France · 80 years “The Little Prince” (“Der kleine Prinz”)

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a writer and professional pilot. He was born in Lyon in 1900 and flew for French airmail companies on routes over North Africa and later in South America. Experiences with dangerous flights, technical failures, solitude and the desert landscape shaped several of his books. During the Second World War, he initially served as a reconnaissance pilot. Following the French armistice, he lived in the United States for a time. In 1944, he returned to flying service and disappeared during a reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean.

The Little Prince (Der kleine Prinz) combines a modern fairy tale with elements of a philosophical narrative. A pilot who has made an emergency landing in the Sahara encounters a boy from a small asteroid. On his journey, the prince visits various planets and meets adults whose behaviour is each reduced to a single role or idea: authority, vanity, possession, fulfilment of duty or abstract knowledge. On Earth, among others, he meets a fox. This encounter gives rise to the narrative’s reflections on friendship, attachment and responsibility. The relationship between the prince and his rose also explores the tension between affection, vulnerability and loss.

Saint-Exupéry illustrated the book himself with watercolours. As a result, figures such as the prince, the fox, the rose and the snake are not only literary motifs but also easily recognisable visual symbols. The contrast between childlike perception and the utilitarian perspective of adults allows for different interpretations; the work is therefore addressed to both children and adults.

The narrative is suitable as a coin theme because of its close connection with French literature and its international circulation. The anniversary issue also refers to a work whose text and visual design both originate directly from Saint-Exupéry and whose main character is widely known beyond the French-speaking world.