Judenhass: A Review
Dave Sim, a Canadian comic book writer and artist is perhaps best known for his 300 issue independent comic book series, Cerebus, where with his artistic partner Gerhard, they completed the longest run on a creator owned property in history. When Cerebus completed its run in 2004, many people assumed that would be it. Sim’s legacy was firmly in place, and he could comfortably live of the royalties and earnings of his previous work. Four years later, we see that many of us who made this assumption were wrong. Sim had been busy at work on various projects, the first of which is being released this May, and is entitled Judenhass.
Inside the cover of the preview edition of this book, Sim, states that he wanted to create a low priced intelligent, easy-to-follow and compelling book that would be of interest to both the reader and non-comic reader alike. At a four dollar price tag, he has achieved what he set out to do, and has added something new to growing cannon of graphic literature.
Judenhass, a German term that directly translate to Jew Hatred, is the subject of this work. With its use of a non-traditional narrative structure, Judenhass, firmly differs itself from other books on this topic. Instead of taking the often used first person narrative style, Sim has chosen to use a collection of historical quotes from various sources and time periods on the topic of Judenhass and match them up with intricate photo-realistic drawings depicting (mainly) images from the Holocaust. By doing this, the book becomes more then just a book on the Holocaust, but instead becomes something bigger: It becomes an account of how something as senseless and tragic as the Holocaust could occur.
Sim’s central thesis, as I’ve interpreted it, is that we should not be stating ‘never again’ or ‘how could this happen?’ when in fact the reasons and signs that something like this would happen have been brewing for a long time. It is suggested by Sim that Jew hatred is not a German issue, nor is it a Middle Eastern issue, but instead the world as a whole is ultimately responsible for what occurred. And because of the world wide nature of this hatred, discussion of the event should not be limited to only Jewish writers, but instead writings and meditation of the events should be done by everyone, regardless of creed. To truly stop the problem, everyone has to make it their problem. The section of the book that discusses this thesis is freely available to be viewed here: http://www.judenhass.com/preview.html. Be warned, it is a bit dense, and if you are used to traditional superheroes it may take a couple of readings to ‘get it’.
Perhaps the most interesting piece of this work is not the actually graphic narrative itself, but the back matter of the book. The last eight pages are where Sim gives a summary of his research for the book, citing photos, quotes, and how he selected what to use. Many of the reported quotes used by proponents of this hatred were co-opted from other sources, where, for example, they change the word of one race to that of the Jewish race. This in no way excuses the original quotes and their contexts, but instead illustrates the depth one will go to spread their hatred, and serves as a reminder for us to question what we read.
Inevitably, by the topic alone, this book will be compared to Maus: A Survivors Tale. This comparison stops at the fact that they are both graphic literature and pursuing the subject any further would be a futile effort. One is a biographical tale of a survivor and his son, while the other is an attempt to explain how the situation could have even arisen, and what, if anything, we have truly learned from these events. Will Judenhass ever win any Pulitzers or other awards like Maus? Probably not. But that shouldn’t diminishes the importance of this work.
A work of this nature is rare in comics and inspires what else can be done within the confines of the comic book. Judenhass shows that comic books do not need to follow the standard three (or four) act convention. By departing from it, the result of Sim’s work is what I can best describe as graphic non-fiction, and is a truly unique reading experience. Even if you do not believe in the message of his work, you cannot deny the accomplishment.
Judenhass is schedule to ship in May and comes highly recommended.
