Today we feature an exclusive excerpt from New York-based artist Ari Richter, whose debut graphic memoir from Fantagraphics weaves together haunting family stories of imprisonment in Dachau, Buchenwald, and Auschwitz with his own awakening to the contemporary rise of authoritarianism and the continuing crisis of anti-Semitism.
Never Again Will I Visit Auschwitz is an act of self-discovery and a resuscitation of historical memory, an exploration of the intersection of a genocide and the author’s personal history. Part travelogue, part memoir, part historic retelling, it includes first-person perspectives of four generations of the author’s family, from pre-war Germany to post-Trump America. It is a rare glimpse into the firsthand stories of Holocaust survivors and their descendants, told as an intertwined tapestry of faith, grief, and, ultimately, survival, brilliantly using different expressive graphic styles to portray each historical period. Relying on extensive genealogical research and his family’s archives, Richter illustrates the lives of his grandparents as he contemplates the obligation of a storyteller to carry on their legacies.
Harrowing and humorous, Never Again Will I Visit Auschwitz is an intimate reflection on coming to grips with a past that is always present, a portrayal of Jewish cultural resilience, and a warning of democracy’s fragility.
Ari Richter is a visual artist and Professor at the City University of New York. His drawings, sculptures, videos, performances, and lectures have been presented in museums, galleries, and academic spaces throughout the U.S. Richter is the recipient of fellowships from the Mellon Foundation and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, as well as a fully public education from grade school to graduate school. The grandson of Holocaust survivors and son of therapists, he lives in New York with his wife and two daughters.
Release Date: August 2024
Price: $34.99
Hardcover
256 pages
7.5” x 10.5”
ISBN: 978-1-68396-962-4
For more information, please visit www.fantagraphics.com/never-again
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