diff --git a/Python/pythonrun.c b/Python/pythonrun.c
index 54f3c57..f2cd819 100644
--- a/Python/pythonrun.c
+++ b/Python/pythonrun.c
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@
 #include <signal.h>
 #endif
 
+#ifdef MS_WINDOWS
+#include "malloc.h" /* for alloca */
+#endif
+
 #ifdef HAVE_LANGINFO_H
 #include <locale.h>
 #include <langinfo.h>
@@ -1628,9 +1632,21 @@
 {
 	fprintf(stderr, "Fatal Python error: %s\n", msg);
 #ifdef MS_WINDOWS
-	OutputDebugString("Fatal Python error: ");
-	OutputDebugString(msg);
-	OutputDebugString("\n");
+	{
+		size_t len = strlen(msg);
+		WCHAR* buffer;
+		size_t i;
+
+		/* Convert the message to wchar_t. This uses a simple one-to-one
+		conversion, assuming that the this error message actually uses ASCII
+		only. If this ceases to be true, we will have to convert. */
+		buffer = alloca( (len+1) * (sizeof *buffer));
+		for( i=0; i<=len; ++i)
+			buffer[i] = msg[i];
+		OutputDebugStringW(L"Fatal Python error: ");
+		OutputDebugStringW(buffer);
+		OutputDebugStringW(L"\n");
+	}
 #ifdef _DEBUG
 	DebugBreak();
 #endif