jede Diktatur diese1be Art von Meschen braucht, egal, was fUr eine
28 "Aber damals hat aUes angefangen, was es heute noch gibt." Nostlinger. Diktatur es ist. Und schone Worter konnen sie aile machen." Welsh 144-145.
lwei Wochen im Mai 5.

37 "Fast aile Leute sagten, die Juden seinen an allern schuld. An der
29 "Den Krieg hatte ich gut gekannt, im Krieg hatte ich mich ausgekannt.
Arbeitslosigkeit, an den hohn Preisen. Manche behaupteten, die Juden regierten
Den Frieden musste ich erst lemen, und ich war keine gute Schwerin im Frieden- die Welt." Welsh 164.
Lemen, denn was ich da lemen soUte, hatte so gar nichts mit dem zu tun, was
sich mein Kriegs-Kinder-Glaube under "Frieden" vorgeste1lt hatte. Und die
38 "Wie du deinen Bauch vor dir hertragst." Welsh, 183.
Erwachsenen waren keine sehr ehrlichen Lehrer. Well sie das heute oft auch
nicht sind, ist meine alte Geschichte vielleicht immer noch passend." Nostlinger.
39"Ich schloss die Augen." Nostlinger. Maikiifer, flieg! 221.
lwei WochenimMai5.
 Krick-Aigner 126

Works Cited

Nostlinger, Christine. Zwei Wochen im Mai. 1981.Weinheim: Beltz Verlag, 1988.

-. Maikiifer,flieg!1973. Weinheim: Beltz Verlag, 1996.

Welsh, Renate. Johanna. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rohwohlt, 1998.

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