Category: exhibits

On Sunday, May 11, 2025, the exhibition ‘But I Live. Remembering the Holocaust’ opens at the Bergen-Belsen Memorial.

The exhibition, curated by Jakob Hoffmann and Barbara Yelin, features the process of co-creation and original artwork by artists Barbara Yelin, Miriam Libicki, and Gilad Seliktar produced for the graphic novel But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust, edited by Dr. Charlotte Schallié and inspired by the narratives of Holocaust survivors Emmie Arbel, David Schaffer, and Nico and Rolf Kamp. Displaying original drawings, sketches, archival materials, and interviews with participants, the exhibition illuminates the process by which the book came into existence.

Pages from each of the graphic narratives in ‘But I Live’, from left to right: ‘A Kind of Resistance’ by Miriam Libicki, ‘Thirteen Secrets’ by Gilad Seliktar and ‘But I Live’ by Barbara Yelin.

After a successful three-year run and exhibiting at institutions such as the Stadtmuseum Erlangen, Dortmund schauraum comic + salon, Wiesbaden Kunsthaus, Ravensbrück Memorial, and Erica-Fuchs-Haus Museum in Schwarzenbach a.d. Saale, Germany, the Bergen-Belsen Memorial is now the sixth institution to host the exhibition. The location of the exhibition also has personal and historical significance, as Emmie Arbel survived the concentration camps at Bergen-Belsen when she was just a little girl.

With the publication of Barbara Yelin’s graphic novel Emmie Arbel: The Colour of Memory, more of Emmie’s story has since been shared. In response to its arrival, the exhibition has been expanded to include new original materials.

Exhibitions only come to life through collaborative team efforts. Thank you to Barbara Yelin and Jakob Hoffmann for their leadership, their creative vision, and dedication, and thank you to Dr. Akim Jah and the educational team at the Bergen-Belsen Memorial for making this exhibition possible.

‘But I Live. Remembering the Holocaust’ will be hosted by Bergen-Belsen Memorial from May 11 until June 30, 2025.

Find out more information about the exhibition here:
https://www.bergen-belsen.de/ueber-uns/aktuelles/news-detail/gedenkstaette-bergen-belsen-zeigt-sonderausstellung-aber-ich-lebe-den-holocaust-erinnern

As part of our Yugoslav Wars Research Cluster, Swiss comics artist Jared Muralt has been collaborating with a Roma woman, Ružica (not her real name), retelling her life in Serbia in the 1990s where the discrimination and violence of the Yugoslav Wars shaped Ružica’s childhood.

The concept drawings and character sketches for the graphic novel project “Ružica’s Last Summer” were recently showcased at the Berner Design Foundation’s annual BESTFORM exhibition from March 28 to April 27, 2025. This event represents the first public showing of Jared’s work on the project.

The Berner Design Foundation supports professional designers from the fields of graphic and product design, ceramics, fashion and textile design as well as scenography, while managing the Canton of Bern’s collection of applied arts.

In addition to hosting Jared’s work, the Berner Design Foundation has generously supported Jared’s graphic novel through additional funding. We gratefully acknowledge their contribution to our project, and their support in expanding the graphic narrative to bring Ružica’s story to life.

Photo and image credit: Lea Moser and Jared Muralt, May 2025.