Children’s book “My dad is a soldier”

The main character Fabian’s father is a soldier. He has already been deployed abroad in Kosovo and is now going to Afghanistan. The family spends a lot of time together and talk about all the things they want to do together when dad is back. His father gives Fabian a tape measure, which he is supposed to shorten by one piece every day until he returns. After his departure, everyday family life without his father is described. At the end of the book, the father returns from his deployment abroad and the family can celebrate Christmas together.

This children’s book deals with an important topic. With the Bundeswehr deployments abroad since the early 1990s, German servicemen and women have been involved in armed and war-like conflicts, often leaving their families at home alone for several months. Explaining to the children why their father or mother is away for a long time is a particular challenge for the families. In addition to the stress caused by transfers and commuting, deployments are also seen as a reason for an increased divorce rate in the military profession. The Bundeswehr’s family support organization looks after families and soldiers before, during and after deployment. In addition, there are many unofficial guides and self-help books for Bundeswehr families and partnerships.

The children’s book “Mein Papa ist Soldat” was written by two former Bundeswehr soldiers who were themselves deployed abroad. They are therefore familiar with the stresses and strains that such a deployment brings with it for the family. In the book, they try to explain to children what their father does on deployment. Dad Sven is a construction engineer and helps to build hospitals and schools in Afghanistan. However, the specifics of the soldier’s job are not made clear; Sven could just as easily be working for a development aid organization. The military profession is reduced to the humanitarian part of the mission: “Soldiers from all over the world are helping people in Kosovo to be able to live together peacefully again.” or “The families there are […] much poorer and can no longer lead a normal life without our support.”

The protagonist Fabian is 7 years old. It is pedagogically correct and sensible to base content for children on examples. However, the children’s book is full of generalizations, stereotypes and clichés. The connection between the military profession and war and combat should also be familiar to children of primary school age. However, they will not find these themes in this book. It therefore does not appear to be suitable for teaching children about the military profession or for answering children’s questions about a family member’s job. Rather, it shows the ideal everyday life of a family in which the father is a soldier. However, the children’s book seems to have gained some popularity since its publication in 2008. Monika Brüning from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag took over the press conference for the book launch. The book is said to have been available not only in the “Marketender” stores of the Bundeswehr field camps in the countries of deployment, but also distributed in Bundeswehr family support centers and schools.

This “object of the month” was made with the help of our trainee Jörn Menzel, who is studying to be a history teacher in Greifswald.

Object of the month

(short) stories from the depot

Unfortunately, many objects cannot currently be shown in the exhibition for conservation reasons. Here you will find unusual objects and exciting stories of special pieces from the depot