Getto

Irena #1

by Jean-David Morvan, Séverine Tréfouël, David Evrard

Jest to historia zwykłej kobiety, która zrobił coś niezwykłego, w nienormalnych warunkach, podczas straszliwego okresu.

W 1939 roku wojska nazistowskich Niemiec zaatakowały Polskę. W Warszawie, Żydzi z całego miasta zostali zapędzeni do getta - całą dzielnicę otoczono murami. Każdy, kto próbuje uciec jest zabijany bez ostrzeżenia; jedynymi, którzy mogą wjechać są przedstawiciele wydziału opieki społecznej. Wśród nich jest Irena Sendlerowa, która codziennie przywozi jedzenie, leki i wsparcie dla tych, którzy są uwięzieni w tym piekle i cierpią z powodu chorób i niedożywienia. Irena jest wzorem odwagi: nie wahali się przeciwstawić strażnikom, aby zrobić więcej niż pozwalają okupanci. Punktem zwrotnym jest dzień, gdy na łożu śmierci, młoda matka powierza jej życie swego syna. Ten zwrot akcji i następujące po nim wydarzenia sprawiają, że Irena angażuje się w ratowanie dzieci z getta. Aby to zrobić, musi być gotowa zaryzykować życie.

Zmarła w 2008 roku, w 1965 roku uznana za Sprawiedliwą wśród Narodów Świata, Irena Sendlerowa, działaczka ruchu oporu, była jedną z bohaterek II wojny światowej. Uratowała prawie 2500 żydowskich dzieci z warszawskiego getta. ...pewnego dnia, czytając artykuł o Irenie Sendlerowej, Jean-David Morvan podjął decyzję, że opowie o jej życiu przy pomocy komiksu. Do projektu zaprosił Séverine Tréfouël i Davida Evrarda, a kolorami zajął się niezawodny Walter.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Nonfiction, Bande Dessinée, Historical, War, History

68 pages, Hardcover

First published January 4, 2017

About the author

Jean-David Morvan is a French comic author, best known as the creator of the Sillage/Wake series.

After studying arts at the Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels, he first tried being a graphic artist, but eventually settled for writing instead.

His main series are 'Spirou and Fantasio', 'Sir Pyle' and 'Merlin', all with José Luis Munuera, and 'Sillage', with Philippe Buchet.

Reviews

[asiya | アセヤ (free palestine) · Rating 5 out of 5]

✶ "Human kindness has no religious boundaries." ✶

(Morvan, pg. 75)

( ｡ • ᴖ • ｡)

╰┈➤ If that wasn't one of the most powerful quotes you've ever read, then I don't know what is.

~ In honor of the atrocities being committed to the innocent children of Palestine, I am reading this book to help BOOST and SPREAD AWARENESS about what is happening and going on in occupied Gaza and the occupied West Bank. 🇵🇸 🕊️~

This book is about the story of Irena Sendlerowa, one of the few other "Schindlers" you'll ever get to read about when it comes to saving innocent Jewish people (mostly children, in this case) from the wrath of the Nazi regime, during WWII. This book is a graphic novel/comic book for younger readers to view and experience. I really appreciate the creators for making her story child-friendly for younger audiences to read, and journey through the activism that she barely gets accredited for. The cartoon style of drawing wasn't that impressive, and definitely not something that I would remark upon with positivity, but it is just a simple style to get across a simple message. So I think it performed just that and succeeded at it, too. 😊

Obviously, it looks like this will not be the only graphic novel to this series, since there are currently five other volumes that have been released and are available to read today. (even though one of the graphic artists' other works don't look anything near "kid-friendly", so I'm honestly wondering as to why he had joined this book project in the first place, but okay...)

The Zionism in this book wasn't too bad. I was honestly expecting it to be a whole lot worse, but luckily it wasn't even peppered throughout, there's just some weird "history" explained through it or at the back that detail in about "Israel" and how "it became a state from Palestine." But it honestly wasn't so terrible- Still not happy with that, though. :(

If I could even describe that amount of emotions I felt while reading this book, then I think we would be here all day... So let me just try to convey some of those feelings to you right here; right now.

Oh, my little Irena...
...I'm so proud of you...

(Morvan, pg. 68)

Let's just start off with that special relationship Irena holds close to herself of her dear past father! 😭 This book goes back and forth with "past" and "present" timelines of the events being told. A common metaphor being used throughout, is that of Irena's strength and perseverance that she holds onto with the "guided help" of her deceased father. His intervals cut in scenes of a back flash of Irena's past, and how she got over something and made it through, thus encouraging her onwards with whatever challenge it is that she currently faces. Sometimes being so extreme and severe, that one must take a step back and just realize how much this one woman went through to help soooooo many innocent children and parents- all while gaining nothing from it at all.

Well, except for gaining her humanity. Something that many of us see lacking in leading figures around the world today. ☠️

What about you?
Me?
That's different...
I'm already dead. Have been for a long time.

(Morvan, pg. 102)

The next thing that I want to talk about is how DESCRIPTIVE the characters are drawn out to be in this story. I didn't really expect a lot of meaning and emotions to come out of this one, but WOW, did the creators nail it. The quote that I pulled from the book up above, is that of a little boy who was claimed to be "dead:" named "Hirsch." This passage was taken from a conversation where Irena and her truck driver were trying to get by some of the patrol forces and deliver packages- but this little boy helped them and guided them through a different way to drop off their cargo. And actually ended up saving them from being caught.

Many children like Hirsch are seen in this book, children who are no older than fifteen years old or sixteen, children that just want to play with dolls and little toy cars, children that don't have their parents anymore and got separated from them. 🥺 Just children.

Exactly like how the children of Palestine are being treated as we speak.

Every moment we spare, every second we waste, there is at least one Palestinian child being hurt, abused, or killed just across the ocean. Counting 72 years, now.

Reuters had reported YEARS ago about how Palestinian children were being TORTURED and USED AS HUMAN SHIELDS during combat and invasion. Children, may I remind you. CHILDREN! ☹️

I urge all of you VERY strongly to think about what is going on in the world right now and to consider taking ACTION to help out the innocent kids of Palestine. They are NO different from the children in this book. They are NO different than Hirsch. They are NO different than any child who has experienced the Holocaust, Jewish or Gypsy or neither. They are just children. They are ALL just children.

Since the little bits of Zionism did bother me (now that I think about it), I don't think I will continue reading this series anytime soon, but I would like to find out more about Irena and her story (and obviously with how things played out). However, I'm still going to be giving this book five stars in honor of what Irena did and what all of the activists around the world have done to help innocent people- especially children. 🥺

╰┈➤ I'm going to end this review with ONE last quote from Irena's father. But thank you so much for reading, if you've come down this far. 💕

✶ "Sleep well, my darling. I know you will make the right decision." ✶

(Morvan, pg. 26)

#NeverAgain #NeverAgainForAnyone #FreePalestine #FromTheRiverToTheSea

🇵🇸 🕊️

[Jola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irena Sendler was a Polish woman who saved 2,500 Jewish children from Warsaw ghetto during the Second World War. How plain this sentence sounds compared to what she actually did.

Jean-David Morvan, a French comics author, read an article about Irena Sendler. It inspired him to write a three volume comic, based on her biography. A team joined him: Séverine Tréfouël, David Evrard and Walter. They all deserve standing ovation. You can see that first they felt the story deep in their hearts and then put it on paper.

When you write a book about a person like Irena Sendler, it is probably easy to fall into the trap of hagiography and present her as totally speckless and celestial. Fortunately, Sendler depicted by French authors, is very human, wearing her funny hat, fighting with doubts. Saving Jews was regarded a serious crime by the Nazi and being detected would have been equal to death sentence. Not only for Irena Sendler, but also for people who helped her, so you can imagine how difficult her decisions were.

It takes a lot of sensitivity and tact to explore a traumatic subject with warmth and a bit of delicate humour. This book has it all. Chubby Irena sometimes made me think of Moominmamma. There is a little adorable hero not mentioned even once either in speech bubbles or in narrator’s comments: a little white dog. He makes the story even more touching.

Unfortunately, I can’t applaud the Polish editor, Timof i cisi wspólnicy. The translation sounds weird at times and, to my dismay, there is a typo on the back cover. Unfortunately, the note about ‘Irena’ on their website is a mess too. I hope the second and third volume, which I look forward to, will be edited with more respect for readers.

‘Irena’ is recommended for children but I would be cautious. The torture scene still haunts me. I think the minimum age is 14-16, depending on emotional maturity.

It seems that the words ‘ghetto’ and ‘comic’ are like antonyms but Jean-David Morvan, Séverine Tréfouël, David Evrard and Walter proved that a graphic novel can tackle even the most emotionally wrenching topics. I think nothing requires as much tact and subtlety as describing death of a child and the way it’s shown in ‘Irena’ truly moved me.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irena is the story of a Polish social worker in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. After seeing the abhorrent conditions the Jews were living in, she creates a network to smuggle children out, ultimately saving over 2,500 children. The book is full of tension filled scenes as the children are smuggled across Nazi checkpoints in various ways. The Peanuts style artwork was a bit odd at first but it worked as a sharp contrast to some of the brutal scenes portrayed. All in all, this was very good.

Received a review copy from Lion Forge and NetGalley. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

*thank you to Netgalley and Diamond Book Distributors for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars.

Wow. This is such a moving and powerful story of the courage and bravery of one woman during the war. Do not think for a moment that because this is a graphic novel that it's going to be an easy read. Like all War stories, it is just as much a strong read as any other. The illustrations are vivid and don't leave anything out. The truth gets told and shown and it's not a book I would give to a child to read. It can be gut wrenching and heart breaking. There are no boundaries and it's easy to forget that this actually happens, that this is a true story because it's so brutal you don't want to believe it was really that bad.

The courage and bravery of Irena is truly inspiring. She did what alot of people would call the impossible. It is because of people like her that truly allow us to believe that there is good in this world and that impossible things can indeed be accomplished.

Heartbreaking but positively powerful, this story is a hard one to forget and one that never should be forgotten.

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

So glad to see this heroic woman's story is being told in a new way. The movie Hallmark made about Irena was very well done and I have been fascinated by her story ever since. Love the artwork and the storytelling, especially the visualization of the many ways she smuggled the children out of the ghetto. Very well done! Looking forward to Volume 2.

Thank you to Lion Forge and Edelweiss for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[littleprettybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

17/20

Je ne connaissais pas Irena Sendlerowa et pourtant, cette polonaise a sauvé des milliers d’enfants juifs du Ghetto de Varsovie pendant la seconde guerre mondiale. Cette BD raconte ses actes de résistante, héroïque et pleine de courage, qui méritent d’être lus par tous, pour se souvenir.

Ma chronique : https://myprettybooks.wordpress.com/2...

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this graphic novel from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.


I have been interested in WWII stories since I was a little kid, so of course I had to request this graphic novel when I spotted it on Netgalley. A story about a woman who helps out in the ghetto and then decides to also help with saving kids. Holy wow, yes.

The story starts at the very beginning. We see Irena go to the ghetto, a terrible and horrible place, see her hand out food, talk to people, and then especially talk to the woman of a little boy. She is dying and she wants her son out of this horrible place. The wheels are now turning and we see Irena try to figure out if she should do this or not. Because believe me this is a decision that could impact not only her and the children… but also her work people. Everyone who read WWII stories know that not just the person doing the deeds is captured, it is often also people surrounding them. I loved that the author/illustrator showed the many emotions that went through Irena, see her try to figure out things.

I have to say I was definitely shocked by that event that happened just a bit after Irena made her decision. Poor kid. 🙁

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the future/torture/capture scenes, or at least how they were placed. While they do provide some information on Irena, at least the first did, I had just expected these parts to come at the ending, not in the middle of the story. It caused a disconnect for me. I am guessing this is meant to be her recollection while in captivity? At least that is how it felt after a couple of these scenes.
Eventually the story gets to the point of her capture and we see her still without wounds on the table. Poor Irena. 🙁 You know what is going to happen, you know she will be in pain for a long time.

We see who are also helping with this mission to save children, because you definitely need more people to trust and who can provide help. One person can only do so much, and I was happy that she found so many people to trust and who were all eager to help out with her mission. I loved how she ended her list of people with her mom (who was standing next to a picture of her husband and daughter which was a nice touch).

Seeing the ways they were saving the kids brought tears to my eyes. These people are truly thinking of any way to bring kids outside of the ghetto. She even hid one in a toolbox!

I was delighted to see Janusz Korczak pop up in the story. Given the date on the name card for the baby in the previous pages this was right before his death. 🙁

We also read of other gruesome things happening, like the story of Anton the driver whose cousin was forced to dig a mass grave and watch how people got murdered.

The ending, oh my gosh, I was just crying tears. That was absolutely gorgeously drawn, though it did make me feel like she died. But we all know she lived to be very old (or at least that is what the internet is telling me).

The art was pretty great, it reminds me of another comic/graphic novel but I just can’t get the name out.

I would recommend this one to everyone. Be warned you will cry your eyes out.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seemed fitting for me to pick up Irena, as I was in Warsaw on holiday last week, and visited the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. I have read about Irena Sendler(owa) before, but never in the medium of a graphic novel. Although I found the illustration style a little cartoonish at first, it fitted well with the whole, and the story of wonderful, selfless Sendler has been rendered in an effective and touching way. The use of colour here is great, and I really liked the way in which it moved back and forth in time. Highly recommended.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Irena Book One: Wartime Ghetto' by Jean-David Morvan and Severine Trefouel with art by David Evrard is story based on truth about Irena Sedlerowa, a social worker in the Warsaw Ghetto in the early 1940s.

Irena Sendlerowa was a social worker in one of the worst possible places. She tried to battle disease and hunger. When a dying mother gives Irena her son, Irena is not sure what to do. When the child dies, she knows she must do something. She joins a network of people dedicated to smuggling children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. They use ingenious methods, like giving the children doses of alcohol to keep them quiet and smuggling them out in trucks full of bricks. Irena gives them new names, but keeps track of their old ones to give back to them some day. Because of her actions, she was imprisoned and tortured, but managed to save around 2500 Jewish children.

I really liked this story of someone who decides they can't just sit by, and how that ripples into the kind of numbers that were achieved. The art is really good too, but it's a bit cartoonish looking. It makes it a bit odd to see this character being tortured pretty brutally, but I like the art and the color scheme used.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Lion Forge, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a startling line spoken by one of the women in the warsaw ghetto, that resonates with what is going on in the States, currently, with our insane president.

A yearago, I would never have considered the way we are living as "normal" But everyone seems to accept it now.

We have to make sure what happened, during the holocaust, never happens again. But we have to be aware at how easy it was to boil the frog, changing things bit by bit, until the jews found themselves regulated to living in an enclosed ghetto.

This is the story of one of the people who tried to change things, by saving the children from the ghetto, one by one.

There was a real Irene, and this story is based on her life.







This is a very accessible story of her life. There is violence, but it happens just out of view. When a young boy is shot, you don't see him die, so much as see his ghost greeting all those who have left him.

This is only the first book of her story. I look forward to reading the next one.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Steff Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

| Review on Reader Fox Blog |


Irena by Jean-David Morvan and Severine Trefouel was definitely a rough book to read through, though the hardest parts were definitely more toward the end. A graphic novel detailing one woman's determined and exemplary efforts to get children out of concentration camps and to safety during the time of WWII, Irena is one of the most amazing stories from the history of this world. More amazing than all those generals we always hear about and the acts of war that were fought, often because one side didn't agree with the other, this is the story of a woman who saw something that was wrong and immoral and did everything she could to stop it.

There are a lot of dark themes to this book, which isn't surprising given what it is written about. I found myself horrified and dejected at times whilst reading. And then at other times, the amazing work of Irena Sendlerowa and her colleagues was incredibly uplifting. And it really does an amazing job of driving home an important message: while the rest of the world might be sending you into despair and hatred for the human race, people like Irena give you a little bit of that hope you lost back. Those who, despite the odds and risk to themselves, will never stop fighting for what is right.

I do often get sick of how many WWII stories end up getting published. This is not because I have a problem with them or because I think there should be less, but because sometimes you can feel like it's just the same story written by a different author. And honestly, the sheer number can be kind of annoying. But in the case of Irena, this is a story that needs to be told and one that I read gladly. I'd gladly read it again.

I can also see this book being great for younger teen readers, those who aren't quite old enough to read some of the more difficult texts, but who are interested in history and should be made aware of the horrors of this time. This is one of those books that really gets to you, and while you're left feeling heartbroken at points, at least you'll know in the end that there are still good people left in the world even during the worst of times.

I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the illustration style takes a bit of getting used to specifically because of the content of the story and the youthfulness of Irena and the rest of the people depicted in the graphic novel, you realize that that this is the true story of one woman, a social worker in the ghetto who removed children a few at a time as her big middle finger to the Reich.

She ultimately was captured and tortured but survived her execution by an underground organization that helped pay off the guards that released her. She lived to a very old age and never gave up the social work that her big heart had in times of war and peace.

It's a well-told biography for a younger audience that helps visualize the darkness of the holocaust and the atrocities that were lived by Jews at the time and the courageousness of people willing to sacrifice themselves for what was right and good.

[Enne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really not at all sure where to start with reviewing this book. It's sort of a mixture of fiction and non-fiction that I'm really not sure what the actual genre of this book is... I think, more than anything, I really enjoyed how much I learned from this book. I love learning more about history and WWII in Eastern Europe is a time period that I always want to learn more about just because, as someone who's from Russia and who had family involved in WWII, I always want to learn more about what they went through. I really loved this book for that. However, I'm really not sure if I could review this as a fiction and say that I enjoyed it. None of the characters were really developed and I also didn't really enjoy the art style at all. But I did enjoy the fact that I learned a lot from this book. So I'm really very conflicted with this.

[Estibaliz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I know, I know... There's nothing here not to love, as Irena is one of those powerful real life characters that deserve all possible recognition, and then some more. And the art was certainly charming, accurate for all kind of audiences (sure some young people could benefit from this graphic novel, even though it's rightfully catalogued as an adult one, at least at my library).

However, I think I'm suffering from an overdose of Holocaust and WWII woes, because I didn't get to connect with the story here as much as I should probably have, and not enough for the 4 stars.

I would probably read the second volume, for the sake of knowing better this part of History that is Irena's story, but it's not like I'm counting the days, so...

[♛primadonna♛]

[Wojciech Szot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Podejrzewam, że jak wam napiszę iż wyszedł komiks o Irenie Sendlerowej to pomyślicie sobie “to nie może być nic dobrego”. Albo pomyślicie “znowu smęty-holokausty”. Tak! Będzie smutno, bo ratowanie żydowskich dzieciaków z getta to nic zabawnego, ale dzięki stylowi, w jaki opowiedzieli o tym Morvan, Trefouel (scenarzyści) Evrard (rysownik) i Walter (kolory), historia Ireny Sendlerowej zyskuje nową, fantastyczną oprawę, tym razem skierowaną do młodych czytelników i czytelniczek. Otóż mamy do czynienia z doskonałą robotą komiksową - świetnie narysowane postaci, odrobinę komiksowo-bajkowe, ale jednak realistyczne i budzące sympatię (lub gdy trzeba - antypatię) osób czytających. Ciekawie skonstruowana historia, w której jest miejsce zarówno na klasyczny wykład historyczny, osobiste rozterki głównej bohaterki jak i dziecięcą perspektywę. Nie ma w “Irenie” wielkiego ciężaru historycznego, nie przytłacza ona i nie wali po głowie słuszną prawdą o Sprawiedliwej Wśród Narodów Świata. Jest mądra i wrażliwa na potrzeby dziecięcej uwagi, narracja, której wciąż brakuje na naszym rynku książki.

Jest w “Irenie” taka plansza, która mną wstrząsnęła. Zapewne widzieliście w niejednej książce dla dzieci dwustronicowe, wielkie plansze, na których dziesiątki postaci bawi się, jeździ na rowerach, samochodach, wygłupia się i dziecko aż kwiczy z radości patrząc na ten szalony świat. Takie ilustracje to zawsze popis wirtuozerii i pomysłowości ilustratorów/ilustratorek, w końcu każdy chce się popisać i pokazać, co jeszcze potrafi wycisnąć z tej formy. David Evrard poszedł tym tropem i już na drugiej stronie komiksu pokazał gigantyczną rozkładówkę ilustrującą życie w getcie. Na środku skrzyżowania rozstawiono biedne kramiki, wokół których tłoczy się tłum dorosłych i dzieci. Nie wszyscy są smutni, są tam dokazujące maluchy, ktoś się uśmiecha mimo, że tuż obok stoi nazistowski skurwysyn z bronią. Doskonałe! “Irena. Getto” to pierwszy z trzech tomów komiksu. Czekam na kolejne, a wam polecam spieszyć do księgarń - to jest naprawdę świetna komiksowa robota.

[Diana Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing story of a Polish woman who is one of the unsung heroes that risked their lives to save innocent Jewish children who were imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto. She was carrying in the work of her father who was a doctor who treated Jewish people even as they were being increasingly targeted. He eventually fell ill and died. Irena honors him by volunteering and fighting for food and medical supplies for those suffering in the ghetto. One day someone approaches her and brings her to a young woman who is dying. She begs Irina to get her son out. Irina wants to help but is reluctant to put others at risk- when she returns the next time the woman dies and the cruel Nazi Commander has tricked the young boy, leading to his death.
This is the birth of Irina’s resolve to save as many children as she can. At the time that a resistance group named Zagota approaches her she has saved 638 children. She has a jar hidden away with each child’s new and old names, along with their parents for after the war.
We see Irina taken in for interrogation and the torture is painful to think of. She never betrays the children or her network and escapes her execution because of a Nazi guard who was bribed.
I think this book is an excellent teaching tool, especially in today’s environment for older children and adults as well. I highly recommend this and can not wait for book two.
It should be in every classroom and library in America.



https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/...

[Josef Komensky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dit is geen stripboek reeks voor tierre zieltjes !!!


Niet zo vrolijke stripboek. Helemaal niet zo vrolijk. De best schattige stripboek vorm die lijkt een klein beetje van penauts verberg in zich de gruwelen van de Holocaust.

het verhaal gaat over Irene een vrouw die wist duizenden joodse kinderen te redden uit de Poolse Ghettos.

Het is ongeveer hetzelfde effect als bij de Muis stripboeken. de vrolijke tekenstijl afbeeld gruwelen van de Holocaust: Sadisme van de Kapo,s, vreemdheid en van de SS es, masssaslachtingen. Het is hartverscheurend / gutwretching schouwspel.

En miden al det pandemonium staat Irena nog niet een getekend door die alomvattende kwaad een midenstandse vrouw die is nog steeds overtuigd dat zij kan redeneren met de Kapos en SS ers. Dat zij kan hun terechtwijzen op hun slecht gedrag, dat Zij kun hun corrigeren. Het zijn toch inteligente en sommige van hun zelfs hoog opgeleiden mensen.

Veel geluk ermee Irena!

[Faith Tydings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely heartbreakingly beautiful. The illustrations were wonderful and the story was horrifically lovely. It really makes me question who I would be if I were alive during this period. More importantly, how can that question translate to who I am now, during this day and age, and what am I doing to help others!?

[Bonnie Arriola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Everyone should read this!

[Kalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5⭐

[Lisa Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is perfect for teens to learn about Irena in a graphic novel format. It is hard to read but the graphics weren't too gory so it made it a little easier.

[mad mags · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book we need now more than ever.

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss. Trigger warning for anti-Semitic violence.)

Irena Sendlerowa (maiden name Krzyżanowska) was born on February 10, 1910 in Warsaw, Poland. She grew up in nearby Otwock, which was home to a large Jewish community. Her father Stanisław was a physician who treated everyone, regardless of their ethnicity or ability to pay. He contracted typhus in the line of duty, and died when Irena was just seven. Despite being raised by a single mother, Irena attended college, studying law and literature at the University of Warsaw. She was a socialist who was outspoken in support of her Jewish classmates. Identified as a leftist, she was denied employment in the Warsaw school system.

Instead, Irena was working for the Social Welfare Department when Germany invaded Poland. Here she was uniquely positioned to provide help to Poland's most marginalized citizens. Irena's department was allowed access to the Warsaw Ghetto, ostensibly to conduct sanitary inspections and help prevent the outbreak and spread of epidemics. Here she leveraged her position to make life a little more bearable for the ghetto's 4,000 Jewish residents, by smuggling in food, clothing, and medicine - with the help of a large and ever-expanding group of family, friends, and colleagues, of course.

Irena also began smuggling out people, including dozens of children and babies, which she placed in a network of foster homes, orphanages, and religious sanctuaries. She diligently recorded the given name, fake name, and new address of each child, so that they could be reunited with their families after the war was over. In order to avoid incriminating herself in the event of a search - and making it easier for the Gestapo to find the missing children - Irena placed the names in jars, which she buried. Sadly, while her records survived the war, most of their would-be recipients did not. A majority of the children Irena and her network rescued - up to 2,500, by some estimates - were orphaned.

Perhaps the most astonishing part of Irena's story is that she was captured, interrogated, and sentenced to death in 1943. Despite repeated torture, she did not name her co-conspirators or the people they rescued. She escaped when the Żegota, a Polish resistance organization with which she'd been working, bribed a German guard. Instead of giving up or fleeing the country, Irena resumed her subversive activities, albeit under an assumed name and new occupation: Klara Dąbrowska, nurse. Irena died of natural causes in 2008; she was 98 years old.

Irena, Book One: Wartime Ghetto covers the events through Irena's capture by and escape from the Gestapo. To describe it as "powerful" is a gross understatement. It's a force, though not quite like Irena. I imagine very few things could come that close. (Later in life, Irena rarely gave interviews, and vehemently insisted that she hated the word "hero" and did not consider herself one. If she wasn't, then they simply don't exist.)

While rooted firmly in fact, the narrative does contain some fictional and downright fantastical elements. For example, Morvan identifies the murder of a young boy by a sadistic SS officer as the impetus for Irena's human smuggling; yet Wiki says that she began her operations when some friends were trapped on the Jewish side of the wall.

Still, some of the more surreal embellishments, like the ghosts (of Nethanial and the other murdered Jews, as well as Irena's father, always guiding her towards what's right) and Nethanial's loyal and prescient dog, are inspired and will bring you to tears.

Irena's Children just moved higher on my TBR list; and, imho, a desire to learn more is usually a pretty good indicator of a comic book or tv show's success.

The artwork has a Dickensian quality to it. It wasn't my favorite at first, but it grew on me. It suits the mood and content of the story perfectly.



As I write this review, supporters of Drumpf's border policy - which includes ramped up ICE raids across the country this weekend - are splitting hairs over terminology, questioning whether the "dog pounds" along the border qualify as "concentration camps." I am reminded of that older woman who showed up to a rally for women's rights bearing a sign that proclaims "I can't believe I still have to protest this fucking shit." I wonder what Irena would do if she lived in Texas or New York or Minnesota in June of 2019.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2019/08/09/...

[Jimena · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brave and inspirational woman Irena was, I'm glad I got to learn about her contribution and all the lives she saved. The sad part is that all this suffering and the horrors committed during these times didn't teach us anything, and unfortunately, history is repeating itself.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you were just to look at the illustrations of this book and not the story, you might think it will be a happy tale. The illustrations are reminiscent of Charles Schultz and Ziggy. That soft rounded style of cartoon characters, but inside the pages it holds a sad and heartfelt story about a woman who helped rescue kids from the Ghettos of Poland during the war. While Irena was a real person, the tale is told as fiction because the authors admit that there are conflicting “facts” of her story. Either way this is an excellent read. It can fit in with books like Maux, The Diary of Anne Frank, and the Devil’s Arithmetic. It is approachable for any age of reader, and extremely well done.

[lapetitepritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was provided with an e-ARC of this book through Edelweiss+. Thank you to them and the publisher for letting me read this amazing graphic novel.

Ever since elementary school I've known there were a lot of brave people during World War II who - despite the laws - helped innocent people escape and survive. I've read (sometimes even heard) the stories of some of them during the years, especially on January the 27th, which is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
However, before today, I'd never heard the names of Irena Sendlerowa and the people who helped her achieve the smuggling of over 2.500 Jewish children from Warsaw Ghetto. I am so glad someone decided to write a graphic novel about them. They are heroes and I wish I knew about their story before.
The graphic novel itself is perfectly handled. I love how from a certain point there are two timeline overlapping and how the passages from one to the other are underlined thanks to the drawings. The style is very fascinating, as the characters are drawn like you would imagine characters from a child comic would be designed. Even the coloring perfectly captures the atmosphere of those years, so much so that I could easily picture a movie of the graphic novel. I also love the fact that the authors did not try to hide the pain, the violence, and the general decay characterizing the lives of Jews during WWII.
I would totally recommend this graphic novel and I can't wait to read the next part in the story. Meanwhile, I think I am going to read at least one of the books suggested by the authors at the beginning.

Thank you, Mrs. Irena Sandlerowa. Thank you to all the heroic people who helped her at the time. And thank you to the authors who decided to tell her story to the world.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing story of a Polish woman who is one of the unsung heroes that risked their lives to save innocent Jewish children who were imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto. She was carrying in the work of her father who was a doctor who treated Jewish people even as they were being increasingly targeted. He eventually fell ill and died. Irena honors him by volunteering and fighting for food and medical supplies for those suffering in the ghetto. One day someone approaches her and brings her to a young woman who is dying. She begs Irena to get her son out. Irena wants to help but is reluctant to put others at risk- when she returns the next time the woman dies and the cruel Nazi Commander has tricked the young boy, leading to his death.
This is the birth of Irena’s resolve to save as many children as she can. At the time that a resistance group named Zagota approaches her she has saved 638 children. She has a jar hidden away with each child’s new and old names, along with their parents for after the war.
We see Irena taken in for interrogation and the torture is painful to think of. She never betrays the children or her network and escapes her execution because of a Nazi guard who was bribed.
I think this book is an excellent teaching tool, especially in today’s environment for older children and adults as well. I highly recommend this and can not wait for book two.
It should be in every classroom and library in America.
Thank you to #netgalley. This was an honor to read.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been fascinated by Irena Sendlerowa since I first learned about her awhile back. It's hard not to be fascinated by a woman who would risk so much. It's hard not to be fascinated by someone who had the courage to use her role to save thousands of lives. Sendlerowa deserves to have her story told, and the world deserves to know it. The authors here have done an admirable job of ensuring that we are able to learn more about a woman whose legacy is not nearly as in the open as it should be.

The writing style is straightforward and crisp, presenting the facts of the time, as well as what the authors were able to learn of Sendlerowa's story. This fictionalised account stays as close to the truth as it can manage, which I deeply appreciated. Sometimes the story was briefer than I hoped or the flashforwards and flashbacks were a bit quick for my brain to process (a cold is slowing me down at the moment), but overall the writing is just what I had hoped for. The art style suited the storytelling, and it managed to be emotional without being... too graphic, I suppose? It would have been easy to fall into the realm of sensationalism, and the artist and writers steered clear of that.

Anyone looking to read more stories about Irena Sendlerowa has definitely come to the right place, and I recommend that everyone learn her story. I will certainly keep this book in mind as a learning tool for friends. I also look forward to reading the second book about her.

[Viktoriya · Rating 5 out of 5]

A copy was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've heard of Irena Sendlerowa's story on multiple occasions throughout the years. Most recently (if over ten years ago can be called "recent") was when she was nominated for a Noble Peace Prize in 2007 and again in 2008. The fact that Al freaking GORE got 2007 year's prize over Irena still makes me very mad.

Irena's story is one of many and many stories of unsung heroes of WWII, regular men and women who risked their lives every minute of the day to save the lives of innocent Jews. They didn't do it for money, they didn't do it for fame, not for political influence. They didn't make tons of useless speeches condemning Nazi's treatment of Jews, they simply got down and dirty and started actually DOING something about it. One child or adult at a time. Their stories should be told over and over and over!

I really enjoyed this tiny graphic novel (it's only 136 pages). The art was beautiful and I absolutely loved how the creators were able to show us the innocence of children among all the horrors of their lives. It was heartbreaking to see the images of children playing ball next to an armed Nazi soldier. I wonder what the Book 2 will be about since it felt like the authors were done with Irena's story.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irena Book One: Wartime Ghetto from Jean-David Morvan is a powerful graphic biography of one of World War II's true heroes.

Irena's life was an amazing combination of humble valor and brave compassion. The portion of her life covered by this book should serve as a wake-up call to people today, we need to find it within ourselves to care about all people even while our governments do everything possible to harm and isolate groups of people. We must fight the hate of those in power and those still supporting them.

The artwork is, I think, a positive aspect of this volume. It is not real intricate or overly stylized, and definitely not as if drawn for children. I think simple clean drawings serve to illustrate what is happening while also keeping the emphasis on the story rather than the artwork. There is plenty of detail to allow the pictures to add to the narrative but it is done without drawing attention to the art itself.

I would highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in WWII history and the Holocaust in particular. Also for anyone seeking inspiration for standing up to the illegitimate and immoral government we currently are suffering under.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.