Gudrun Pausewang
German writer (1928–2020)
Gudrun Pausewang (3 March 1928 – 23 January 2020), less commonly known by her married name, Gudrun Wilcke, was a German author of children's and young adult literature. She was known for books such as The Last Children of Schewenborn and Die Wolke (The Cloud, published in English under the title Fall-Out) which became part of the German school canon. Her key interests included peace and protection of the environment, and she warned of the alleged dangers of nuclear energy. Her books have been translated into English and received international recognition and awards.
Biography
Pausewang was born in Wichstadtl (now Mladkov), Eastern Bohemia, a member of the German minority in Czechoslovakia. Her father was Siegfried Pausewang, and she was the eldest of six siblings. After the Nazis annexed the area, she became a Jungmädel at age 10 and remained in the organisation until she was 17. Her father died in World War II, and her mother fled with the children to the West, settling in Wiesbaden. Pausewang studied pedagogy and taught in German primary schools (Volksschule), then from 1956 for West Germany's foreign school services in South America, in Chile, Venezuela and Columbia. She returned to West Germany with her son in 1972.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Gudrun Pausewang” as german writer (1928–2020). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as german writer (1928–2020). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q76335. VIAF identifies the subject as 38381610. The Library of Congress control number is n85802601. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1928, 2020, 1956 and 1972.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gudrun Pausewang” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.