The hidden child
| Comic | |
|---|---|
| title | The hidden child |
| Original title | L'enfant cachée |
| author | Loïc Dauvillier |
| Illustrator |
Marc Lizano Greg Salsedo |
| publishing company |
Le Lombard (French) Panini Verlag (German) |
| First publication | 2012 |
The Hidden Child ( French original title: L'enfant cachée ) is a graphic novel by Loïc Dauvillier with illustrations by Marc Lizano and colors by Greg Salsedo . The French original edition was published in 2012 by the Belgian publisher Le Lombard . The German first edition in the translation by Monja Reichert was published by Panini Verlag in 2014 .
In 2014, The Hidden Child was nominated for the Max and Moritz Prize .
The Hidden Child contains a foreword by Stephan J. Kramer , who was General Secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany from 2004 to January 2014 .
content
The French Jewess Dounia Cohen tells her granddaughter Elsa how she grew up in Paris when Elsa's age and what experiences she had with National Socialism in France .
In 1942 Dounia lived in Paris with her father, who had just returned from the war , and her mother. Dounia has friends and enjoys going to school. One evening Dounia's mother sews a yellow Star of David on Dounia's jacket. The father tells Dounia that it is a sheriff star and that they are now a sheriff family to protect Dounia from the true meaning of the star.
Dounia proudly wears her jacket with the star at school the next day. But she quickly notices that something has changed. From now on she has to sit in the back row, is ignored when she reports in class and the other children no longer want to play with her. Another Jewish classmate explains the true meaning of the star .
As the situation for Jews in Paris worsened, Dounia's parents decided to take them out of school and teach at home. Dounia's parents are arrested and deported as part of the Rafle du Vélodrome d'Hiver , a raid and mass arrest of Jewish citizens in and around Paris carried out by the French police under the Vichy government . Shortly before the arrest, Dounia's parents hide her in a closet. The neighbor, Madame Péricard, takes Dounia out of the closet and takes her to her apartment, where she lives with her husband, Monsieur Péricard. The Péricards burn the Star of David and take care of Dounia for a while. Dounia misses her parents very much, even if the Péricards treat her very well and try to comfort her.
The Péricards receive news from Madam Pellerin that the police are looking for Dounia and will be back. The Péricards decide that they will leave Paris. Since Dounia's real name sounds too Jewish, she should from now on claim that she is Catholic and her name is Simone Pierret. During the escape, Monsieur Péricard is caught by the police and remains in Paris so that Dounia and Madame Péricard can escape. Dounia and Madame Péricard are taken in by the farmer Germaine in the country. You help her with her work and can stay with her for a while.
Monsieur Péricard, who has meanwhile become a resistance fighter , finds Madame Péricard and Dounia in the country and promises Dounia that he will find her parents. He sets off again, but comes a few months later and picks up Madame Péricard and Dounia to take them back to Paris. The Péricards are still looking for Dounia's parents. When Dounia comes home after her first day of school, Monsieur Péricard tells me that they have found Dounia's mother. After Dounia's mother is feeling a little better, she and Dounia move back into their old apartment. Dounia's father never returned from the extermination camp .