Graphic Representations of the Holocaust, between the 1.5 and the 2nd Generation: On Helga Weissova’s Helga’s Diary and Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A Survivor’s Tale
The importance and distinctiveness of the Holocaust as a 20th century genocide make its appearance currently reoccur in studies related to trauma, memory, intergenerational transmission, and postmemory. This article analyzes two works whose authors come from two distinct generations and from two very different cultural spaces. Helga Weiss, a Holocaust survivor from The Czech Republic, is a first-hand witness and a child during World War II, while Art Spiegelman, the renowned American cartoonist, tells and illustrates his father’s survival story through a graphic novel, as a member of the 2nd generation.
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