Irena Book Three: Life After the Ghetto

Irena #3

by Jean-David Morvan, Séverine Tréfouël, David Evrard

This third and final volume focuses on Irena's later years, flashing back to her ongoing efforts to reunite the children she saved with their families, despite the tragic consequences many of those parents faced in the Nazi prison camps. Her mission to help those orphaned find new homes led to her worldwide recognition, including being nominated for a Nobel Prize, in the years shortly before her own passing.

Genres: Bande Dessinée, Comics, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, Biography Memoir, History, Historical

104 pages, Hardcover

First published January 24, 2018

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

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irena's incredible story ends here. During World War II, Irena Sendler saved 2,500 children from dying in the Warsaw Ghetto, bringing them to other families to be raised Polish in order to save them from Treblinka. This 3rd volume covers the end of the war where Irena worked as a nurse after the Ghetto was closed. It also details some of her time living under Soviet rule in Poland following the war. So much of Irena's story is gut-wrenching. She is such a compassionate woman. I found myself crying along with her several times as she wondered if she could have saved more Jews. The cartoonish art surprisingly works in the story's favor for some reason.

Received a review copy from Magnetic Press and Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.

[Lili Aurelie · Rating 5 out of 5]

J’ai lu les 3 premiers tomes d’une traite. Les dessins sont tout mignons mais qu’on ne s’y trompe pas, l,histoire est loin d’être gaie, et franchement même terrible. Et pourtant, les auteurs arrivent à insuffler ça et là des moments lumineux, voire des moments de grâce (comme ces passages où elle imagine son père à ses côtés). Et puis, on ne peut être qu’en admiration devant cette femme courageuse et au cœur immense, et toutes ses personnes ayant fait preuve d’humanité par de simples gestes ou de grands actes. Une bande dessinée et surtout une histoire qui marquent durablement donc.

[Romain Blandre · Rating 4 out of 5]

C'est avec une triple satisfaction que nous avons lu ce troisième volet de la série Irena. La première est de retrouver un magnifique troisième tome d'une série qui ne baisse jamais en intensité; la seconde est de retrouver notre Irena bien vivante, alors qu'elle avait été laissée pour morte dans le second volume; enfin, alors que l'on s'attendait à un dénouement définitif à la fin du livre, les auteurs nous annoncent un quatrième album prévu pour septembre prochain. Tout est bon pour nous, lecteurs du 21ème siècle... pourtant Varso-Vie s'ouvre de façon bien tragique...
La suite ici: https://pagesdhistoires.blogspot.fr/2...

[Kalina · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,75

[Melainebooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionnel. A lire !!

[Theediscerning · Rating 5 out of 5]

This closes out this trilogy of graphic novels, and in being the book I'd expected to like the least was the best. In the previous volumes we've seen our titular heroine somehow survive the threat of death, and torture, to get well over 2,000 children smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto, right under the noses of the Nazi authorities, and we've seen some of the resulting problems of this – the children still having to be hidden under new, Aryan-friendly identities by Christian foster parents. The final, fifth book of the original series (they have all been sensitively reassembled into these three books, which could not have been easy) was billed as being about the Warsaw Uprising, when the resistance fighters finally got the Nazis out of Poland's capital, with zero help from the Soviets.

But this book is so much more – it's got episodic looks at other people's lives, including a wonderful orphanage manager, and a kid here and a kid there. It's got the rest of Irena's post-war life, and it turns out one of the 2,000+ was instrumental in stopping her husband from locking Irena up for the KGB (once a criminal, even an anti-Nazi one, always a criminal, was their thinking). It's got how the story of her life slowly came to the world's attention, and how she had a final struggle to get to Israel to see the acclaim (and the multi-ethnic success of that country) she merited.

For me, previous issues with the book, such as the Tintinesque style and dog, and the ghostly support figures, were underplayed, and this, with its unexpectedly diverse content, really was a winner. All the books have been well worth turning to, but this was the first time I could love any one volume in the series. It will surely cause tears when it so perfectly refrains from showing us Treblinka death camp in the way it does. And, finally, any love for the books is only matched by love for the real Irena Sendler – a beautiful, beautiful woman who on this evidence suffered the most from doubts over whether she ever did enough. If that hurt her more than the Nazis breaking her legs in multiple places under torture, she really was the most incredible woman. I cherish the fact these books introduced me to her.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irena finishes giving her story of the war years as she is honored in Israel as one of the "Righteous". She then relates to her host's daughter what it has been like since the war ended.

This is part 3 in the graphic novel biography of Irena and wraps up her story. It relates how she became a nurse after her ghetto work could no longer continue during the war, and then what life was like after the Russians took control after the war. The illustrators and authors keep the telling pretty mild for kids/tweens. It was pretty moving to read about how children Irena saved in turn saved her life during the communist regime.

Notes on content: No swearing that I remember. No sexual content. Wounded and dead in the war are talked about and how communists also killed people. The illustrations are tactful in what they do and don't show (x'd eyes on dead with very little wound-wise, there will be a puddle of blood but the head of the person off page or things like that).

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this one a bit harder to follow because there is back and forth between present and past for multiple characters as well as Irena revisiting some of the things that happened as flashbacks. I found it especially odd how she went from badly injured to healthy with no real transition.

I definitely feel that these are intended for an older audience. But it's a story worth telling and the art is lovely even when depicting some very brutal and bleak scenes.

[Séverine · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'ai bien apprécié ce 3ème tome. Ce que j'ai aimé, c'est de voir une des enfants sauvées par Irena, qui a grandi et raconte son passé à sa propre fille. J'ai apprécié découvrir ce qu'il s'est passé après la guerre, ainsi que ce qui s'est passé pour Irena quand on l'a laissée après le tome 2. C'est décidément une belle série pour amorcer le sujet de la guerre avec les plus jeunes.

[trijnewijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hevig en mooi en hoopgevend en hard en nog zoveel meer, allemaal door en naast elkaar. De timing van het lezen van deze strip voelt raar, gezien de stukken over de Britse reactie vlak na de oorlog en het feit dat de UK net vandaag officieel aangeklaagd wordt als verantwoordelijke voor honderd jaar problemen in Palestina.

[Dustyloup · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Happy to see that Irena lives to a ripe old age, but I liked this book less than the other volumes. I found the beginning scene upsetting - is ripping a child from the only parents she remembers so that she can go live in an orphanage just because she's Jewish really a just action?

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fitting conclusion to Irena’s story of heroism in the face of unimaginable cruelty and difficulty. This volume includes scenes from the end of the war and some more modern retelling and showing the increased recognition that Irena received later in her life.

[Sandy Fontaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cette serie de BD est juste parfaites

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Rafaela Oliveira · Rating 5 out of 5]

C'est tellement touchant...je pleure à chaque tome.

[Heidi Burkhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last book in the trilogy. What a nice finish about a truly heroic woman.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Horror upon horrors.

[Erikka · Rating 4 out of 5]

She is my hero, forever and always. When the opportunity to do right arises, you do it, even if it’s scary. Always choose right.

Thank you, Irena.

[Cztery strony książki · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. What a life this woman lead, with so many people touched in her lifetime.

[MrBuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Podoba mi się ta plastyczna kreska! Szkoda, że nie mam znowu 10 lat!

[Randi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The final book in this remarkable trilogy recounts the continued service and courage of Irena Sendler during the Soviet occupation of Poland; and finally, of the recognition she so deserved.

[D4niel · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Isabelle Turcotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

J aurais aimé que histoire soit plus approfondie dans ce 3e tome mais sinon les illustrations sont superbes.

[Patrycja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nie potrafię dać tej serii nic innego jak 5 gwiazdek.

[AnoukLibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un troisième tome plus sombre, plus dur qui retrace la fin de la guerre et les conditions de détention d’Irena Sendlerowa en prison. Bien que la guerre soit terminée, Varso-vie montre que les polonais juifs n’étaient pas pour autant en sécurité et que le combat humaniste que mène Irena n’était pas fini.

https://anouklibrary.wordpress.com/20...