But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust

"The superb, heart-rending book But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust collects the testimonies of four survivors in a graphic narrative format for new generations. It is a powerful and indispensable educational tool not just for high school students, for whom it was designed, but for anyone. Readers can now carry these indelible stories forward."

Quill & Quire

"I'm convinced that we need more books like this, so that we can preserve a terrible history in a way that makes it easily accessible on the one hand, but also allows a different, very personal access to the stories on the other. I think that this book belongs with Maus in every bookcase."

Tobi Dahmen, comic artist and illustrator, www.tobidahmen.de

"The graphic narratives in But I Live are powerful and relate the Holocaust stories in profound and intense ways that words alone cannot. Created for middle readers, this book is suitable for adults too."

Beverly Cramp, BC BookWorld

"Last week I was given a gift of sadness, a gift of violence, fear, tragedy and suffering…But it was also a gift of courage, extraordinary determination, unimaginable resilience, and ultimately triumph…The gift came in the form of a recently published collection of three graphic novellas called But I Live. It is a remarkable achievement bringing together four survivors with three writer/illustrators who help portray the harrowing journey of the survivors’ young lives."

Chris, In a Spacious Place

"The combination of stories and artwork is powerful and chilling."

Dean Poling, Valdosta Daily Times

“Who should read this book? Young adults, for sure. But also teachers. Makers of memorials and exhibitions. Historians, literary and art scholars, everyone.” Christian Staas, Die Zeit

“But I Live is a uniquely conceived and structured work that explores new possibilities for Holocaust representation at a moment in history that will see the end of direct survivor testimony. It is distinguished by its multigenre, polyphonic layering of perspectives and forms of representation, organizing a deeply engaging dialogue among survivors, graphic artists, and scholars, who, in concert, arouse, mediate, and reckon with the traumatic past.” Victoria Aarons, Trinity University, Holocaust and Genocide Studies

"In this beautiful, one-of-a-kind volume, Charlotte Schallié brings together three exquisitely illustrated and narrated testimonies by four child survivors of the Holocaust. Each of these ‘graphic novellas’ captures the distinct memories and experiences of its child-witnesses in a different style and register, all expertly hand-rendered by different teams of graphic artists. Together with deeply insightful reflections by the artists on their process, by the child-survivors as adults, and by historians of each region, But I Live is the most powerful collection of non-fiction ‘graphic novellas’ of the Holocaust since Art Spiegelman’s Maus."

James E. Young, author of The Stages of Memory and At Memory’s Edge

"But I Live is a path-breaking book that elucidates the complex relationships between story and image in Holocaust recounting. It is equally a book about relationships themselves: between the artists and the survivors and then all of us who are – literally – drawn into their vital conversations."

Henry Greenspan, author of On Listening to Holocaust Survivors

"In 'A Kind of Resistance,' Libicki’s use of wide round eyes express the innocence and terror of a small child. 'Thirteen Secrets' immediately grabbed me with Gilad Seliktar's beautiful style of artwork. There is a particular haze, the fog of memories of childhood long ago. 'But I Live' welcomed me into the story with a warm familiarity. That I know these people. That I know their stories. I know the one spoon left from everything after the war. The lighting of innumerable cigarettes. The bit of ‘taking’ that is stealing without bad conscience. The not wanting to remember but unable to forget. The fear that left behind showing up in their walks of life, however rich and safe."

Miriam Katin, graphic novelist and author of We Are on Our Own and Letting It Go

"But I Live – a beautiful title – offers the stories of four survivors who shared their traumatic memories with three talented artists who have created three outstanding visual journeys. Readers discover not only the survivors personal experience but also the emotion of creation. Libicki, Seliktar, and Yelin take on the responsibility to continue the chain of transmission. Their graphic novels are an act of resistance against forgetting, denying, or not willing to face the truth. Too many survivors left us taking their untold testimony to eternity. But I Live transforms memory into accessible beautiful images in one of the most popular art forms."

Michel Kichka, author and illustrator of Second Generation

"A unique and compelling experience. These unimaginable tales of survival and loss, told through testimony, the combined narrative power of words and pictures, and historical facts, gave me an immensity of feeling – quiet, loud, raging, pensive, but most of all, true. The art is captivating, from the bright, saturated inks of 'A Kind of Resistance' to the subdued, almost mid-century modern graphics of 'Thirteen Secrets' to the rich, realistic palette and imagery that crosses the barriers of time and space in 'But I Live.' All the stories cast a spell that bridges the ‘now’ with the unimaginable ‘then.’ When you combine these narratives (in words and pictures) with the scholarship, and the humanity of all the authors, this book provides an indispensable and true way of both confronting the past and questioning the present and the future. A marvel of cross disciplinary invention."

Ken Krimstein, Cartoonist, New Yorker magazine and author of The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt

"Three candid, powerfully compelling, childhood stories about young lives blighted by Nazi tyranny, illustrated as if for children’s books, by artists whose interpretations do not waver from confronting the unbearable."

Anna Porter, author of Kasztner's Train and The Ghosts of Europe

"But I Live is an essential document. Libicki, Yelin, and Seliktar masterfully use the unique narrative strengths of comics to convey survivors’ experiences with sensitivity and humanity, allowing readers to experience and understand these personal accounts with appropriate empathy and urgency."

Nate Powell, artist of the March trilogy and Save It for Later

"As the child protagonists take us by the hand to guide us through their memories, we ourselves turn into witnesses. Devastating, poetic, and beautiful."

Nora Krug, illustrator and author of Belonging