‘Bis dass der Tod’ by Jens Petersen

Alex and Nana live in a caravan in a post-civilisation landscape in northern Germany, seemingly far away from any other people. The events narrated in the story only cover a few hours, but together with Alex's numerous, recounted memories, it becomes clear that their life is entirely determined by Nana's poor health. The exact nature of her illness is not specified in the text, but it is obviously serious, as she can no longer walk, talk or eat, and even morphine remains ineffective against the pain. Nana is therefore fully dependent on Alex’s care, who is visibly burdened by the situation. Nevertheless, he looks after her lovingly and self-sacrificingly, as readers witness, from the moment she wakes up in the morning. Alex then prepares the car in which they drive off shortly after the story's opening. In a field, he stops, takes a pistol out of the boot and shoots Nana in the head. He panics, does not manage to shoot himself as planned, and walks in the direction of a nearby railway embankment. This is where the text ends, suggesting that Alex takes his own life after all by throwing himself in front of a train.

The text, for which the author and physician Jens Petersen was awarded the prestigious Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, challenges the reader's ethical thinking, as it does not provide any explicit information about the characters’ motives for their actions. Readers are thus left in the dark as to what exactly prompts Alex to shoot his partner and what Nana’s intentions or desires are. Nana’s poor state of health certainly suggests that it was an act of euthanasia, i.e. a ‘mercy killing’ on her demand with which Alex wanted to release her from her suffering. This is also indicated by his loving care and the fact that he had previously considered taking her to a right-to-die organisation in Switzerland, where – unlike in Germany at the time – assisted suicide was possible. If Nana had asked Alex to end her suffering in this way, his act would have constituted the offence of 'Killing upon request' under Section 216 of the German Criminal Code, which is privileged compared to other homicide offences and carries a lower penalty. However, the text remains ambivalent. It is unclear both whether or not Nana actually wished to die, and whether or not she was aware of the impending killing, with the text giving contradictory indications. The killing can therefore not only be understood as a consensual ‘last act of love,‘ but also as a one-sided and highly problematic act of desperation, since it is equally indicated that Alex wants to free himself from the overburdening situation of being her sole full-time carer, due to which he even seems to show signs of mental illness. In any case, the text clearly suggests that it is not about individual guilt, but that the fundamental problem lies in the lack of support from society and family, which leaves the couple completely to themselves in a highly vulnerable situation. It urges society and the healthcare system to ensure that people, especially those from a lower socio-economic background like the characters presented in the short story, do not end up in situations where they see killing and/or suicide as the only remaining option.