BEST SHOTS EXTRA: JUDENHASS

[MattBrady]

Judenhass
By: Dave Sim
From: Aardvark-Vanaheim
Review by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Say what you will about Dave Sim—and God knows there’s a lot to be said about him—there are two facts that aren’t up for discussion: The man can draw, and he’s not afraid to marshal that talent to tackle the most controversial topics.

Judenhass is the German word for Anti-Semitism, but it translates literally to “Jew hate,” and it’s that literal meaning that Sim thinks gets to the heart of what we generally refer to as “Anti-Semitism” better than that term does, since Jews aren’t the only Semitic people (so too are Arabs and people living in North Africa and southwestern Asia). And it’s the hatred of Jews that Judenhass addresses, specifically the Holocaust, though Sim more often uses the Jewish term for the WWII era attempted genocide: “The Shoah,” or “calamity.”

Judenhass isn’t really a graphic novel in the common usage of that term, but more of a graphic essay, with Sim himself addressing the reader directly for the first five of the book’s 40 pages, talking about his thought process behind the book, and why it seems an important one for a comic book, since “but for geographic happenstance and the grace of God,” any one of the ordinary men condemned to die in Nazi death camps could have been one the important figures in the birth of the comics medium, like Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Joe Simon, Stan Lee, Sheldon Mayer or Max Gaines or others (In his afterword, he mentions another reason—this is a 25-minute exploration of the subject, which seems to him like a necessary bare minimum of time schools should spend on teaching it to students).

In this passage, he examines the typical non-Jewish response to the holocaust/Shoah, and finds that it seems to imply that it “had been a genuinely unthinkable act without precedent…a one-in-a-million happenstance which could only have happened in Germany and only under the Nazi regime,” rather than something that, given “non-Jewish culture and its tolerance for and embracing of Jew hatred,” was perhaps inevitable.

From there the book transitions into a collection of negative terms for Jews, depressing historical facts about the treatment of Jews, and incredibly negative quotes and statements regarding the Jewish people, some from the usual suspects (Hitler, Himmler), world leaders not normally associated with Anti-Semitism, and some really surprising people (H.G. Wells, Voltaire, Mark Twain, Martin Luther).

These appear in blocks of text, while the pages “below” the boxes are filled by Sim’s meticulous pen and ink reconstructions of photographs from the death camps.

There’s an incredibly elegant—and portentous, given the subject matter—sequence at the beginning showing a train’s-eye-view of the arrival at the camp, but a majority of the pages consist of splashes of drawings of photographs. Many of the pages are split into grids of six to 35 panels, depicting pictures of the same victims, dead or dying (it’s usually impossible to tell which) from slightly different angles, as if viewed from a somewhat twitchy camera.

The narrative and artistic techniques are quite similar to Sim’s Glamourpuss, in which the subject matter is aesthetics, his favorite cartoonists and comics artists and fashion.

Given the controversial nature of the subject matter (remember, there are still folks who refuse to acknowledge the Holocaust really occurred) and the heated passions that revolve around it still, it’s a good thing Sim includes so much information in the back, including a discussion of his process, his sources, the particular photographs drawn from and discussions and context on some of the quoted materials.

Obviously, this isn’t a fun book to read, nor is doing so in anyway an enjoyable experience. It was difficult event to admire or examine Sim’s process much with this one—which was the chief pleasure to be derived from Glamourpuss—as it was hard to divorce myself from what was being drawn long enough think about how it was drawn, beyond wondering how hard it must have been to create.

Simply put, these are hard images to look at, and dragging your eyes across the images for a split-second on the way to the words is nothing compared to the amount of time and energy Sim spent in the meticulous creation of those images. I don’t know how Sim could stand to create this book, although I’m glad he did.

[xdemon]

A fantastic book. Definately worth picking up.

[Michael D.]

My LCS set this aside for me (I've been reading Sim since Cerebus #50) and I almost took a pass because I wasn't sure what I was in for. But it's very well-done - both beautiful and horrible if you get my meaning.

[canugrok]

I'm hoping to be part of a Holocaust and Human Behavior Seminar this summer in NYC (although the organization runs this in other places). I'll find out this week if my application was accepted.

Part of the outcome of this seminar is how to bring this information to school curriculum. I've already suggested this book (and, of course, Maus) to the woman I'm in touch with. Sim did an amazing job with this book. Hard hitting. It's one way, in my opinion, to reach a tough audience: HS students.

BTW, if anyone on the site is one of those who denies the Holocaust, come here and speak to my dad, who survived the concentration camps.

[David Bird]

I think this book could be a solid intro for someone who is unfamiliar with the subject, but I, and I a Sim fan, found it wanting. I learned nothing new and, other than the train entrance pictures, the art did nothing for me.

[TheToileteer]

Jewish suffering is something which the Jews find it convenient to overemphasize, just as "Judenhass" (an entirely rational response to persecution BY Jews--a phenomenon which unfortunately continues unabated today) is something which they find convenient to paint in demonic terms. Their stranglehold over the U.S. mass media, and imposition of draconian anti-Free Speech laws in Europe, aids them in pushing this "Holocaust agenda." (Imagine the complaints if Tibet activists proposed to promote their issue in public schools everywhere.)

It is to the industry's credit that several comics have focused on alternative genocidal subjects, notably "Palestine" and "Fax from Sarajevo" (and I believe that one on Sudan has appeared as well). Nevertheless, it is "Maus" which gets reprinted ad nauseum--a fact which I attribute to the book-buying tendencies of U.S. Jews, a market which I suppose is driving this project as well.

[Conor Kilpatrick]

Clearly, this kind of book is still needed.

[Michael Heide]

I hope we'll be able to get this here in Germany. Most of these projects have problems going through customs (swastikas on the cover, no matter what context, are usually a death sentence for a comic book to be sold in Germany), and with a name like this, I really hope they don't get the wrong idea.

[JosephKr]

Originally Posted by TheToileteer

Jewish suffering is something which the Jews find it convenient to overemphasize, just as "Judenhass" (an entirely rational response to persecution BY Jews--a phenomenon which unfortunately continues unabated today) is something which they find convenient to paint in demonic terms. Their stranglehold over the U.S. mass media, and imposition of draconian anti-Free Speech laws in Europe, aids them in pushing this "Holocaust agenda." (Imagine the complaints if Tibet activists proposed to promote their issue in public schools everywhere.)

It is to the industry's credit that several comics have focused on alternative genocidal subjects, notably "Palestine" and "Fax from Sarajevo" (and I believe that one on Sudan has appeared as well). Nevertheless, it is "Maus" which gets reprinted ad nauseum--a fact which I attribute to the book-buying tendencies of U.S. Jews, a market which I suppose is driving this project as well.

....and this quote clearly illustrates Dave Sim's primary reason for wanting to do this book.

[Tendrin]

Originally Posted by TheToileteer

Jewish suffering is something which the Jews find it convenient to overemphasize, just as "Judenhass" (an entirely rational response to persecution BY Jews--a phenomenon which unfortunately continues unabated today) is something which they find convenient to paint in demonic terms. Their stranglehold over the U.S. mass media, and imposition of draconian anti-Free Speech laws in Europe, aids them in pushing this "Holocaust agenda." (Imagine the complaints if Tibet activists proposed to promote their issue in public schools everywhere.)

It is to the industry's credit that several comics have focused on alternative genocidal subjects, notably "Palestine" and "Fax from Sarajevo" (and I believe that one on Sudan has appeared as well). Nevertheless, it is "Maus" which gets reprinted ad nauseum--a fact which I attribute to the book-buying tendencies of U.S. Jews, a market which I suppose is driving this project as well.

Wow.

Just wow.

You sicken me.

[Mr_Punch]

Originally Posted by TheToileteer

Jewish suffering is something which the Jews find it convenient to overemphasize, just as "Judenhass" (an entirely rational response to persecution BY Jews--a phenomenon which unfortunately continues unabated today) is something which they find convenient to paint in demonic terms. Their stranglehold over the U.S. mass media, and imposition of draconian anti-Free Speech laws in Europe, aids them in pushing this "Holocaust agenda." (Imagine the complaints if Tibet activists proposed to promote their issue in public schools everywhere.)

It is to the industry's credit that several comics have focused on alternative genocidal subjects, notably "Palestine" and "Fax from Sarajevo" (and I believe that one on Sudan has appeared as well). Nevertheless, it is "Maus" which gets reprinted ad nauseum--a fact which I attribute to the book-buying tendencies of U.S. Jews, a market which I suppose is driving this project as well.

That comment is absolutely chilling. Really scary. I hope it is just some stupid kid trying to start some crap because he is witless and desperate for attention. I really hope that it is not some stupid jerk who is stating ignorant, awful swill because he is ignorant and awful. Shame on him either way.

"Imagine the complaints if Tibet activists proposed to promote their issue in public schools everywhere." Complaints from who? I am a public school teacher and have taught a unit on Tibet for the last three years. No complaints yet. I have had parents thanks me for teaching the unit, and have had two more teachers in my school ad the Tibet unit to their Social Studies curriculum.

P.S. Maus is one of the greatest achievements in the comics medium. It should be read by anyone who has a love for the art form.

[Mr_Punch]

Truly brilliant.

[BamaRainbow]

The one thing that I wish Sim had addressed (and should have been) for the sake of a fuller comprehension of his selections of "anti-Jewish speech" was the simple HISTORICAL fact that Jews, for a very large part of their history, had a simple desire to remain APART from the communities in which they settled. It's very easy to foster a distrust (from which hatred quickly springs) of a group which chooses to remain "outsiders".
I really expected something much better than this from Sim. (I won't argue with the quotes he chose to use, although a full context of the quotes would be nice as Sim has taken umbrage when some of his own words have been used as "evidence" of Sim's misogyny. He claims the quotes are taken completely out of context but he had few qualms in quoting Twain, Churchill and Chamberlain. I wonder if Sim's aware of the hostility that existed within the Jewish community a little over a century ago. The Zionist movement was condemned by religious Jews and the Zionists considered the majority of observant Jews to be old-fashioned and uneducated.)

[EMeadow]

I'll have to look at the book, but a guy of Sim's stature and reputation is NOT the guy I want saying anything bout my religion.

You can't say Jews are worthy while still saying derogatory statements bout women.

[AbacusComics]

Originally Posted by TheToileteer

Jewish suffering is something which the Jews find it convenient to overemphasize, just as "Judenhass" (an entirely rational response to persecution BY Jews--a phenomenon which unfortunately continues unabated today) is something which they find convenient to paint in demonic terms. Their stranglehold over the U.S. mass media, and imposition of draconian anti-Free Speech laws in Europe, aids them in pushing this "Holocaust agenda." (Imagine the complaints if Tibet activists proposed to promote their issue in public schools everywhere.)

It is to the industry's credit that several comics have focused on alternative genocidal subjects, notably "Palestine" and "Fax from Sarajevo" (and I believe that one on Sudan has appeared as well). Nevertheless, it is "Maus" which gets reprinted ad nauseum--a fact which I attribute to the book-buying tendencies of U.S. Jews, a market which I suppose is driving this project as well.

Sir, you are aptly named. Perhaps you should get your head out of the toilet and join the rest of us in the real world.

[TheToileteer]

For those who harumph and think me wicked--well, how much emphasis would you say the deaths of a few million people seventy years ago deserve, vis-a-vis the hundreds of similar sob stories out there (many of them ongoing, and some with the Jews as perpetrators)? And is it right that this decision be made by the pushiest group with the most powerful political lobby? Come on, people--this is propaganda.

[ijiwaru sensei]

Originally Posted by TheToileteer

For those who harumph and think me wicked--well, how much emphasis would you say the deaths of a few million people seventy years ago deserve, vis-a-vis the hundreds of similar sob stories out there (many of them ongoing, and some with the Jews as perpetrators)? And is it right that this decision be made by the pushiest group with the most powerful political lobby? Come on, people--this is propaganda.

You clearly have your own agenda to push.

Westerners point again and again to the Holocaust because that act was perpetrated by themselves. Remembering the Holocaust is a culture looking itself in the mirror. Are there comparable atrocities today and in recent history? Of course. Japan's Rape of Nanking and other war-time atrocities, the Khmer Rouge's slaughter in Cambodia, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, Darfur, and elsewhere are blights against humanity, but the Holocaust belongs to the West, more directly than any other. It’s good to remember. It’s good for the West to realize what it is capable of.

Your bigoted stereotypes don't serve you well either.

[Gail Simone]

Originally Posted by TheToileteer

Jewish suffering is something which the Jews find it convenient to overemphasize, just as "Judenhass" (an entirely rational response to persecution BY Jews--a phenomenon which unfortunately continues unabated today) is something which they find convenient to paint in demonic terms. Their stranglehold over the U.S. mass media, and imposition of draconian anti-Free Speech laws in Europe, aids them in pushing this "Holocaust agenda." (Imagine the complaints if Tibet activists proposed to promote their issue in public schools everywhere.)

It is to the industry's credit that several comics have focused on alternative genocidal subjects, notably "Palestine" and "Fax from Sarajevo" (and I believe that one on Sudan has appeared as well). Nevertheless, it is "Maus" which gets reprinted ad nauseum--a fact which I attribute to the book-buying tendencies of U.S. Jews, a market which I suppose is driving this project as well.

Holy ____.

[caleb]

Thanks for reading, everyone. I don't normally like to respond to responses to reviews, as we at Best Shots HQ prefer to let them stand on their own, and I don' know that there is much to respond to in the, um, most colorful message in the thread that anyone at all will find productive.

However, I suppose this doesn't have anything to do with the review itself, and bears pointing out:

Originally Posted by TheToileteer

Nevertheless, it is "Maus" which gets reprinted ad nauseum--a fact which I attribute to the book-buying tendencies of U.S. Jews, a market which I suppose is driving this project as well.

Maus' subject matter has something to do with its popularity, but perhaps not as much as the timing of its original and (as was mentioned above) itsquality. There's a reason its always mentioned in the same breath as Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, and neither of those have anything to do with the Holocaust.

Regarding your supposition that "the book-buying tendencies of U.S. Jews" are driving this project, Judenhass is self-published by Sim and, as a self-published book by Dave Sim, not likely to do huge numbers. (Nor is it likely that Sim calculated he could sell a lot of books to Jewish people by doing a Holocaust book; his body of work clearly demonstrates that he's not a creator looking to make a buck). Thus far, it hasn't even generated any mainstream media attention, and the U.S. Jews control the media, don't they? (Kidding!)