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Undesirables: A Holocaust Journey to North Africa
In this gripping graphic novel, a Jewish journalist encounters an extension of the horrors of the Holocaust in North Africa.
In the lead-up to World War II, the rising tide of fascism and antisemitism in Europe foreshadowed Hitler's genocidal campaign against Jews. But the horrors of the Holocaust were not limited to the concentration camps of Europe: antisemitic terror spread through Vichy French imperial channels to France's colonies in North Africa, where in the forced labor camps of Algeria and Morocco, Jews and other "undesirables" faced brutal conditions and struggled to survive in an unforgiving landscape quite unlike Europe. In this richly historical graphic novel, historian Aomar Boum and illustrator Nadjib Berber take us inside this lesser-known side of the traumas wrought by the Holocaust by following one man's journey as a Holocaust refugee.
Hans Frank is a Jewish journalist covering politics in Berlin, who grows increasingly uneasy as he witnesses the Nazi Party consolidate power and decides to flee Germany. Through connections with a transnational network of activists organizing against fascism and anti-Semitism, Hans ultimately lands in French Algeria, where days after his arrival, the Vichy regime designates all foreign Jews as "undesirables" and calls for their internment. On his way to Morocco, he is detained by Vichy authorities and interned first at Le Vernet, then later transported to different camps in the deserts of Morocco and Algeria. With memories of his former life as a political journalist receding like a dream, Hans spends the next year and a half in forced labor camps, hearing the stories of others whose lives have been upended by violence and war.
Through bold, historically inflected illustrations that convey the tension of the coming war and the grimness of the Vichy camps, Aomar Boum and Nadjib Berber capture the experiences of thousands of refugees through the fictional Hans, chronicling how the traumas of the Holocaust extended far beyond the borders of Europe.
In the lead-up to World War II, the rising tide of fascism and antisemitism in Europe foreshadowed Hitler's genocidal campaign against Jews. But the horrors of the Holocaust were not limited to the concentration camps of Europe: antisemitic terror spread through Vichy French imperial channels to France's colonies in North Africa, where in the forced labor camps of Algeria and Morocco, Jews and other "undesirables" faced brutal conditions and struggled to survive in an unforgiving landscape quite unlike Europe. In this richly historical graphic novel, historian Aomar Boum and illustrator Nadjib Berber take us inside this lesser-known side of the traumas wrought by the Holocaust by following one man's journey as a Holocaust refugee.
Hans Frank is a Jewish journalist covering politics in Berlin, who grows increasingly uneasy as he witnesses the Nazi Party consolidate power and decides to flee Germany. Through connections with a transnational network of activists organizing against fascism and anti-Semitism, Hans ultimately lands in French Algeria, where days after his arrival, the Vichy regime designates all foreign Jews as "undesirables" and calls for their internment. On his way to Morocco, he is detained by Vichy authorities and interned first at Le Vernet, then later transported to different camps in the deserts of Morocco and Algeria. With memories of his former life as a political journalist receding like a dream, Hans spends the next year and a half in forced labor camps, hearing the stories of others whose lives have been upended by violence and war.
Through bold, historically inflected illustrations that convey the tension of the coming war and the grimness of the Vichy camps, Aomar Boum and Nadjib Berber capture the experiences of thousands of refugees through the fictional Hans, chronicling how the traumas of the Holocaust extended far beyond the borders of Europe.
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 24, 2023
4 people are currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
Aomar Boum
17 books6 followersAomar Boum is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at UCLA. He is the author of Memories of Absence: How Muslims Remember Jews in Morocco (Stanford University Press, 2013) and the coauthor of the Historical Dictionary of Morocco, 2nd. edition (Scarecrow Press, 2006).
He holds a Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Arizona.
He holds a Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Arizona.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 21, 2023
I am looking forward to get this important novel, because Aomar Boum writes beautifully. But, he is not an historian. Boum is an anthropologist, who not only overlooks historical perspective and History’s Habits of the Mind, but rewrites history of the Holocaust in France. To “show the Past as it was then,” the title of the book should have been: The Holocaust in France: The Undesirables on the other side of the Mediterranean. I admit, that today, it is difficult to visualize the independent Arab countries of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco as part of the historical context of the Holocaust in France, a transcontinental nation. https://www.jpost.com/opinion/operati...
FRENCH NORTH AFRICA, PART OF THE FRENCH STATE
During World War II, under the French-German cease-fire agreement of June 1940, French North Africa “was considered part of unoccupied Vichy France” (Yad Vashem), and was also ruled de facto and de jure by the new collaborationist French Vichy regime. Consequently, during the Holocaust in France, the pro-Nazi Vichy regime united in the same fate all the Jews under its domination. “Only in France could the metropolitan authorities seriously treat their most valued colonial possessions not as foreign soil but as administrative extension of France itself.” Tony Just. Postwar 1945: A History of Europe Since 1945, p. 282. Penguin Books; Reprint edition (September 5, 2006). Awards: New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year · Arthur Ross Book Award · European Book Prize.
It's time to stop that non-sense of separating the fate of the Jews in mainland/METROPOLITAN France from the fate of the Jews in OVERSEAS FRANCE-Tunisia, OF-Morocco and French Algeria. All those Jews living in “France on both sides of the Mediterranean” came in the sphere of German influence and the orbit of persecution, because the new Vichy regime of the French STATE (L’Etat Francais) decided to collaborate with Nazi Germany in its implementation of German Judenpolitik, the policy for the treatment of ALL the Jews under its rule.
HOLOCAUST: “A STATE-SPONSORED” PROCESS, NOT A CONTINENTAL AFFAIR
The Holocaust was an ideological political “STATE-sponsored” process, that evolved in different stages and took different shapes (quote from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). That’s why, as per all the CONTEMPORANEOUS historical realities and the preponderance of the evidence, there is no cause to doubt, that the Vichy persecution of “the Undesirables” in Overseas France-North Africa by the Vichy French STATE” (L’Etat Francais), was an integral part of the Holocaust in France, “France, the French imperial nation-state,” Frankreich, the Frank Empire - the German name for France.
“FRANCE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN”
Before and during the Holocaust, 1933-1945, France was a French imperial nation-state, which was located “on both sides of the Mediterranean:” There was METROPOLITAN France, the part of France in continental Europe, on one side of the Mediterranean, with 90 departments, AND there were the 91, 92, 93 departments in French Algeria, and the two French “provinces” (as per primary sources) of Overseas France - Morocco, and OF - Tunisia, “on the other side of the Mediterranean,” the part of France in European North Africa.
That’s why Algiers became capital of FRANCE, after the Allies liberated Overseas France Morocco and French Algeria in November 1942.
That’s why the title of Part I of Aomar’s book is inaccurate: “Germany, France and Algeria.” Since 1848, the three departments of Algeria, 91, 92, 93, were an integral part of the administration in metropolitan France, and its french citizens elected representatives to the French Parliament in Paris.
For decades, and during the Holocaust, schools children in all public French schools learned that “the Mediterranean divides France, like the Seine river divides Paris.” Read more at: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/israe...
Renée Poznanski writes, “I have limited the scope of my study to MAINLAND
France. Granted, it did not take long for the Vichy authorities…to extend the anti-
Semitic laws beyond the shores of the Mediterranean. However … {difficulty} of
examining BOTH SIDES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN in the same study;” in Poznanski’s
second book, Jews in France during World War II. Brandeis University Press in
association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: 2001, p. xvi.
HOLOCAUST IN "FRANCE, INCLUDING NORTH AFRICA"
Yehuda Bauer, former Director of Yad Vashem and its current academic
advisor, also recognizes that the Jews in the three departments of French Algeria and of the two protectorates of Overseas France-Tunisia and OF-Morocco were indeed part of the Jews of France and the Jews of Europe, during the Holocaust. In his book, chapter “ten. WEST EUROPEAN JEWRY, 1940-1944 - FRANCE … In Algeria, the Vichy government … introduced … antisemitic measures. … Similar measures were taken by the Vichy government in the French protectorates of Morocco and Tunisia” (Bauer. The Holocaust - A History, 2001: 250-56). Bauer doesn’t use the false terms “North African Jews,” “Sfaradic Jews,” or “the Holocaust in North Africa,” as some Holocaust scholars do.
“…Himmler explained the situation in the south fo France to his Führer, and why as radical a policy as possible was required to deal with it. It was minuted that Himmler had been informed that 'there are currently at least 1.5 million deadly enemies of the Axis living and moving around freely in the previously unoccupied part of France, namely 600,000-700,000 Jews, … inconsiderable threat…’
Hitler was impressed with this account of the situation. He instructed Himmler, as the latter carefully noted, to 'get rid of' the 600,000 to 700,000 Jews in FRANCE, INCLUDING NORTH AFRICA.” Peter Longerich's Himmler - A Life, Oxford University Press; Illustrated edition. February 7, 2013: 648.
Leni Yahil. The Holocaust: The fate of the Jews of Europe. Yahil tells the story of the fate of the Jews in France on the other side of the Mediterranean, in her chapter about the Jews of Europe and the segment FRANCE: “on August 16, 1940, a second order was issued prohibiting aliens to practice as physicians, dentists, or pharmacists. This order applied to the French colonies … North Africa. … the Jewish Statute … in the French protectorates in North Africa … Morocco…Tunisia…Algeria… the French authorities issued one order after the next imposing some of the laws of the Vichy regime on the Jews.” “Yahil, professor emeritus at Hebrew University, has written a masterful, meticulous book integrating the best of world scholarship with her own research of the last two decades to create a first-rate synthesis showing the gradual
evolution of the Final Solution. She is particularly adept in portraying discrete
Jewish experiences in different European locations … Leni Yahil's book won the
Shazar Prize, one of Israel’s highest awards for historical work.
On the cover Boum’s book, the picture of the blue, white and red flag of FRANCE at the entrance of a Vichy forced labor camp in Overseas France-North Africa, reflects that undeniable historical reality: France in the Holocaust was a “France on both sides of the Mediterranean,” “France, including French North Africa.”
That’s why the following continental description of the book, which uses “Europe” and “North Africa” as separate contexts for the Holocaust, reflects a faulty historical perspective and inappropriate comparisons: “…the horrors of the Holocaust were not limited to the concentration camps of EUROPE… antisemitic terror spread to … France’s colonies in NORTH AFRICA… an unforgiving landscape quite unlike EUROPE.”
It’s also time to stop that non-sense of distinguishing between “the Holocaust in Europe” and “the Holocaust in North Africa.” Like the Jews of Denmark who were evacuated to neutral Sweden, the Vichy Jews of French North Africa were spared the mass deportations that took place in metropolitan France.
"SHOAH, THE JEWISH HOLOCAUST, was the ideological and systematic "state-sponsored" persecution and murder of Jews, in the Nazi intent and attempt to annihilate the Jewish people. It was driven by Judenpolitik, based on racial antisemitism. It resulted in the murder of six million Jews, one third of the Jewish people, and the destruction of hundreds of Jewish communities in continental Europe. (Peter Longerich’s title of his 2010 book: The Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews.
Enjoy your new book!
Edith Shaked aka Edith Shaked Perlman
Advisory Board Member H-Holocaust, an international academic consortium/H-Net's Network for scholars of the Holocaust
Certificate of Appreciation, the National Council for History Education (NCHE)
FRENCH NORTH AFRICA, PART OF THE FRENCH STATE
During World War II, under the French-German cease-fire agreement of June 1940, French North Africa “was considered part of unoccupied Vichy France” (Yad Vashem), and was also ruled de facto and de jure by the new collaborationist French Vichy regime. Consequently, during the Holocaust in France, the pro-Nazi Vichy regime united in the same fate all the Jews under its domination. “Only in France could the metropolitan authorities seriously treat their most valued colonial possessions not as foreign soil but as administrative extension of France itself.” Tony Just. Postwar 1945: A History of Europe Since 1945, p. 282. Penguin Books; Reprint edition (September 5, 2006). Awards: New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year · Arthur Ross Book Award · European Book Prize.
It's time to stop that non-sense of separating the fate of the Jews in mainland/METROPOLITAN France from the fate of the Jews in OVERSEAS FRANCE-Tunisia, OF-Morocco and French Algeria. All those Jews living in “France on both sides of the Mediterranean” came in the sphere of German influence and the orbit of persecution, because the new Vichy regime of the French STATE (L’Etat Francais) decided to collaborate with Nazi Germany in its implementation of German Judenpolitik, the policy for the treatment of ALL the Jews under its rule.
HOLOCAUST: “A STATE-SPONSORED” PROCESS, NOT A CONTINENTAL AFFAIR
The Holocaust was an ideological political “STATE-sponsored” process, that evolved in different stages and took different shapes (quote from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). That’s why, as per all the CONTEMPORANEOUS historical realities and the preponderance of the evidence, there is no cause to doubt, that the Vichy persecution of “the Undesirables” in Overseas France-North Africa by the Vichy French STATE” (L’Etat Francais), was an integral part of the Holocaust in France, “France, the French imperial nation-state,” Frankreich, the Frank Empire - the German name for France.
“FRANCE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN”
Before and during the Holocaust, 1933-1945, France was a French imperial nation-state, which was located “on both sides of the Mediterranean:” There was METROPOLITAN France, the part of France in continental Europe, on one side of the Mediterranean, with 90 departments, AND there were the 91, 92, 93 departments in French Algeria, and the two French “provinces” (as per primary sources) of Overseas France - Morocco, and OF - Tunisia, “on the other side of the Mediterranean,” the part of France in European North Africa.
That’s why Algiers became capital of FRANCE, after the Allies liberated Overseas France Morocco and French Algeria in November 1942.
That’s why the title of Part I of Aomar’s book is inaccurate: “Germany, France and Algeria.” Since 1848, the three departments of Algeria, 91, 92, 93, were an integral part of the administration in metropolitan France, and its french citizens elected representatives to the French Parliament in Paris.
For decades, and during the Holocaust, schools children in all public French schools learned that “the Mediterranean divides France, like the Seine river divides Paris.” Read more at: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/israe...
Renée Poznanski writes, “I have limited the scope of my study to MAINLAND
France. Granted, it did not take long for the Vichy authorities…to extend the anti-
Semitic laws beyond the shores of the Mediterranean. However … {difficulty} of
examining BOTH SIDES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN in the same study;” in Poznanski’s
second book, Jews in France during World War II. Brandeis University Press in
association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: 2001, p. xvi.
HOLOCAUST IN "FRANCE, INCLUDING NORTH AFRICA"
Yehuda Bauer, former Director of Yad Vashem and its current academic
advisor, also recognizes that the Jews in the three departments of French Algeria and of the two protectorates of Overseas France-Tunisia and OF-Morocco were indeed part of the Jews of France and the Jews of Europe, during the Holocaust. In his book, chapter “ten. WEST EUROPEAN JEWRY, 1940-1944 - FRANCE … In Algeria, the Vichy government … introduced … antisemitic measures. … Similar measures were taken by the Vichy government in the French protectorates of Morocco and Tunisia” (Bauer. The Holocaust - A History, 2001: 250-56). Bauer doesn’t use the false terms “North African Jews,” “Sfaradic Jews,” or “the Holocaust in North Africa,” as some Holocaust scholars do.
“…Himmler explained the situation in the south fo France to his Führer, and why as radical a policy as possible was required to deal with it. It was minuted that Himmler had been informed that 'there are currently at least 1.5 million deadly enemies of the Axis living and moving around freely in the previously unoccupied part of France, namely 600,000-700,000 Jews, … inconsiderable threat…’
Hitler was impressed with this account of the situation. He instructed Himmler, as the latter carefully noted, to 'get rid of' the 600,000 to 700,000 Jews in FRANCE, INCLUDING NORTH AFRICA.” Peter Longerich's Himmler - A Life, Oxford University Press; Illustrated edition. February 7, 2013: 648.
Leni Yahil. The Holocaust: The fate of the Jews of Europe. Yahil tells the story of the fate of the Jews in France on the other side of the Mediterranean, in her chapter about the Jews of Europe and the segment FRANCE: “on August 16, 1940, a second order was issued prohibiting aliens to practice as physicians, dentists, or pharmacists. This order applied to the French colonies … North Africa. … the Jewish Statute … in the French protectorates in North Africa … Morocco…Tunisia…Algeria… the French authorities issued one order after the next imposing some of the laws of the Vichy regime on the Jews.” “Yahil, professor emeritus at Hebrew University, has written a masterful, meticulous book integrating the best of world scholarship with her own research of the last two decades to create a first-rate synthesis showing the gradual
evolution of the Final Solution. She is particularly adept in portraying discrete
Jewish experiences in different European locations … Leni Yahil's book won the
Shazar Prize, one of Israel’s highest awards for historical work.
On the cover Boum’s book, the picture of the blue, white and red flag of FRANCE at the entrance of a Vichy forced labor camp in Overseas France-North Africa, reflects that undeniable historical reality: France in the Holocaust was a “France on both sides of the Mediterranean,” “France, including French North Africa.”
That’s why the following continental description of the book, which uses “Europe” and “North Africa” as separate contexts for the Holocaust, reflects a faulty historical perspective and inappropriate comparisons: “…the horrors of the Holocaust were not limited to the concentration camps of EUROPE… antisemitic terror spread to … France’s colonies in NORTH AFRICA… an unforgiving landscape quite unlike EUROPE.”
It’s also time to stop that non-sense of distinguishing between “the Holocaust in Europe” and “the Holocaust in North Africa.” Like the Jews of Denmark who were evacuated to neutral Sweden, the Vichy Jews of French North Africa were spared the mass deportations that took place in metropolitan France.
"SHOAH, THE JEWISH HOLOCAUST, was the ideological and systematic "state-sponsored" persecution and murder of Jews, in the Nazi intent and attempt to annihilate the Jewish people. It was driven by Judenpolitik, based on racial antisemitism. It resulted in the murder of six million Jews, one third of the Jewish people, and the destruction of hundreds of Jewish communities in continental Europe. (Peter Longerich’s title of his 2010 book: The Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews.
Enjoy your new book!
Edith Shaked aka Edith Shaked Perlman
Advisory Board Member H-Holocaust, an international academic consortium/H-Net's Network for scholars of the Holocaust
Certificate of Appreciation, the National Council for History Education (NCHE)
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May 12, 2023#BogiReads Patreon | Twitter | Mastodon | Instagram | Facebook | Website
Graphic novel about the Holocaust in French-occupied North Africa. The protagonist is a German Jewish man who escapes from Nazi Germany to France, serves in the French Foreign Legion, then after France falls to the Nazis, is incarcerated in a series of forced labor camps building railroads in Algeria – alongside other Jews, Spanish Republicans, Algerian nationalists, and everyone who was in the way of the regime.
I learned a lot and thought this was an interesting story. Unfortunately, it did not really work for me *as* a comic. There is a lot of narration, this type of comic storytelling was old-fashioned even back when I was a kid in the 80s. The backgrounds seem based on photos, not retraced but rather filtered until they become line-art-like; and then the heads of the characters are drawn in by hand. The line weights often don’t match, giving the impression that the heads are pasted on. I understand the need for historical accuracy and hence the use of photos, but I found this distracting.
I think for anyone interested in the topic, this is still a must-read, because there is so little about the Holocaust in North Africa and what there is is mostly scholarly work. One of the creators is from Morocco and the other from Algeria (both of them live in the US now), which is awesome, and they clearly know their subject in great depth.
I think it’s great to have this comic, and I’m glad I read it. But it isn’t very strong as a comic, and I found that frustrating. It was published by the Jewish Studies imprint of a university press, and I was wondering if they just weren’t used to editing graphic narratives in particular…?
_____
Source of the book: Lawrence Public Library (who ordered it on my request – thank you!)
Graphic novel about the Holocaust in French-occupied North Africa. The protagonist is a German Jewish man who escapes from Nazi Germany to France, serves in the French Foreign Legion, then after France falls to the Nazis, is incarcerated in a series of forced labor camps building railroads in Algeria – alongside other Jews, Spanish Republicans, Algerian nationalists, and everyone who was in the way of the regime.
I learned a lot and thought this was an interesting story. Unfortunately, it did not really work for me *as* a comic. There is a lot of narration, this type of comic storytelling was old-fashioned even back when I was a kid in the 80s. The backgrounds seem based on photos, not retraced but rather filtered until they become line-art-like; and then the heads of the characters are drawn in by hand. The line weights often don’t match, giving the impression that the heads are pasted on. I understand the need for historical accuracy and hence the use of photos, but I found this distracting.
I think for anyone interested in the topic, this is still a must-read, because there is so little about the Holocaust in North Africa and what there is is mostly scholarly work. One of the creators is from Morocco and the other from Algeria (both of them live in the US now), which is awesome, and they clearly know their subject in great depth.
I think it’s great to have this comic, and I’m glad I read it. But it isn’t very strong as a comic, and I found that frustrating. It was published by the Jewish Studies imprint of a university press, and I was wondering if they just weren’t used to editing graphic narratives in particular…?
_____
Source of the book: Lawrence Public Library (who ordered it on my request – thank you!)
April 3, 2025
Kudos to the authors for presenting a lesser-known part of WW2. I was personally completely unaware of this part of the war’s history, other than knowing that some things were happening in Casablanca at the time. I am also a somewhat enthralled with the notion that a graphic novel can create a type of participant observation event, thereby turning such a work into ethnography. I come from an academic background and have done my own work in ethnography and so this certainly piqued my interest for new projects in the future.
Two things that irked me here, though. One, the word “holocaust” is asked to do a lot of heavy lifting. While certainly the internment camps in Northern Africa were their own kind of hell, it’s a different hell than the one experienced within Europe. Another reviewer, Edith, goes into greater detail as to why holocaust is not the accurate label here, so I recommend her review if interested. Second, I know this is a graphic novel as opposed to memoir, but the choice of a fictional narrator takes away from the power of the story when he’s such a flat character. I would have preferred to have learned more about a specific historical figure in order to enhance the veracity of the story. In this instance, it makes the history hollow.
Two things that irked me here, though. One, the word “holocaust” is asked to do a lot of heavy lifting. While certainly the internment camps in Northern Africa were their own kind of hell, it’s a different hell than the one experienced within Europe. Another reviewer, Edith, goes into greater detail as to why holocaust is not the accurate label here, so I recommend her review if interested. Second, I know this is a graphic novel as opposed to memoir, but the choice of a fictional narrator takes away from the power of the story when he’s such a flat character. I would have preferred to have learned more about a specific historical figure in order to enhance the veracity of the story. In this instance, it makes the history hollow.
January 25, 2024
I am glad that this book exists because there are no comics about the subject and almost no pop culture references to the subject, and I hope more books on the subject follow.
Frustrating on 2 levels. one is an issue of taste. Collaging historical photographs into the complex scenes depicted, then running a digital filter over the images to create a visual continuity perhaps aiming at something that looks like a woodcut print, just didn't work for me aesthetically. I appreciate that a lot of work went into it, and that it's an expedient method to cover so much ground, but comics are 50% visuals so foregoing the artfulness of hand drawn illustrations was a total fail for me.
Additionally the historical aspect seemed to cherry pick the historical venues of antisemitism in the middle east during the war in a way which left much of the story out and minimized, to an extent, the existing tensions and strife between various peoples in the region.
Frustrating on 2 levels. one is an issue of taste. Collaging historical photographs into the complex scenes depicted, then running a digital filter over the images to create a visual continuity perhaps aiming at something that looks like a woodcut print, just didn't work for me aesthetically. I appreciate that a lot of work went into it, and that it's an expedient method to cover so much ground, but comics are 50% visuals so foregoing the artfulness of hand drawn illustrations was a total fail for me.
Additionally the historical aspect seemed to cherry pick the historical venues of antisemitism in the middle east during the war in a way which left much of the story out and minimized, to an extent, the existing tensions and strife between various peoples in the region.
May 29, 2023
"Undesirables: A Holocaust Journey to North Africa" brings to light the lesser known stories of the Jews from all over Europe and Africa who were detained on African camps. This graphic novel shows how Muslims and Jews saw each other, and it explores how even though many of these people fought for their country, only to be betrayed and detained by that same country. I didn't know anything about this aspect of Holocaust history, so I was happy to come across this graphic novel and learn more.
The story is a little disjointed because the writer and artist wanted to share so much. There aren't transitions, so you can abruptly jump to another place and different people from panel to panel. Despite that, I still found it gripping and informative. I recommend this graphic novel for those wanting to broaden their perspective and learn more.
The story is a little disjointed because the writer and artist wanted to share so much. There aren't transitions, so you can abruptly jump to another place and different people from panel to panel. Despite that, I still found it gripping and informative. I recommend this graphic novel for those wanting to broaden their perspective and learn more.
January 30, 2026
I’m super glad I read this and definitely think it is an account that is way too often overlooked, if even known about at all! I loved the history and the representation of the time. At times, it was a little hard to keep track of who was who and who exactly was talking- I think I would’ve liked a bit more clarity as well as just more details too! Overall, I definitely recommend!
January 22, 2023
I did not even know that camps for Jews and former French Foreign Legion members and Spanish Republicans and general troublemakers in North Africa during WWII was even a thing. I always like when I read a piece of history I did not know. I think the story worked well in a graphic format.
February 21, 2024
Confusing narratively, and full of beautiful, but very basic, images (way too many maps for my taste). Found this of great historical value overall, and love the concept these authors tried to enact of making us actually "see" history through a graphic novel to experience it uniquely.
November 18, 2024
We need more books like this that cover the experience of Jews, French colonial subjects, and Spanish Republicans during WWII. Fascinating story about aspects of the war that I never learned about in school.
Read
February 18, 2023This graphic history did not do it for me at all: neither the history, which I found stale, nor in particular the illustration.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 25, 2023
Required reading for a Global History of WW2 class. Without someone providing context and background, it's just another interesting but confusing book about the harsh treatment of Jews and many other undesirables in one of the almost 100 Vichy labor, disciplinary and internment camps in north and west Africa. Great illustrations.
April 11, 2023
A useful introduction to the forgotten history of North African Jews under Nazi and Vichy French control.
October 6, 2024
Unsilencing the past. Beautiful illustrations
February 11, 2025
I had never read about the labor camps in North Africa during WW2 and that was a really interesting missing perspective. Definitely could tell it was written by an academic though.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews