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How can the Holocaust be recounted as eyewitnesses pass away, and what forms of remembrance can take their place? Five stories from Siegen form the focus of the graphic novel *Bin Mensch nicht auch ich? (Am I Not Human Too?). These are accounts of persecution during the Nazi era. Drawing on local memories and supported by scholarly research, the book offers new ways of engaging with the past, particularly for young people.
The time of the eyewitnesses is coming to an end. New forms are needed to tell stories about the Holocaust. Memories that convey knowledge and still touch people. The graphic novel anthology "Bin Mensch nicht auch ich? Remembering, Narrating, Experiencing", created in collaboration between the University of Siegen and the Active Museum of South Westphalia, attempts to do just that, using the form of the comic.
The book, edited by Dr. Jana Mikota, Prof. Dr. Daniel Stein and Dr. Jens Aspelmeier, brings together life stories of people from Siegen and the surrounding area whose fates during the Nazi era are exemplary of persecution, disenfranchisement and violence. But instead of telling these stories in classic text form, they are translated into pictures by the artists Marion Goedelt, Inbal Leitner, Stephanie Lunkewitz, Lisa Rock and Bianca Schaalburg. This creates an approach that appeals to young people in particular. Some of the pictures stay with you for a long time. Not everything has to be explained in language. What is drawn and even the empty spaces, what colors and strokes only hint at, have an effect.
One of these stories is that of Inge Frank. She was a young girl from Siegen whose life was brutally ended by National Socialist persecution. Deported and murdered, her name stands today as a representative of many whose biographies were to be erased. In Marion Goedelt's graphic short story, her life is not only reconstructed, but told as a touching story.
Alongside her, readers encounter other fates from Siegen. The Jewish girl Betty Hochmann, who managed to escape to Palestine in 1938 and whose experiences are recounted by Inbal Leitner. The young Zina, who was deported to Siegen as a child for forced labor and is portrayed by Bianca Schaalburg. Otto Päulgen from Niederschelderhütte, whose experiences as a victim of the Nazi "euthanasia" policy were portrayed by Lisa Rock, and the story of the Siegen synagogue, which stands for the extinction of Jewish life in the city and shapes Stephanie Lunkewitz's adaptation.
A central element of the project is the collaboration with people from Siegen who carry on the stories as partners and "second witnesses". These include Traute Fries and Rüdiger Fries, whose family once lived in the same house as the Frank family. Rüdiger Fries also researched the fate of Otto Päulgen and thus provided the basis for the artistic realization. Peer Ball knew the story of the deported forced laborer Zina very well. She later came back to Siegen for a visit and he was able to conduct an interview with her in her home town. Much of what the Aktives Museum Südwestfalen and the Gesellschaft für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit (Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation) have achieved in decades of dealing with the local history has been incorporated into the book.
Academics and students from the University of Siegen, people who are involved in and for the museum on site and the artists worked hand in hand here. An exhibition on the culture of remembrance in graphic novels and contacts with international artists and authors have emerged from courses and research projects that have been carried out since 2024 with the support of the Future Fund against Anti-Semitism (Ministry of Culture and Science NRW). Dr. Jana Mikota (German Studies) contributed her special expertise on children's and youth literature, Prof. Dr. Daniel Stein (American Studies) his knowledge of comic research. Dr. Jens Aspelmeier from the board of the Active Museum is head of the Centre for Practical Teacher Training and knows how important it is to address the Holocaust in schools and that new ways of remembrance culture must be found.
Didactically prepared, the book opens up new possibilities for teachers to convey history and initiate discussions. At the same time, it is also aimed at anyone who is interested in history and, in particular, the history of the city. Siegen is exemplary for many other cities that are otherwise unmarked in world history.
The graphic anthology will be published by Ariella Verlag in Berlin, a publishing house specializing in modern Jewish literature as well as children's and youth literature. The publication was financially supported by the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung, the Aktives Museum Südwestfalen and the University of Siegen.
Dr. Jana Mikota
Email: mikota@germanistik.uni-siegen.de
Tel.: 0271 740-2099
Prof. Dr. Daniel Stein
Email: stein@anglistik.uni-siegen.de
Tel.: 0271 740-4040
Dr. Jens Aspelmeier
Email: jens.aspelmeier@zfsl.nrw.de
The story of Inge Frank, a Jewish girl from Siegen, was illustrated by Marion Goedelt.
Copyright: University of Siegen
Presented the book "Bin Mensch nicht auch ich?" (from left): Prof. Dr. Daniel Stein, Rüdiger Fries, ...
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The story of Inge Frank, a Jewish girl from Siegen, was illustrated by Marion Goedelt.
Copyright: University of Siegen
Presented the book "Bin Mensch nicht auch ich?" (from left): Prof. Dr. Daniel Stein, Rüdiger Fries, ...
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