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How to reach young people? That is everyone’s con-cern in the Holocaust remembrance community, as the population of survivors dwindles from year

to year. With its cartoon portrayal of this heavy subject matter—a genre introduced with the publication of Art Spiegelman’s Maus (1986)—the Sousa Mendes Foundation joins other remembrance organizations such as the Anne Frank House, the David Wyman Institute, and the Jan Karski Educational Foundation.

Della Peretti’s English translation of José Ruy’s Aris-tides de Sousa Mendes, Hero of the Holocaust, originally published in Portuguese and based primarily on the Portuguese-language writings of historian Rui Afonso, brings together details of the life of Sousa Mendes previ-ously unavailable in English. It is just what Spiegelman (2011) defines as a cartoon: “a drawing that gets to essences” (p. 168).

The use of a visual format is especially appropriate to the Sousa Mendes story because there were numerous artists among the recipients of his Portuguese visas, includ-ing, most notably, Salvador Dali and the author-illustrators Hans A. and Margret Rey, creators of Curious George. Yet is it appropriate—and effective—for the classroom, as well?

Jonathan Hennessey, who has authored a graphic adap-tation of the United States Constitution, points out that

the human eye processes images something like 60,000 times faster than it processes text. This isn’t to say that text has no place, but . . . images are very powerful, and . . . could be powerful teaching tools. (in Cutler, 2014, p. 1)

Other educators offer varied rationales for the potential power of comic images. Comic-book author Josh Elder (2014), recognizing that often “the biggest challenge is

getting students to pay attention in the first place,” believes that “comics are a way to do that” (p. 2). Elder, the founder of Reading With Pictures, says that “comics make reading

The Sousa Mendes Foundation, notes Olivia Mattis, joins other remembrance organizations in using the cartoon format to present

a subject more typically taught through history books and survivor testimonies. Here Mattis presents a brief rationale for use of this

medium, along with a small sample of the Foundation’s newly published Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Hero of the Holocaust, by

José Ruy, Portugal’s leading cartoonist. Read with Rafael Medoff’s essay on cartoonists who exposed the Holocaust, pp. 65–71.

Olivia Mattis

The Holocaust Cartoon— No Longer Taboo

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easy and fun” but, recognizing that educators need a peda-gogic rationale to use them, he has aligned his latest work, an anthology titled Reading With Pictures: Comics That Make Kids Smarter, with the Common Core Standards to illustrate the potential of comics in the classroom. According to educator David Cutler (2014), “Comic books not only awaken an early love of reading but also help children grasp abstract concepts” (p. 2). Tracy Edmunds (2014), a curriculum writer, believes that teachers need “new tools, and comics bring a one-two punch with images and text working together” (p. 1). Educator Lisa S. Cohen (2014) writes, “The visual world has had increasing impact on our students’ lives,” and using graphic novels in the class-room “is a way to connect to untapped portions of their minds.” Cohen, who uses graphic novels even in her Ad-vanced Placement classes, contends that they “allow for a new approach to diction, imagery, syntax, structure, and language.” She advocates asking students to “find ‘hidden’ connections between the text and visuals and discover the ways in which the visuals interact with each other” (n.p.).

The Sousa Mendes cartoon, then, can meet a variety of needs in today’s differentiated classrooms. Intended for readers aged 10–15, it follows the life of the consul, begin-ning with his childhood, and tours the world, showing his diplomatic postings in San Francisco, Brazil, Zanzibar, and Belgium. Interwoven with the biographical narrative is the historical context, including the rise of Hitler, the

construction of concentration camps, and the persecution of the Jews. The climax of the story—Sousa Mendes’s crisis of conscience—is depicted as a two-and-a-half-page dream sequence with a parade of concentration camps drawn in greyscale, ending with his sudden realization that the fate of the Jewish refugees rests with him. His decision made, he declares, “I am going to issue visas to everyone, regard-less of nationality, race or creed!”

As they read, students can explore Ruy’s use of time sequencing—crucial in understanding a story arc—such as flashback versus forward narrative; his use of color, such as monochrome, polychrome, and greyscale, necessary to recognize mood and tone; and other aspects of visual rhet-oric that help to tell a story, including concepts with specific relevance to this genre: panel, balloon, shading, perspective, storyboard, sequencing, and typography. More broadly, this comic can serve as an addition to a unit on rescue during the Holocaust, specifically the plight of the Jewish refugees and the limited and few attempts to provide haven; or as an entry into Holocaust history or into the Portuguese his-tory that surrounds the Sousa Mendes story. Ruy’s cartoon illustrates the advice of historian Rafael Medoff, who, in his extensive study of cartoons and their effectiveness in teaching [see Medoff, pp. 65–71—Ed.], has found that “a straightforward approach works best for massive subjects like the Holocaust.” He suggests

that the most compelling technique is to . . . stick carefully to the historical record, but find the real-life stories that people will find most interesting, and use artwork—especially cartoon or comic book art—to liven it up so the reader will want to keep reading until the end. (in Kaminer, 2013)

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Medoff observes that “the public is starting to get used to the idea that serious, accurate history can be depicted in a comic book style” (in Kaminer, 2013), but using car-toons and graphics to teach about both past and current events is not new: The comic strip Doonesbury has never shied away from commenting on world affairs, and editori-al newspaper cartoons, used in history textbooks to illus-trate facts and concepts, have a long and distinguished history. Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis (2004) is an autobio-graphical cartoon widely used to teach about Iran. Spiegel-man’s Maus is a classic text in units on the Holocaust, and

his In the Shadow of No Towers (2004) teaches about 9/11. Now it is vitally current—particularly in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris. “The comic book, if taught well and responsibly, can be a refreshing and interesting supplement to existing history lessons,” states Verena Radkau-Garcia (2014) of the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research, based in Germany.

Given the paucity of books available on Sousa Mendes in English (there is only one: José-Alain Fralon’s 2001 A Good Man in Evil Times), this cartoon is a significant addi-tion to the literature. Obviously, it will not replace a history text but will be used in conjunction with related websites, films, news stories, and scholarly articles, providing students with multiple entry points into the subject of the minority of good people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. It provides an engaging example of the universal concept—no matter the format in which it is presented—that one person can make a difference.

REFERENCES

Cohen, L. S. But this book has pictures! The case for graphic novels in an AP classroom. Retrieved from http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/courses/teachers_corner/ 158535.html

Cutler, D. (2014, September 17). The new teachers’ aides: Superman and Iron Man. The Atlantic. Retrieved from www.theatlantic.com

Fralon, J.-A. (2001). A good man in evil times: The story of

Aristides de Sousa Mendes—the man who saved the lives

of countless refugees in World War II. (Peter Graham, Trans.). New York: Carroll and Graf.

Kaminer, M. (2013, September 17). Holocaust education through comics. The Forward. Retrieved from http://blogs.forward.com.

Phalnikar, S. (2008, February 1). Graphic novel tackles taboo of the Holocaust. Deutsches Welt. Retrieved from http://dw.de

Ruy, J. (2015). Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Hero of the Holocaust.

(Della Peretti, Trans.). New York: Sousa Mendes Foundation.

Satrapi, M. (2004). Persepolis. New York: Pantheon Books.

Spiegelman, A. (1986). Maus: A survivor’s tale: My father bleeds

history. New York: Pantheon Books.

Spiegelman, A. (2004). In the Shadow of No Towers. New York: Pantheon Books.

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