We are excited to announce the first Master of Arts thesis examining ‘But I Live’ has been completed by student Paula Friedericke Hartmann:
Der Holocaust in der Graphic Novel Zur Darstellung der Shoah-Erinnerung in dem multimodalen Projekt “Aber ich lebe: Vier Kinder überleben den Holocaust” (2022).
The Master’s thesis was written in German and supervised by Dr. Jan Süselbeck at the The Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Thesis available to read or download here:
https://ntnuopen.ntnu.no/ntnu-xmlui/handle/11250/3076902
Congratulations on your achievement Paula!
Abstract:
The anthology Aber ich lebe: Vier Kinder überleben den Holocaust (2022) , consists of three graphic novellas and four appendices. In the primary texts, four different memories from a childhood in the Holocaust are multimodally presented and supplemented through four appendices. The aim of this master’s thesis is to research how childhood memories are recorded and presented in the Graphic Novels and what effect the anthology can have on the collective memory.
To investigate this issue, the individual memories in the Graphic Novels are analyzed using the semiotic, multimodal and narratological comic analysis. The function of the appendices is to comment and expand on the presented memories in the primary texts in different ways. This information should help to clarify the possible effect of the anthology on the collective memory.
The analysis shows that presenting individual memories in graphic literature can be done in different ways. The combination of image and text levels enables dynamic narratives, which shift effectively between diegetic levels and different focalizations. The description of the development process, the historical contexts and the project itself make the anthology a professional contribution to the formulation of autobiographical memory.
The appendices make it possible to see the anthology as a guide for other similar projects and to perceive the multimodal primary texts as serious contributions in the international Shoah memory culture. If it is received positively, the collection will be able to function both as a storage medium and as a functional memory in the future. Aber ich lebe: Vier Kinder überleben den Holocaust records the experiences of Jewish children in Graphic Novels and sorts the memories into the official history. At the same time, the anthology also has the potential to reach other contemporary witnesses and further encourage them themselves to remember and to tell.