A “first-hand-account” on the memory of the Holocaust – Dr. Charlotte Schallié guest speaker at University of Manitoba seminar – March 26, 2025

On March 26, the upper level seminar GRMN 3262 Representations of the Holocaust, taught by Dr. Stephan Jaeger at the Department of German and Slavic Studies of the University of Manitoba, welcomed Project Director, Dr. Charlotte Schallié, as a guest speaker. She presented in the class session titled “Visual Storytelling and Remembrance in Graphic Novels to tell and work through the Holocaust.” The session was based on the students’ reading of the anthology of graphic novels But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust (2022).

Via Zoom, Dr. Schallié shared research insights on the background of the project, the methodology of graphic testimony, and themes of history and memory. She drew the students’ attention to the unique style of each of the three graphic survivor stories included in But I Live through specific examples and detailed analysis. Her presentation was followed by a lively discussion of the book in which the participants had a chance to further explore the concept introduced by Dr. Schallié – that memory of the Holocaust is a two-way road between past and present.

We invited to Dr. Jaeger to contribute to our blog by sharing his reflections and a selection of student engagements from the session, whereby he stated:

“…students gained a much deeper insight into the opportunities of graphic survivor testimonies, into the use of colours, text-image relations, and silences, and into the impact of the collaboration in the present that made the remembering and new or expanded forms of testimony possible.”

After the seminar, all students wrote a weekly journal entry commenting on the session. Dr. Jaeger shared many of their thoughtful reflections, highlighting a few:

“I was especially drawn to Emmie’s story [Barbara Yelin, “But I Live,” based on the memories of Emmie Arbel], which illustrates the lasting effects of the Holocaust on her later in life. The use of minimal text, or at times, empty panels, encouraged reflection, allowing the images to convey meaning rather than simply acting as a supplement for words.”

“My favourite art style is in the first story [“A Kind of Resistance” by Miriam Libicki from interviews with David Schaffer]. I thought the undertones of red paint throughout and the deep lines around the eyes made the characters more expressive and uneasy. I liked the fact that each story had a different but in some aspects similar experiences – which is sad to think about, but sometimes we have to remember that it is the reality for many survivors of the Holocaust.”

Another student saw Charlotte’s talk as a “first-hand account” on the memory process and highlighted that they particularly appreciated “the relational dynamics between the survivors and interviewers / artists.”

Although Dr. Jaeger’s class had discussed Art Spiegelman’s Maus in the previous session, he believed that the insight into the processes of the collaborations clearly contributed to the understanding of the range of representational opportunities that the medium graphic novel provides. Similarly, a student noted that:

“[It] was cool seeing how the artist got paired up with the survivor(s), and in the end created these works, and each story was created and expressed differently […]. From representing it, not to historically record it, these stories show that not every survivor was the same. And a lot of the time I find when the victim is not human but a number, or a name, there is no emotional connection, and we as people tend to see that as less important to us. Often we list off countless numbers on deaths, but a number doesn’t mean much without seeing what that number is.”

Several students wished that the book itself would have included an essay similar to Dr. Schallié’s talk:

“The only addition [….], perhaps to the description of the artists would be to explain why the styles were different, why certain colours would use or (what I personally found most interesting) the research/relationship process. While this may be more interesting for a historian or academic, it does make any reader see the story in a new and more appreciative light.”

Dr. Jaeger also shared with us that several students in the group listed But I Live as one of their favorite and most insightful representations of the Holocaust during the term in the course’s final survey and that they all strongly recommended to invite Dr. Schallié again to the next iteration of the course. He closed with his appreciation:

“Overall, Dr. Schallié’s generous sharing of her time and expertise energized all students in the class to engage more deeply in the challenges and opportunities of representations of Holocaust memories and visual story-telling.”

Thank you to Dr. Jaeger and our project partners at the University of Manitoba for hosting Dr. Schallié online and for this exciting opportunity to connect and engage with students about the project.

Dr. Stephan Jaeger’s research and course offerings can be found here: https://umanitoba.ca/arts/stephan-jaeger. He can also be reached at stephan.jaeger@umanitoba.ca

More information about the graphic novel ‘But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust’, can be found here: https://visualnarratives.org/projects/butilive/