Bremen/Bremerhaven – “The world as we know it will end!” This is what Andrea Paluch (53), wife of Economy Minister Robert Habeck (54, Green Party), writes in her book entitled “The Best Ends of the World”.
It is: a children's book – and, according to the publisher, it is aimed at everyone aged 8 and over. It has been on the market for two years. Now it's causing heated arguments again. The accusation: Habeck's wife is scaring children. Is this correct?
A few years ago, Robert Habeck and his wife Andrea Paluch read a children's book “Call of the Wolves” at Berlin's Schlossparktheater.
Photo: Siegfried Purschke
Paluch shows twelve scenarios across 32 pages: including the catastrophe of a major flood, a virus pandemic, and the vision of people living on spaceships.
Finance professor Christian Rieck (60), from the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, comments on “X” (formerly Twitter): “As a child, I dreamed of flying into space, today we dream of the end of the world.”
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And Melissa Timke (37), right-wing influencer and wife of Bremen “Germany Alliance” politician Jan Timke (52), even calls the children's book “simply sick”. Instead of letting our children grow up carefree, “green ideology should be anchored from an early age with the help of horror scenarios”, she complains.
Austrian ÖVP politician and member of the Vienna state parliament Manfred Juraczka (54) is also not enthusiastic: “When political groups degenerate into apocalyptic sects. Today: Habeck's wife as author of the children's book 'The Best Ends of the World'. You can't make this up.
The end of the world – NOT a topic for children?
Author defends her book
Oh, but. Find Paluch. Either way, our little ones are constantly faced with wars and crises these days: “Children find it really exciting,” says the author. They were born with the word “crisis”: “They don’t know anything else”.
The book has an average rating of 2.4 on Amazon – user opinions are divided: “The title seems more dystopian than the book. Different futures are presented in a child-friendly way. Although they can be dark, they can also be positive for children. “You probably shouldn't leave (small) children alone with this book,” writes Sebastian Bollien, for example.
Jennifer Winkelhage has a different opinion: “If your own child is not yet sufficiently disturbed after two years of catastrophic Corona policy, we recommend purchasing this book. It is definitely not recommended for children, whether they are sensitive or not. More disturbing than anything.