Y

YOSSEL. In this historical graphic novel, fi rst published in 2003, writer and artist

Joe Kubert combines an account of the Holocaust in Poland with a “ What if ?”
story from his family’s personal history. Kubert’s family emigrated to the United
States from Poland in 1928, and in Yo s s e l he explores what might have happened if
he and his family had been in Poland when the Nazis invaded in the early days of
World War II in 1939.
Th e story centers on a Jewish family living in Poland as the war starts. Th e young
son, Yossel (like Kubert) shows aptitude with pencil and paper, and draws everything
he possibly can. As the war comes closer to his village, the drawings occasionally refl ect
the imagery around him, but more often serve as a form of escapism, as real comics
were. When the family is relocated to the Ghetto of Warsaw, his skills come in handy
to keep him alive, as he is often brought into the German military headquarters to draw
pictures for the entertainment of the soldiers. Interestingly, Yossel even drew Superman ,
but with Nazi symbols and look rather than his traditional one. His talents served as a
way to gain food, and later information.
An interesting sub-plot to the main story of Yossel’s struggles involves a man who
escapes the concentration camp at Auschwitz. He had been imprisoned and served as
a sondernkommando , who were Jews chosen to do special jobs in the camp. As the man
tells of the horrors he has seen, he notes how cruel the Germans are, and how God has
seemingly abandoned the Jews. When the old man fi rst appears before Yossel, he calls
Yossel by name. In time, the reader fi nds out that the old man is in fact the rabbi for
Yossel’s family, and that the family has died in the showers of Auschwitz.
Yossel then takes on the role of a partisan. Th e leader Mordechai is only in his
early 20s, but the necessity of staying alive has driven all remaining youths into hiding.