Spirou, Spip and Fantasio have had many adventures over the past 80 years. The three comic-book heroes have faced many perils. Their courage and heroism are once again put to the test in the new series created by cartoonist Emile Bravo, entitled L'Espoir malgré tout. In this new epic, Spirou meets Félix Nussbaum, a German-Jewish painter persecuted by the Nazis and deported to Auschwitz.
The Mémorial de la Shoah offers us an original and surprising look at Belgium in the 1940s, by bringing together plates from the Spirou comic strip and works by Félix Nussbaum. The museum recounts the unusual encounter between the young bellboy and the Nussbaum couple, trying to survive from day to day.
The exhibition Spirou dans la tourmente de la Shoah (Spirou in the turmoil of the Holocaust), on view from December 9, 2022 to August 30, 2023, talks to children about this dark period in history, through the intermediary of a character well known to young visitors. Thanks to the courageous hero, and above all to cartoonist Emile Bravo, we discover occupied Belgium.
Spirou's stories, Felix Nussbaum's original artwork, archive documents and still and moving images help us to understand what was at stake during this period, and what lay behind the occupation: the administration of the country, the daily life of the inhabitants, the resistance fighters, the collaborators, the opportunists, the persecutions organized against the Jews of Belgium... In this fictional friendship between Spirou and Nussbaum, we catch glimpses of the truth, a past that has been romanticized and explained to children.
The exhibition also looks back at the origins of Spirou, a character created in 1938 for the magazine Le Journal de Spirou. In his own way, the young hero also lived through the war that shook Belgium to its core. The magazine and its founder quickly became involved in the underground resistance, fighting against Nazi injustice and barbarism.
The exhibition Spirou dans la tourmente de la Shoah (Spirou in the turmoil of the Holocaust ) is therefore fascinating in more ways than one: for younger visitors, it's a gentle gateway into this terrible history. For older visitors, it's an opportunity to discover the Belgium of the 1940s, in all its good and bad aspects. The Shoah Memorial is also dedicated to Felix and Felka Nussbaum, artists whose lives were scarred by the war, as well as Jean Doisy, Resistance fighter and editor-in-chief of Journal de Spirou.
Dive into history, and accompany Spirou on his new adventure at the Shoah Memorial.
Dates and Opening Time
From December 9th, 2022 to August 30th, 2023
Location
Shoah Memorial
17 rue geoffroy l´ asnier
75004 Paris 4
Prices
Free
Official website
billetterie.memorialdelashoah.org
