Horst Rosenthal

Horst Siegmund Rosenthal (born August 19, 1915 in Breslau ; died in Auschwitz in September 1942 ) was a German-Jewish draftsman who emigrated to France in July 1933. After internment several times, he was deported to Auschwitz in 1942, where he was presumably murdered. He became known for three illustrated booklets from 1942, in which he satirically dealt with camp life in Camp de Gurs . The best known is the first booklet - Mickey au camp de Gurs - in which he had the character Mickey Mouse, created by Walt Disney , interned in Gurs.

A cartoonist forgotten in Germany

On the Lambiek Comiclopedia website: Horst Rosenthal says: “Horst Rosenthal remains a mysterious person. There are no photos or personal documents of him, other than his asylum papers. A report from May 20, 1940 describes him as 1.70 meters long, brown-haired and brown-eyed, with a normal nose (...) and an oval face '. The report also mentions that his left arm was paralyzed. ”But some more data about him are now known, and it is largely thanks to research by Pnina Rosenberg, such as Joël Kotek and Didier Pasamonik in their new edition of the comics of Rosenthal confirm:

“Despite three years of research all over Europe, in the French camps (Horst went through almost seven internment camps) and new internet resources, we hardly got beyond the pioneering research of Pnina Rosenberg. Sure, we discovered two of his brothers and the reason why he had to flee his beloved Breslau as quickly as possible (he was a member of the Reichsbanner, the self-defense militia of the Weimar Republic), but it is us despite the valuable help of the best archivists in Poland […] and France […] or in Switzerland […] and in Israel failed to give it a face. This lack of photographic evidence intensifies the horror of the Shoah. It testifies to the posthumous victory of the Nazis to destroy the face of the Jews forever. "

There are no other works or personal documents from Rosenthal himself beyond the three booklets with caricatures made in Gurs.

“Most of the information available today is based on documents that were created by various administrative officials as well as by the artist himself, in the course of the endless visits to authorities that he had to go through in order to be allowed to stay on French soil, and in the course of his subsequent internment. The documents are in the National Archives in Fontainebleau and in the files of the Sub-Prefecture of Oloron in the Archives of the Departemnets Pyrenées-Atlantiques in Pau . "

In Germany, Horst Rosenthal - in contrast to the French or English-speaking world - is almost unknown, which may ostensibly be related to the fact that he wrote his three small works in French. On the other hand, Pnina Rosenberg states that these “comic booklets [...] are now an integral part of the well-known iconographic testimonies about the French internment camps and the“ undesirable foreigners ”held in them. Micky Mouse, the already well-known character from American cartoons , appears here in a parody of the hardships that many refugees from the German Reich had to endure during the war. ”Jörn Wendland brought this to the attention of Germany for the first time in 2017 in the frame of his book Das Lager von Bild zu Bild and also in a workshop he helped design in 2018 at the Free University of Berlin . A less scientific approach to Rosenthal is thanks to Christian Berkel , whose mother was interned in Gurs at the same time as Rosenthal; In his auto-fictional novel The Apple Tree he created a small literary monument for him.

The short life of Horst Rosenthal

From Wroclaw to Paris

The parents of Horst and his twin brother Alfred and another brother born in 1920 were the merchants Ernst Nathan and Frieda (née Zöllner). According to the memorial book for the victims of the persecution of Jews under the Nazi tyranny , Frieda Rosenthal was born on April 6, 1890 in Breslau.

How much the Rosenthal family was involved in Jewish life in Breslau is not known. Because of her home in a middle-class residential area, Rosenberg suspects that the family must have achieved a "certain prosperity". The fact that Frieda Rosenthal was later able to support her son Horst, who lives in France, with money supports this thesis of a “certain prosperity” in the family, which, however, had to do without her father for a long time.

Rosenberg spoke of Rosenthal, who was eighteen in 1933, who had begun university studies. Not much more has come down to us about his years in Wroclaw. In early July 1933 he left his hometown and moved to Paris. There he gave the reasons for his entry to France that he was a member of the SPD . Kotek & Pasamonik also wrote that Rosenthal had to flee Breslau because he was an active member of the Reichsbanner . In contrast, the statement on the website memoriart33-45 , where it says: “Horst Rosenthal fled to Paris with his parents in 1933, is clearly wrong . They live on Rue de Clignancourt, later on Rue Richomme. “These addresses are correct for Horst Rosenthal, but unfortunately not the statements about his family. “Frieda Rosenthal was brought to the Riga ghetto on January 13, 1942 at the age of fifty-two , and murdered there.” Kotek & Pasamonik added that she was shot on January 19, 1942. In the memorial book for the victims of the persecution of Jews under the Nazi tyranny , however, January 19, 1942 is noted as the date of deportation; Frieda Rosenthal started her last trip from Berlin-Wilmersdorf . Nothing is known about the fate of Horst Rosenthal's brothers, Kotek & Pasamonik suspect that they were also deported to Latvia.

The time until the outbreak of World War II

Little is known about Rosenthal's motives for choosing Paris as a place of refuge, just as little is known about his knowledge of the political situation in France. This country received "in the summer of 1933 the refugees coming from Germany not with open arms, and not with great confidence, but rather subjected them to embarrassing controls and required them to submit to rigid official procedures."

Rosenthal soon had to experience all of this first hand. He received a visa for two months and initially found himself in a Paris refugee camp. From here, on November 17, 1933, he applied for a permanent residence permit - an application for asylum , as Rosenberg later specified. He soon found an apartment and received support from the Comité national de secours aux réfugiés allemands victimes de l'antisémitisme .

The application for political asylum was rejected in the spring of 1934. On March 31, 1934, the Paris police prefecture informed the Ministry of the Interior that Rosenthal's mother was not subjected to any harassment in Breslau and that he could return there at any time. Consequently, this “foreigner should be asked to leave the country as soon as possible”. Information was also obtained from the French consul in Dresden, who reported that Rosenthal was an “Israelite who could be called a political refugee” and that he saw “no reason”. On August 9, 1934, Rosenthal's expulsion was ordered.

The fact that none of this had any direct impact on Rosenthal is due to the fact that since March 1, 1934, he was no longer in the area of ​​responsibility of the Paris police prefect. He attended a trade school in Romans-sur-Isère in the Drôme department , where he wanted to train as a shoemaker in order to emigrate to Palestine. The authorities found him there too, of course, but the prefect there informed his superior authority that there were no complaints about Rosenthal and that he should therefore be given the opportunity to complete his training. Rosenthal also received support from other sources and was able to achieve that he was granted a residence permit limited to the duration of his studies. It is not clear whether he continued his training in Romans-sur-Isère or in Paris, because he had expressed his intention to study at the Arts et métiers trade school there.

In a new procedure in December 1936, Rosenthal applied for a residence permit and the associated recognition as a political refugee. He presumably lived in Paris again, but there is no concrete evidence of any activities he could have carried out there. In a form in connection with this requested residence permit he had stated “Profession and occupation: Draftsman”, but Rosenberg's research did not reveal any evidence that he was active as a draftsman and whether he, as it says on the Lambiek Comiclopedia website , “ For most of the decade (...) who lived a quiet life in the rue de Clignancourt in Paris ”seems rather doubtful given the domestic political situation in France and the difficult social situation of most of the refugees living in Paris. Nor does Rosenberg report anything about whether Rosenthal even had a work permit.

Rosenthal's other legal status is a bit confusing. Wendland speaks of recognition as a political refugee in 1937, while Rosenberg says nothing about the outcome of the proceedings, which have been ongoing since December 1936. The Lambiek Comiclopedia website states: “His application for political asylum was denied in March 1934, but finally granted in December 1936. His approval ran from July 1938 to June 1940. ”In a review of the book by Kotek & Pasamonik, Bernard Marx writes:“ Application for asylum in November 1933, rejection in March 1934, refugee status for the duration of studies in August 1934, application for recognition as political refugee in December 1936, ID card valid until June 1940, received in July 1938. ”Rosenberg also mentions that Rosenthal“ applied for the very important identity document ”in July 1938 and also mentions the duration of the document issued in Paris: 28 July 1938 to 15 1940. Regarding the nature of the document, she writes: “In all likelihood, it was a foreigner identity card, which foreigners aged fifteen and older usually receive within eight days of their arrival in a department have to apply if they want to stay in France for more than two months - even without starting work ratio. This document is issued after a fee has been paid - sometimes free of charge - and after information has been obtained. It is usually valid for three years and also serves as a residence permit. "

Rosenthal's way to Gurs

From July 1938, Rosenthal's status in France was apparently secured legally. But just over a year later, with the outbreak of World War II, everything suddenly looked very different. “With the declaration of war, Jewish and non-Jewish people from Germany and Austria, i.e. mainly those who fled the Nazi regime, are referred to by the French government as 'undesirables' and are brought to 'assembly camps', which are hastily moved to different places This also applied to Rosenthal, and he was taken to the Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir in Colombes near Paris on September 9, 1939 . From here he was transferred to the Marolles camp in Loir-et-Cher on September 19, 1939 . Rosenthal was lucky, he was classified there as hardly suspect and released on November 29, 1939. He returned to Paris.

On May 10, 1940 began the western campaign of the German Wehrmacht . On May 13, posters announced in Paris:

“German citizens, Saarlanders, Danzigers and foreigners of unclear nationality, but of German origin, living in the Seine department, must follow the following instructions [...]: the men on May 14, 1940 [to] the Buffalo Stadium ; the women on May 15, 1940 [in the] Vélodrome d'Hiver . "

Horst Rosenthal followed this request and went to the Buffalo Stadium on May 14th. At the end of May 1940 he was transferred to Dreux . The Alençon and Tence camps followed . This odyssey initially ended on October 28, 1940 in Gurs.

Interned in Gurs

Pnina Rosenberg sums up what was waiting for Rosenthal in Gurs:

“When Horst Rosenthal arrives in Gurs, the camp is completely overcrowded, many of the prisoners only speak German, and many are locked in a camp for the first time in their lives. Whole families suddenly find themselves behind barbed wire, without the necessary equipment, fearful, defenseless and forced to wait idly. "

Rosenthal spent almost two years in this environment, and in 1942 he caricatured everyday life in the camp with drawings and short texts. Apart from these cartoons, there is little evidence of his life in the camp.

On August 1, 1941, he became, presumably voluntarily, a member of the 182nd group of foreign workers (Groupement de travailleurs étrangesrs - GTE), which had to take care of the maintenance of the camp. This was preceded by a positive assessment of his behavior in the camp by an inspector, and that gave Rosenthal some advantages. The GTE members had to take care of the maintenance of the camp, but this was associated with some privileges for them: They could move freely between the individual camp blocks (îlots), received additional food, lived in a separate block and were given 10 days Camp leave. So does Horst Rosenthal. He was allowed to leave the camp for ten days in January 1942 and returned on January 17th. Rosenberg does not know where Rosenthal spent his camp vacation, and it is difficult to understand why Rosenthal did not use the vacation to go into hiding.

Earlier, on November 15, 1941, Rosenthal had submitted an application for release from the camp, which was rejected in January 1942 after his return from vacation. Nonetheless, such requests continued to follow, and he also made an application for a new identity document, since the one previously received (see above) had expired. He did not achieve success with it, and unlike Mickey at the end of the booklet Mickey au camp de Gurs , who as a drawn figure takes out the right to erase himself and disappear into the land of freedom, Rosenthal had to persevere in the camp and was relocated again , for Rosenberg symbol for "the tragic discrepancy between the little comic hero and his creator".

The rescue of the Rosenthal comics

During Rosenthal's internment in Gurs, the Swiss nurse Elsbeth Kasser worked there as a volunteer . She “recognized the importance of artistic creation as a survival strategy and intellectual resistance in the existentially threatening situation” and supported camp inmates in dealing with their situation artistically. “Out of gratitude, she was given many drawings and watercolors, some of which she bought from the artists with her little money. In order to bring them to safety, they were smuggled into Switzerland and are now being looked after by the Elsbeth Kasser Foundation, stored in the Archives for Contemporary History at ETH Zurich. ”This is how Rosenthal's Petite guide à travers le camp de Gurs came about . (A short tour of the Gurs camp) in Kassert's possession and was saved by her.

According to Pnina Rosenberg, the fact that Horst Rosenthal's two other comics are still preserved is thanks to the brothers Leo Ansbacher and Max Ansbacher (1906-1999), who were also interned in Gurs .

Deported to Auschwitz

Rosenthal's stay in Gurs ended at the end of July 1942. Together with the foreign worker group 416, to which he was transferred, he was transferred to the Barcarès internment camp. But after three weeks the odyssey continued: in the course of a wave of arrests carried out by the Vichy regime for the Nazi state, he ended up in the Rivesaltes camp . Rosenberg writes about the background: “This transfer is part of the wave of arrests carried out by the Vichy regime in August 1942 for Nazi Germany. It culminates in the major arrest on August 26th. By that day, around 10,000 Jews of foreign origin have been arrested in the unoccupied zone and taken to the Drancy transit camp . Horst Rosenthal is one of them. "

After Pnina Rosenberg, Horst Rosenthal's name was on the list of deportation train No. 31, which left Drancy on September 11, 1942 for Auschwitz. Presumably he was murdered there shortly after arrival. A month earlier he was 27 years old.

Horst Rosenthal's camp comics

In the literature there are different understandings about what Rosenthal's three booklets are to be called, and they also tend not to correspond to the classic comic book definition , since they are not about the continuous representation of a story in a sequence of images and their combination with Text goes. They are more like a series of individual scenes, always as image-text combinations, which, however, add up to an overall picture, the frame of which is the situation Rosenthal experienced in Camp de Gurs. Nothing is known about the intentions he pursued with the three booklets, whether they served him himself to process his fate artistically, or whether he wanted to entertain other camp inmates with them. The texts in all booklets are in French, although there were thousands of Germans in the camp. Only once, in the last page of the Petit guide à travers le camp de Gurs , do German words appear, which are also the last words of this booklet, and they appear in connection with the theater group of the camp, in which it is allegedly under the direction of its director Nathan the same program has been presented for a year and a half - but always under a new title. The play showed the French in the camp what the true Parisian esprit was, and then the last French sentence was followed by the German final sentence: "As one says in German: Schall und ... Rauch!"

At Rosenthal, too, the interplay of drawings and text is what makes the notebooks so attractive. The sources mentioned below (see: Works ) make this tangible. Nevertheless, it is worth taking a closer look at his texts, for which there are only scattered German (partial) translations. They are full of linguistic humor and caricature just as impressively as the drawings depict everyday camp life. Rosenberg speaks of sarcasm as a subtle form of resistance that characterizes them.

Mickey au camp de Gurs

Although all three issues are from 1942, there is agreement in the literature that the issue with the main character Mickey Mouse was the first that Horst Rosenthal drew. The presentation and examination of Rosenthal's work is largely limited to this issue, while the other two, in which Mickey Mouse no longer appears, lead a rather shadowy existence in terms of reception history. This is probably thanks to this main character, who "[came out] in France [...] as early as 1934 and [...] with 450,000 copies per week [was] extremely popular and [...] as the" voice of America "contributed significantly to the spread of American culture and Way of life [contributed] ”. Therefore, for the signatories Rosenthal, it must have been obvious to resort to this figure, which he in the end then the ideals of the French Revolution , liberty , equality , fraternity , praise be - in 1942 under German occupation and the collaborationist Vichy regime , however, than American values. What is also impressive in terms of craftsmanship is how close Rosenthal's Mickey figure is to the Disney original.

• Sheet 1 (title sheet)
  The title sheet shows the front of a camp barrack against the background of a fence. In a round section in the barracks drawing, looking through the first page of the magazine, the profile of Mickey appears. Rosenthal's sarcastic humor is already evident on this title page in the inscription Published without permission from Walt Disney (Publié sans Autorisation de Walt Disney) . "Given the almost complete elimination of all rights for inmates in Gurs, this excuse for disregarding copyrights seems downright grotesque."
• Sheet 2
  The drawing shows Mickey walking happily, who is enjoying his good life somewhere in France (“Ah, c'est la bonne vie!”). For him, however, it is not 1942, but “a day in the year II of the national revolution” (“C'etait un jour de l'an II de la révolution nationale”). This is an allusion to the French Revolutionary Calendar , which started with the abolition of the monarchy and the beginning of the republic. But now Mickey is living in year II of the national revolution, which sealed the end of the republic and with it the validity of human rights.
• Sheet 3 & 4
  The beautiful day suddenly ends when a gendarme appears and asks Mickey for his papers. First there are linguistic entanglements, and then, when it turns out that Mickey has no papers and is also a foreigner, the bad consequences of this encounter: arrest and transfer to Gurs.
• Sheet 5
  The sheet is a montage with a postcard showing the endless rows of barracks in Gurs as a photo from above: “As far as the eye can see, […] hundreds of small dog houses […], between which a teeming crowd was busy with mysterious tasks "(" A perte de vue, des centaines des petites niches de chien étaient alignées, entre lesquelles une population grouillante était occupée à des mystèrieuses besognes. ")
• Pages 6 & 7
  Mickey has to endure the admission procedure in the warehouse. This scene "shows the whole bureaucratic arbitrariness and absurdity of a situation, arose due to instructions, regulations and laws, through which thousands of 'undesirable' people are made outcasts". It begins (also in drawing) with an officer emerging from a mountain of paper who, looking down at little Mickey, begins an interrogation.

Mickey (translation)

Original text

After a few minutes of waiting , a head emerged from the heap. - What is your name? - asked the head. - Mickey. - - Your father's name? - - Walt Disney. - - Your mother's name? - - My mother? I don't have a mother! - - How? You don't have a mother You're kidding me ... !!!!! - - No, really, I have no mother! - - Seriously! I know guys who didn't have fathers but no mothers ... let's get on with it. - are you a jew? - - Please? - - I ask you if you are a Jew !! - To my shame, I was completely clueless about this . - Did you make any illegal profits ? Did you do black market deals? Have you plotted against the security of the state? Did you make subversive statements? - !!! ??? !!! ?????????????????? !! ---! - - What nationality? - - Uh ... I was born in America, but I'm international! - - International! INTERNATIONAL!!!!!! So, you're commu ... And with a terrible grimace, the head disappeared into its pile of papers .

Après quelques minutes d'attente, une tète émergeait du tas. - Votre nom? - demandait la tète. - Mickey.- - Le nom de votre père? - - Walt Disney. - - Le nom de votre mère? - - Ma mère? Je n'ai pas de mère! - - Comment? Vous n'avez pas de mère? Vous vous F [ous] ... de ma gueule !! - - Non, vraiment, je n'ai pas de mère !! - - Sans blague! J'ai connu des types qui n'avaient pas de pères, mais pas de mères ... Enfin, passons. - Vous êtes juif? - - Plait-il? - - Je vous demande si vous êtes juif !! - Honteusement, j'avouais ma complète ignorance à ce subject. - Vous avez fait de la hausse illicite? Avez- vous fait du Marché noir? Est-ce que vous avez comploté contre la sûreté de l'Etat? Avez- vous tenu des propos subversifs? - !!! ??? !!! ?????????????????? !! ---! - - Source nationalité? - - Hay .... Je suis né en America, mais je suis international !! - - International! INTERNATIONAL !! Alors, vous êtes commu ............. Et avec une grimasse horrible, la tête rentrait dans son tas de papiers.

• Sheet 8
  Mickey is taken to a storage block and then gets to know a shabby hut as his future home. The drawing shows him standing helplessly in front of a dilapidated barrack, the door of which is only hanging on the hinge at an angle. First contacts with his roommates are made and ambiguous offers are made, about which he prefers to remain silent, because - in an ironic allusion to the original Mickey Mouse - "this is a book for children" ("...... mais comme c'est un livre pour enfants, je préfère me taire !!! ”).
• Page 9
  The distribution of bread rations bursts into the first conversation with his roommates. The ritual of distribution remained incomprehensible to him, but not its result: “When I finally received my ration, it was difficult to see it with the naked eye” (“et quand, enfin, je recevais ma ration, il était difficile de la distinguerà l'oeil nu “). The drawing shows Mickey, who with an oversized magnifying glass is looking at a tiny lump of bread in front of his face that is lying on the table in front of him.
• Sheet 10
  Mickey is attracted by a nauseating smell and meets a man who is preparing a soup in the open air on a small stove. When the man mentions the ingredients for the soup on Mickey's request, Mickey runs away.
• Sheet 11
  Mickey meets a companion who invites him to visit “the chickens” (“on va voir les poules?”). Mickey doesn't understand that this is a visit to the women's block, but the trip soon ends at a guard, where Mickey is asked for his access authorization. (Mickey in front of the guard at the gate is the drawing.) Now, believing that he needs permission to view the chickens, he decides to end this excursion for himself.
• Page 12
  Mickey meets a man who tries his hand at gardening on a palm-sized piece of earth. Mickey ironically asks him whether he has also returned to the country, but the man does not understand the allusion and answers with wide eyes that he has never left the country.
• Sheet 13
  The picture shows a man in a suit and hat walking past who seems to be looking for something. Mickey stands aside and asks a companion what this is all about. The man is a police inspector disguised as a guest who is supposed to fight the black market in the camp. But the other day someone managed to sell him an overpriced pack of tobacco that he could no longer find. He is always looking for her.
• Sheet 14
  The picture shows a man sitting at a table whose head is spinning from reading the many letters in front of him. This is Mickey's encounter with "Monsieur Censure", the censor. He is the man “who receives the most letters”, including those “that are not for him” and whom he reads anyway (“C'est un Monsieur Censure. Il lui arrive aussi de recevoir des lettres qui ne sont pas pour lui. Il les lit qunad même. ”). Mickey is indignant.
  The text then leads on to Mickey's encounter with the most important and powerful man in the camp, who is always smoking, the Vulkan man ("On l'appelle également l'homme volcan.")
• Sheet 15
  This volcano man, a fat man without a face but with a cigarette in his mouth, wears a suit and struts around in front of a barrack with the sign “Verwaltung” (“Gestion”) above the door - an indication that the Vulkan man is the camp manager. Mickey tells of the rumor that this man's wish was to have a chest instead of his stomach, even a portable fortress in which he could keep his cigarettes. "But these are hideous lies spread by subversive spirits and every worthy French who deserves this name tramples them with their feet ..." ("Mais ce sont là des meusonger abomirables, qui sont propagéer par des esprits subversifs et chaque Français digue de ce nom les repousse du pied ... ")
• Sheet 16
  Mickey has had enough of gurs.

Mickey (translation)	Original text
Really, the air in the Pyrenees didn't suit me at all anymore. Since I'm just a caricature, I just erased myself with an eraser ..... And ..... hop ......... !! The gendarmes are welcome to come and pick me up, in the land of freedom, equality and brotherhood. (I'm talking about America!)	Mais, décidément, l'air des Pyrénées ne me convenait plus du tout. Alors, comme je ne suis qu'un dessin animé, je m ' effaçais d'un coup de gomme .. Et ... hop ... !! Les gendarmes peuvent toujours venir pour me chercher, au pays de la L ... é, de l'E .... é et de la F ..... é (Je parle de l'Amerique!)

For Pnina Rosenberg, in this last sheet of Rosenthal's Mickey au camp de Gurs, the whole tragedy can be experienced, which manifests itself in the apparently funny way in the step of liberation as an eraser:

“This last step painfully illustrates the tragic discrepancy between the fictional comic hero and his creator. With the help of graphic creation, Horst Rosenthal fought against the reality of the barbed wire fences and thus expressed the thoughts of escape and the urge for freedom of all prisoners in the camps. Behind the drawing of Mickey Mouse, who masters all obstacles thanks to his ingenuity, the whole cruel truth of the persecution appears: only a fictional character can succeed in escaping it with the help of an eraser. "

Small guide to travers le camp de Gurs

As mentioned above, it is only recognized that the Mickey booklet is the first of Rosenthal's Gurs comics. There is no reliable information about the order of the other two. What distinguishes the Little Guide through Camp Gurs from the other two is initially only of a formal nature: It comes from the estate of Elsbeth Kassert and not from the estate of the Ansbach brothers. In terms of content, the two Mickey follow-up issues have one thing in common: they have to do without the title character of the first issue. In the Little Guide there is only a single figure that creates a connection across the individual pages; it was reminiscent of the figure of Tintin from Hergé's comic series Tintin and Struppi and only appears consistently in La Journée d'un hébergé . Regardless of this, the Little Guide is an ironic-sarcastic description of the Gurs camp in the style of a travel brochure that consists of 13 pages including the title page and back.

• Sheet 1 (title sheet)
  You can see a camp barrack again, but this time with a face drawn as a happy, laughing face. In the foreground on the left a small piece of fence can be seen, from which nothing seems threatening, and in the background a green forest greets the backdrop of the Pyrenees. On the right is the figure reminiscent of Tim (red sweater, gray trousers and a beret on his head), who, with arms outstretched, seems to praise the beauty of this tourist gem in the style of a travel guide.
• Sheet 2
  The drawing shows a couple in traveling clothes and with suitcases, who are standing under a station clock and looking at a poster. Under the heading “Visit Gurs” there is a completely different camp picture than on the title page. Two barracks can be seen standing deep in the water through which someone wades with water up to their knees. Then the poster inscription: “If you want to lose weight / Go to Gurs! / Renowned cuisine! // For all information / please contact / your police station! ”(“ Si vous voule maigrir / Allez à Gurs! / Sa cuisine Renommée! // Pour tous les renseignements, / adressez-vous à votre gendarmerie! ”).
  The accompanying text then alludes to the posters that have allegedly been hanging everywhere for some time and defines the purpose of the brochure as trying to satisfy the public's curiosity about this tempting holiday destination.
• Sheet 3
  An older man with a long white beard lectures in front of the picture of a barracks. The side of his desk facing the audience bears the inscription “The teacher is a donkey” (“Le Prof est un Âne”). What he has to say, after a "scientific" introduction, falls back on stock conditions that were already discussed in Mickey's magazine.

Little Guide (translation)

Original text

First some biological details about the locals, called "guests". The guest, "homo pyrénensis" in Latin, lives in the southern regions of France. It feeds on beets, Jerusalem artichokes, pumpkins and gray tobacco (if available!). He lives in strange houses, "camps", in which men and women are strictly separated. This is to prevent them from multiplying , which is monstrous. Since the guests are of no public use, their breeding is not recommended to people willing to increase their income. ...

D'abord, quelques précisions d'ordre biologique sur les indigènes, appelés "Hébergés". L'hébergé, in Latin "homo pyrénensis", vit dans les régions méridionales de la France. Il se nourrit de navets, de topinambours, de citrouilles et de tabac gris (s'il en trouve!). Il loge dans de curieuses habitations, the "camp", à l'intérieur desquels mâles et femelles sont rigoureusement séparés. Ceci pour empêcher leur reproduction qui est prodigieuse. Comme les hébergés ne sont d'aucune utilité publique, leur élevage n'est guère recommandé aux personnes désireuses d'augmenter leurs revenus ......

• Sheet 4
  Here the boss of the camp is presented in words and pictures, from behind, but in the manner already known from the Mickey booklet: As a man in a suit and with a hat (as a sign of his dignity) he is on the way, to leave the camp, the exit of which is symbolized by a closed barrier and a guard house standing next to it, in front of which a uniformed guard stands. A lot of green can be seen in front of the barracks and especially in the background. The director himself is characterized as a gentle and not cruel man.
• Sheet 5 In
  front of a hospital barracks surrounded by green lawns, a person in a “glamorous uniform” (“L'uniforme si brillant ..”) (wrapped in a green poncho and wearing a green beret) and a “belligerent demeanor” (“l 'allure sie martiale'): a member of the 182nd GTE (see above) to which Rosenthal himself belonged. With a wink, GTE members are described as causing chaos in female hearts, but including many sick and unsuitable people, and their black market skills are remarkable.
• Sheet 6
  A man, a ghost, a rat. You are next to a barracks and under the sickle of the moon. The purpose of their nocturnal encounter: black market deals.
• Sheet 7
  But the guards are on their guard. You can see the fleeing ghost, followed by an inspector disguised as a ghost.
• Sheet 8
  The figure resembling Tim can be seen approaching the latrine dripping with sweat. Caption: "Oh, these turnips!" ("Ah, les navets!")
• Sheet 9
  The camp is under water, there is even a fish swimming around. In the middle of it all is a radio reporter, also standing in the water, who announces for a fictional radio station: "Here are the latest false reports of the day !!" ("Voici les dernières Fausses nou velles de la journée !!")
• Sheet 10
  The drawing is marked by a large censorship stamp, and the reporter who only exists in the text and who announces “sensational revelations” (“des révélations sensationelles”) is slowed down by a censor who disagrees. "She cuts mercilessly, and all you have to do is admire the beautiful colors above." ("Elle coupe impitoyablement et il ne vous reste plus qu'admirer les belles couleurs ci-dessus.")
• Sheet 11
  A couple comes by with a stroller with three babies in it. A red evening sky over the barracks and the mountains in the background, and the comforting message:

Little Guide (translation)	Original text
In spite of everything, love does not lose its rights. To the government's appeal to increase the birth rate, the camp residents replied: IMMEDIATELY! You kept your word.	Malgré tout, l'amour ne perd pas ses droits. A l'appel du gouvernement en faveur de la natalité, les hébergés du camp ont répondu: PRÉSENT! Ils ont tenu parole.

• Sheet 12
  You can see a man speaking to the audience from a stage. The text warns against believing that it is boring here, because after all there is a theater group. Then follows the short text passage already quoted above with an allusion to the true Parisian esprit, which ends with the only words in German: "As one says in German (Comme on dit en allemand): Schall und .... Rauch!"
• Sheet 13
  fin / end, with Horst Rosenthal's signature.

La Journée d'un hébergé

Like the little guide through Camp Gurs , the booklet about the daily routine of a guest is addressed to a fictitious external person interested in camp life, to whom this should be explained. The little guest, whose everyday life is to be depicted, has already appeared in the drawing of the little guide (red top, gray or brown pants, resembling Hergés Tim), and other people are also present in the same way in both issues.

• Sheet 1 (title page)
  The title page is relatively simple here. The arrangement of the title words is the essential design element; they overlay a clock that shows a time just before 2 p.m.
• Sheet 2
  There is no drawing, and the text begins like a fairy tale ("A long, long time ago there was a little guest." / "Il était une fois un petit hébergé."), As if the narrator wanted to give the impression that what he would like to report is already behind him. He introduces himself as “not a special guest, he had no rank and no function. He wasn't even the boss of the barrack ”. ("Ce n'était pas un super-hébergé, il n'avait aucun grade et aucune fonction. Il n'était même pas chef de baraque."). If you want to find out more, please turn the page.
• Sheet 3
  The drawing shows the protagonist lying in a comfortable bed with proper bedding. In front of the bed in a barracks, a man scoops a liquid from a bucket-like vessel into a bowl attached to the bed.
  The irony conveyed by the bed is taken to extremes by the text: “8 o'clock in the morning! Time for the Shepherd! The management takes care of its customers and has coffee brought to bed (but not "with milk"). ”(“ 8h you matin! L'heure du (é) Berger! La Direction soigne ses clients et fait apporter le café au lit (mais pas "au lait") ")
• Sheet 4
  The picture shows the little guest with a bare upper body in the morning toilet at an outdoor washing trough. In the background: the mountains.
• Sheet 5
  This is followed by the walk to the toilet, an open wooden crate over barrels for the excrement. The representation of this toilet is the almost mirror-inverted view of the latrine in Figure 8 in the Little Guide . Four exclamation marks replace the text.
• Sheet 6
  The little guest stands with two other guests behind a barrack on a grassy area. One wears shorts, the other a suit and beret. It has an idyllic effect, and what the text contributes only refers to the different mentalities of the guests, which, however, do not seem to have any profound conflicts among themselves.

Daily routine (translation)	Original text
Nothing beats a little political discussion. Some always move forward and some win every battle. That way everyone is happy.	Rien ne vaut une petite discussion politique. Les us avancent toujours et les autres gagnent toutes les batailles. Comme cela, tout le monde est content.

• Sheet 7
  Then the little guest has to go to the post office. He is expecting a package, but is apprehensive because he is afraid it might not be handed over to him.
• Sheet 8
  But he returns from the post barracks beaming: "Everything went well." ("Tout a bien marché")
• Sheet 9
  Noon, the little guest is sitting on his bed and "enjoying [...] his beet soup in silence" ("le petit hébergé déguste sa soupe aux navets en silence"). But above him, in a speech bubble, his real thoughts are drawn: the dream of a roast and a glass of red wine (according to the text: old Burgundy).
• Sheet 10
  “After the soup comes the duty. Prelude for the afternoon ........ ”(“ Après la soupe vient la corvée. Prélude pour l'après-midi… ”) The drawing shows the little guest and three other men sitting around a mountain of potatoes and peel this.
• Sheet 11
  In the background the blue mountains, in front of it a barracks and the fence. The little guest is sitting at a table in the courtyard and is writing. The text describes him as an optimist who is currently writing his 517th request for release - a direct parallel to Rosenthal, who himself wrote countless letters. But whether the writing of these requests is optimism or occupational therapy in an almost hopeless situation (Rosenthal's release requests were rejected) is open, because the addressees are, according to the caption, the director, the prefect, the barrack boss, the Red Cross and also "The Undersecretariat of State for the Recycling of Scrap Metal" ("au sous-secrétariat d'Etat pour la récupération de la vieille ferraille").
• Sheet 12
  The little man stands a little perplexed in front of the censor's barracks. The door plate bears the inscription "Censure" and shows a large pair of scissors underneath.
  He is excited because he was asked to show up with all of his identification papers. He doesn't know why, but he believes he can have a clear conscience. “He didn't send any letters to Aunt Lechem and Uncle Roof.” (“Il n'a pas adressé de lettres à la aunt Lechem et à l'oncle Roof.”) This sentence is puzzling when it comes to Aunt Lechem and Uncle Roof. Lechem stands in Hebrew for bread or food in general. This could mean that the little guest wanted to say that he had never begged for food in writing, which the censor might have displeased. Uncle Roof could represent the (unspoken) desire for better housing.
  The story ends peacefully, however; the censor was only interested in the postage stamp on a letter he had just arrived from Chile that he would like to have, and “the little guest graciously agrees with relief”. ("Soulagé, le petit hébergé l'accorde gracieusement.")
• Sheet 13
  The little guest listens to the news presumably coming from the ether (symbolized by a man reading from a sheet who speaks in circles formed by ether waves). But this news is contradicting itself.

Daily routine (translation)

Original text

Ah, here is the information. The Russians have run out of troops and the Germans run out of ammunition? Perfect. The RAF flew over New York and Gandhi announced the uprising in Yokohama? Very good! Churchill gave a speech on the arrival of a delegation of Liberian double bass players in London, in which he stated, among other things: the war will be over in 1953. There is hope!

Ah, voici les information. Les Russes n'ont plus de troupes et les Allemands n'ont plus de munitions? Parfait. La RAF a survolé New-York et Gandhi a déclaré la révolte à Yokohama? Très bien! Churchill a prononcé une allocution à l'occasion de l'arrivée à Londres d'une délégation des joueurs de contrebasse de Libéria, du cours de laquelle il a déclaré notamment: la guerre sera finie en 1953. Y a de l'espoir!

• Page 13
  The little guest stands in front of a pot standing on the ground, from which steam rises steeply upwards, forming a large question mark at head height. It's 6 a.m., dinner time. But after lunch was still clearly recognizable as beet soup, the futile question now arises, “What the cook could have put into the boiling water” (“On se demande (en vain, d'ailleurs) ce que le chef de cuisine a bien pu mettre dans l'eau bouillante. ")
• Sheet 14
  A black area, from which only the head of the little guest protrudes, symbolizes the night and thus the opportunity for black market deals. Because of the constant hunger he bought a pound of beans, but “due to our usual discretion and in order not to endanger anyone” (“Par suite de notre discrétion habituelle et pour ne pas compromettre personne ...”) the name of the seller and the price remain unnamed.
• Sheet 15
  Tightly embraced, the little guest and his blonde companion (who is astonishingly similar to the woman pushing the stroller from picture 11 from the Little Guide ; however, she had a different companion there) walk between two fences towards an evening sky crowned by a crescent moon.
  The text says that this is the time of outbreaks, but also of lovers, and thanks to a forged ticket, the little guest made it into the women's block, where he met "the chosen one of his heart [...], a young girl (!) […] Who has 3 children in Brussels and whose husband has disappeared without leaving an address ”, can go for a walk. ("Le petit hébergé se promène jusqu'à minuit avec l'élue de son coeur, une petite jeune Fille (!) De l'îlot L, qui a 3 enfants à Bruxelles et dont le mari à disparu sans laisser d'address. ")
• Sheet 16
  As at the beginning, the little man is lying in his free bed again. He says goodbye with a kind of night prayer.

Daily routine (translation)

Original text

Little man, it's time to sleep! Sleep, little guest, sleep, dream beautifully! Dream about your upcoming liberation, dream about what you will eat tomorrow against your hunger. But before you go to sleep, don't forget to thank the Home Secretary who sent you here and the manager of this hotel for his continued diligence. And thank the good guardians for protecting you while you sleep. So be it!

Petit homme, c'est l'heure de faire dodo! Dors, petit hébergé, dors, Fais de jolis rêves! rêves de ta libération prochaine, rêves, que tu mangeras à ta Faim, demain. Mais avant de t'endormir, n'oublies pas de remercier M. Le ministre de l'Intérieur qu'il t'a envoyé ici, et M. Le Directeur de cet hôtel pour ses soins incessants. Et remercie les bons gardiens qu'ils te protègent pendant ton sommeil. Ainsi soit il!

• Sheet 17
  fin / end, with Horst Rosenthal's signature.

Pnina Rosenberg considers the little guest (she translates the word hébergé as hostel guest ) for Horst Rosenthal's drawn alter ego. He hides “not only behind the mental life of this fictional character, but also behind her figure, making her his mouthpiece against the Vichy regime. By depicting the absurdity of the situation, he exposes administrative lies and bureaucratic misconduct as well as the hypocrisy of the official terms used to denote the camps, such as 'reception center' or 'hostel'. Given the sarcastic tone Rosenthal uses, this terminology evokes a smile - albeit a bitter one - when it describes a scene in which the figure or the internee lives as an 'overnight guest' at the expense of the Ministry of the Interior. "

Reception history

Pnina Rosenberg's interpretation of the three comics in the context of Rosenthal's immediate camp experience, as expressed in the previous quote, differs significantly from many other receptions. She gives the impression that for her the person Rosenthal is always in the foreground, the person of a young man who tries with his own means to describe his situation in an ironic-sarcastic way and to process it for himself. With reference to Mickey au camp de Gurs and La Journée d'un hébergé , she explains : “The humorous cartoon-like images, together with the naive, amusing and 'childlike' texts, stand in sharp contrast to the harsh reality of the camp and thus reinforce them the criticism behind them. In an ironic twist of history, Rosenthal's Mickey Mouse can be seen as the forerunner of Art Spiegelman's Mouse , but tragically, Rosenthal did not survive to witness his artistic legacy. "

With the reference to Spiegelman, Rosenberg also opens the door to a broad meta-discussion about the importance of Rosenthal's drawings in the history and tradition of comics. This discussion, which mostly focuses on Mickey au camp de Gurs , examines the question of what influence Walt Disney had on Rosenthal, whether Rosenthal's drawings meet the formal criteria of a comic, whether they are political caricatures and how they can be conceptually defined. The mouse as a symbolic figure is also up for discussion, and it is assumed that Rosenthal's recourse to Mickey was the positive use of a rodent against the dehumanization of Jews in Nazi propaganda, in which they were described as rats and vermin. Morgan's final verdict: “Ultimately, through the use of fantastic techniques, Rosenthal is able to use a perspective that would otherwise not be available to him, especially in a space as small as a thirteen-part comic. Mickey is able to embody the states of the Jewish prisoner as well as the American outsider, at the same time he is an intrinsically metatextual being and can thus interact with the text and the situation in a way that a realistic protagonist cannot achieve. This enables Rosenthal broad avenues of criticism and darkly comical parody, which give Micky à Gurs a unique feeling and a unique meaning, also in relation to his other work, let alone the work of other contemporary chroniclers of life in the concentration camp. "

Apart from the fact that the Camp de Gurs, despite all the horrors that reigned there, cannot be equated with a concentration camp , it remains questionable how far such interpretations have a sound basis. It remains to her credit, however, to have saved Horst Rosenthal and his drawings from oblivion, at least in the academic environment - more in the English and French-speaking countries, and less so in the German-speaking countries.

Works

• Joël Kotek & Didier Pasamonik: Mickey à Gurs. Les carnets de dessins de Horst Rosenthal . Calmann-Lévy, Paris, 2014, ISBN 978-2-7021-4385-8 . The book is an annotated new edition of the three works by Horst Rosenthal:
  • Mickey au camp de Gurs - Publiée sans l'authorisation de Walt Disney 1942 . ( Mickey in Camp Gurs - Published without permission from Walt Disney 1942) This booklet is fully available on the LA BANDE DESSINEE AU CAMP DE GURS EN 1942 website .
  • La Journée d'un hébergé: Camp de Gurs 1942 . (The daily routine of a guest: Camp de Gurs 1942) This booklet is fully accessible on the website LE DEUXIEME CARNET D HORST ROSENTHAL: "Le journal d'un hébergé" .
  • Small guide to travers le camp de Gurs . (Little guide through the Gurs camp)
    The 11 pages of this booklet are available as a digitized edition on a server of the ETH Zurich : Horst Rosenthal: “Petit Guide à travers le Camp de Gurs” , 1942.

literature

• Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey Mouse in Gurs - humor, irony and criticism in works of art produced in the Gurs internment camp , in: Rethinking History: The Journal of Theory and Practice , Volume 6, 2002 - Issue 3, pp. 273-292. The article was published online in 2010 under the title [doi: 10.1080 / 13642520210164508 Mickey Mouse in Gurs - humor, irony and criticism in works of art produced in the Gurs internment camp ], but is only accessible for a fee.
• Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / The orphan Micky Mouse, or: the short life of Horst Rosenthal ', in: Anne Grynberg; Johanna Linsler (ed.): L 'irréparable: itinéraires d'artistes et d'amateurs d'art juifs, réfugiés du “Troisième Reich” en France / Irreparable: The lives of Jewish artists and art connoisseurs on the run from the “Third Reich “In France, publications of the Magdeburg coordination office, Magdeburg, 2013, ISBN 978-3-9811367-6-0 , pp. 349 ff. (French version) and 368 ff. (German version).
• Glyn Morgan: Speaking the Unspeakable and Seeing the Unseeable. The Role of Fantastika in Visualizing the Holocaust, or, More Than Just Maus , Lancaster University , undated.
• Jörn Wendland: The warehouse from picture to picture. Narrative series of images of prisoners from Nazi forced camps , Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna, 2017, ISBN 978-3-412-50581-3
• Christian Berkel: The Apple Tree , Ullstein, Berlin, 2018, ISBN 978-3-550-08196-5 . Using the example of his mother, Berkel describes life in the Gurs camp in some chapters of his novel and pays tribute to the caricaturing depictions of camp life in Horst Rosenthal's comics.

Web links

• Lambiek Comiclopedia: Horst Rosenthal . A detailed article with lots of images in English.
• Bernard Marx: Mickey à Gurs. Les carnets de dessins de Horst Rosenthal by Joël Kotek et Didier Pasamonik
• Horst Rosenthal: Mickey Mouse in the concentration camp . This is a detailed German-language review of the new edition of Rosenthal's works by Joël Kotek & Didier Pasamonik.
• jewishtraces: Plus qu'un nom dans une list: Horst Rosenthal .
• memoriart33-45: Artists who were persecuted and died during National Socialism (1933–1945) . The article about Horst Rosenthal can be found in the PDF document with the name beginning with "R".
• Mickey Mouse Comics from the Gurs Concentration Camp

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Since his deportation took place on September 11, 1942, this date is often given as the date of his death; the exact time and cause of death are unknown.
2. ^ "Horst Rosenthal remains a mysterious person. There are no photographs or personal documents of him available, other than his asylum papers. A report written down on 20 May 1940 describes him as being '1.70 meters in length, brown-haired and -eyed, with a normal nose (…) and oval face.' The report also mentions that his left arm was paralyzed. "
3. ↑ USHMM : Professional Background of Pnina Rosenberg
4. ↑ So far there is only one article about Didier Pasamonik in the French WIKIPEDIA: fr: Didier Pasamonik
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Joël Kotek & Didier Pasamonik: Mickey à Gurs . This and all other quotes from this book come from its introduction, which can be viewed on amazon.fr.
6. ↑ "En dépit de trois années de recherches aux quatre coins de l'Europe, de la France des camps (Horst passa par près de sept camps d'internement) et des ressources nouvelles de l'Internet, nous n'avons guère pu aller au-dela de la recherche pionnière de Pnina roses. Certes, nous lui avons découvert deux frères et la raison pour laquelle il dut fuir au plus vite sa chère Breslau (il militait au sein de la Reichsbanner, la milice d'autodéfense de la République de Weimar), mais nous n'avons pas réussi à lui thunder un visage malgré l'aide précieuse des meilleurs archivistes en Pologne […] comme en France […], ou encore en Suisse […] et en Israel […]. Cette absence de trace photographique ajoute à l'horreur de la Shoah. Elle témoigne de la victoire posthumously des nazis à effacer à jamais le visage des Juifs. "
7. ↑ ^{a b} Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / The orphan Micky Mouse , pp. 368–369. The Fontainebleau site of the French National Archives was also moved to Pierrefitte-sur-Seine by 1920 . ( Removal from Fontainebleau. Transfer des fonds d'archives de Fontainebleau à Pierrefitte-sur-Seine )
8. ↑ Gesa Ufer: The Holocaust in Comics. In sharp contrast to the reality in the camps , Deutschlandfunk Kultur, October 26, 2018
9. ↑ Jörn Wendland: The camp from picture to picture , pp. 205-206
10. ↑ The Federal Archives' memorial book for the victims of the National Socialist persecution of Jews in Germany (1933-1945)
11. ↑ ^{a b c d} Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / The orphan Micky Mouse , pp. 370–371
12. ↑ memoriart33-45 (see web links )
13. ↑ For the history and task of this support committee for German refugees and victims of anti-Semitism see: Anne Grynberg: L'accueil des réfugiés d'Europe centrale en France (1933–1939) , and there especially the subsection L'attitude des milieux juifs français .
14. ^ Letter from the Prefect of Police, quoted from Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / Das Waisenkind Micky Maus , p. 371
15. ↑ ^{a b} Quotes from Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / Das Waisenkind Micky Maus , p. 372
16. ↑ ^{a b c d} Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / The orphan Micky Mouse , pp. 372–373
17. ↑ It can not be determined whether the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers was meant.
18. ↑ Lambiek Comiclopedia: "Throughout most of the decade Rosenthal led a quiet life in the Rue de Clignancourt in Paris."
19. ↑ Jörn Wendland: The camp from picture to picture , p. 206
20. ↑ "His request for political asylum was denied in March 1934, but eventually granted in December 1936. His license ran from July 1938 until June 1940."
21. ^ Bernard Marx: Mickey à Gurs , p. 1
22. ^ Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / Das Waisenkind Micky Maus , p. 382, ​​note 36
23. ↑ Bernard Marx: Mickey à Gurs , p. 1. Rosenberg mentions October 11th for this, but this cannot be true in the sequence of the dates she cites.
24. ↑ ^{a b c} Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / The orphan Micky Mouse , pp. 374–375
25. ↑ Quoted from Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / Das Waisenkind Micky Maus , p. 374
26. ↑ This list of camps follows the presentation by Pnina Rosenberg. Another source mentions camps in Damigny (L'Orne) and Saint-Cyprien . (memoriart33-45: Artists persecuted and died during National Socialism (1933–1945)) Since Alençon is also in the Orne department , the camp there could also be identical to the camp in Damigny.
27. ↑ Rosenberg speaks in this context of both the Groupement de travailleurs étrangesrs and the Groupement de travailleurs Espagnols .
28. ↑ There is no article about the foreign worker groups in the German language Wikipedia, and the one in the French language is not very meaningful (see: fr: Groupement de travailleurs étrangers ). The tasks of the foreign worker groups in connection with the Camp de Rivesaltes are described in somewhat more detail: Memorial forum: A brief overview of the camp history of the Camp de Rivesaltes
29. ↑ ^{a b} Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / The orphan Micky Mouse , pp. 376–377
30. ↑ ^{a b c d} Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / Das Waisenkind Micky Maus , p. 378
31. ↑ Painting behind barbed wire. An exhibition in the museum in the warehouse in St.Gallen , January 2016
32. ↑ Flyer for the exhibition "Die von Gurs" - Art from the internment camp of the Elsbeth Kasser Collection in the museum in the St.Gallen warehouse
33. ↑ ^{a b} Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / Das Waisenkind Micky Maus , p. 379
34. ↑ There is very little information available about Max Ansbacher. But that he came to France from Belgium, as Rosenberg reports, is evidenced, among other things, by the memories of Juliane Schramm. Accordingly, he lived with his wife Bella Petach Tikwa in 1985 . Juliane Schramm: Stories and texts, from our grandma Juliane from the last century: Friday, October 18, 1985. In: heiermann.de. June 7, 2019, accessed December 30, 2019 . 
35. ↑ Jörn Wendland: The camp from picture to picture , p. 98
36. ↑ ^{a b} Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / The orphan Micky Mouse , p. 376
37. ↑ In the English WIKIPEDIA there is even an article dedicated to this issue: Mickey au Camp de Gurs .
38. ↑ Jörn Wendland: The camp from picture to picture , p. 97
39. ↑ Jörn Wendland: The camp from picture to picture , p. 95
40. ↑ Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey orphelin: la courte vie de Horst Rosenthal / Das Waisenkind Micky Maus , p. 380
41. ^ Pnina Rosenberg: Mickey Mouse in Gurs - humor, irony and criticism in works of art produced in the Gurs internment camp (abstract) . "The humorous cartoon-like images, together with the naïve, amusing and 'childish' texts, stand in sharp contrast to the harsh reality of the camp, thus enhancing the criticism which lies behind them. In an ironical twist of history, Rosenthal's Mickey Mouse can be seen as the forerunner of Art Spiegelman's Maus, but, tragically, Rosenthal did not survive to witness his artistic legacy. "
42. ↑ All these questions are discussed by Wendland. There is also the literature on which it is based.
43. ^ Glyn Morgan: Speaking the Unspeakable and Seeing the Unseeable . There is another broad examination of interpretations of Rosenthal's work. The English-language WIKIPEDIA article Mickey au Camp de Gurs mentioned above also provides a good overview .
44. ^ Glyn Morgan: Speaking the Unspeakable and Seeing the Unseeable . "Ultimately, by employing fantastic techniques, Rosenthal is able to exploit a view-point which would otherwise be unavailable to him, especially in so small a space as a thirteen panel comic. Mickey is able to embody both the states of the Jewish inmate and the American outsider, simultaneously he is an intrinsically metatextual being and thus able to interact with the text and the situation in a manner unobtainable to a realist protagonist. This allows Rosenthal avenues of critique and darkly-comic parody which give Micky à Gurs a unique feel and importance, even amongst his other work, let alone the work of other contemporary chroniclers of life in a concentration camp. "