Auschwitz

Resource Information

The work Auschwitz represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Randwick City Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

This resource has been enriched with EBSCO NoveList data.

Label

Auschwitz

Statement of responsibility

by Pascal Croci

Creator

• trueCroci, Pascal

Subject

• true1930s -- 1930 -- 1939
• true1990s -- 1990 -- 1999
• trueAtrocities
• Auschwitz (Concentration camp) -- Comic books, strips, etc
• trueBereavement in parents
• trueComics and Graphic novels
• trueConcentration camp inmates, Fiction
• trueConcentration camp survivors
• trueDaughters -- Death
• trueGrief
• trueHate crimes
• trueHolocaust (1933-1945) -- Poland
• trueLoss (Psychology)
• trueMemories
• truePoland -- History -- 20th century
• truePrejudice
• trueSenior couples -- Poland
• trueSonderkommandos
• trueSurvival (in concentration camps, prisons, etc.)
• trueTranslations -- French to English
• trueWorld War II -- Atrocities
• Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Comic books, strips, etc

Genre

• trueComic books, strips, etc
• trueComics and Graphic novels
• Translations

Language

• eng
• fre
• eng

Member of

• Auschwitz

Review

• The phenomenal success of Art Spiegelman’s Maus opened the door for other comics artists to tackle the Holocaust. Falling somewhere artistically between Spiegelman’s elliptical, nuanced work and Joe Kubert’s more mainstream-comics approach in Yossel [BKL O 15 03], Croci’s intense graphic novel depicts an elderly couple as they recall their nightmarish experience at Auschwitz. The story’s stunning present-day climax, which encompasses contemporary manifestations of hatred, strikingly conveys the message that the evil manifested at Auschwitz persists to this day. Croci based this work on interviews with concentration camp survivors, and he effectively depicts their grim existence in washed-out gray tones. Although the painstakingly rendered settings--the action takes place on the grounds of the camp, in the barracks, and, most gruesomely, inside the gas chambers--demonstrate extensive research, the artwork is most convincing in its rendering of the ravaged, bitter faces of the inmates. If Auschwitz doesn’t attain the lofty standard set by Maus, and Croci’s more realistic approach shows just how canny Spiegelman’s allegorical personifications were, it is nonetheless chillingly effective. -- Gordon Flagg (BookList, 03-15-2004, p1277)
• Adult/High School –Croci's chilling effort focuses on the story of a Polish couple, Kazik and Cessnia, who lost their daughter at the infamous concentration camp. Auschwitz opens with the couple in old age, returning to the camp for the first time since gaining their freedom decades before. Using a series of alternating flashbacks, the author shows the family's internment, enslavement, and torture, and the eventual death of their child. Although not stated outright, several hints suggest that this is the couple's first conversation about the camp, giving the different perspectives a somber poignancy. The book closes with an interesting series of short interviews with Croci in which he details topics like artistic choice and the intensive research he conducted. Although Art Spiegelman explored similar terrain with his masterful Maus (Pantheon, 1986), Auschwitz is its own creation. Croci's text and character development are considerably sparser, but the frighteningly realistic black-and-white illustrations make this book memorable. From the hauntingly desperate eyes of the inmates to the demonic features of the Nazi captors, the images evoke the terror and oppression those who experienced the death camps endured. The tortured expressions and emaciated bodies echo the 1930s prints of Käthe Kollwitz. Ultimately, Croci's work stays with readers, its profound imagery serving as a haunting reminder of the persistence of violence and evil.–Matthew L. Moffett, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale --Matthew L. Moffett (Reviewed June 1, 2004) (School Library Journal, vol 50, issue 6, p182)
• Like Joe Kubert's shattering Yossel , this bleak book relates the terror of life and death in a Nazi extermination camp. The story opens in 1993 (not 1933, per a confusing typo in the review copy), as the Polish couple Kazik and Cessia begin to reveal to each other, after a lifelong silence, their experiences while separated in Auschwitz. Hoping to glimpse his seemingly doomed daughter one last time, Kazik becomes a sonderkommando (a prisoner charged with clearing out the gas chambers after mass killings). He does see her, but her tragic fate remains unknown until Cessia reveals it. Croci interviewed Auschwitz survivors about their imprisonment, and his realistic and detailed black-and-white art, shaded with somber grays, reflects his extensive research. The depictions of piled, burning corpses in the gas chamber are not for children or for the faint-hearted of any age. But this is recommended for older teens and adults, as a reminder of something that must not be forgotten. --Steve Raiteri (Reviewed July 15, 2004) (Library Journal, vol 129, issue 12, p60)

Cataloging source

DLC

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

Language note

Translated from the French

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography