After Sachsenhausen by Adam Rosenblatt – SEE SAW Comics, Webcomics from the Sequential Artists Workshop

After Sachsenhausen by Adam Rosenblatt

â€œAfter Camp
April 4, 2024â€

All of the following text is written in speech bubbles, paired by the same repeating drawing traced from a photo of Adam as a boy standing with his grandpa, whose hand rests on Adamâ€™s shoulder.

â€œHi again, Grandpa. I went to Sachsenhausen today. On a train, then a taxi, then through the â€˜Arbeit Macht Freiâ€™ gate. One of the staff members there, Agnes, gave us a special tour. I felt bad not speaking any German. English was work for her. For you too, right? One of the things I never got to know was how you sounded when you werenâ€™t effecting in Englishâ€”who you were in your native tongue(s).â€

â€œYou were at Sachsenhausen less than a year, confined to a tiny area of the campâ€¦ I know you had it better there than at Auschwitz, where you were beforeâ€¦ But I was surprised how small an area you lived in that whole time. You and the other counterfeitersâ€¦ To say anything in here I keep having to squeeze my speech bubbles into distorted shapes. Thatâ€™s not a problem youâ€™re having. Whatever you said or didnâ€™t was all justified. Iâ€™m just finding it hard to let go of. Iâ€™m squeezing words into narrow placesâ€

â€œAmanda looked at the date when you were â€˜arrestedâ€™ in the LÃ³dÅº Ghetto, during its final liquidation. People knew the war would likely end soon. They were told if they went on the transports voluntarily their families could stay together. The Nazis said they just needed workers. They put factory equipment on the trains for showâ€¦ You went straight to Auschwitz. You were likely separated from Mira and Bella as soon as you got there. The war would only last another eight months. Somehow you wound up with one other Pole and a bunch of Hungarian Jews at Sachsenhausen. Your intake papers say your wife and daughter were â€˜livingâ€™ at Auschwitzâ€¦your hope, or a cruel Nazi lie? They were surely dead.â€

â€œI get to say anything to you in here. I can make a speech bubble like the big bagels we used to get in Fair Lawn. A big irregular hole at its center. [This speech bubble is shaped like a bagel.] I canâ€™t make you speak, though. I grew up, Grandpa. I donâ€™t look anything like this anymore. And Iâ€™m not sure why I started needing you more, not less, as time passed.â€

â€œWhen we got back from Sachsenhausen to our Airbnb in Berlin, I went straight into a hot bathâ€¦ I brought a piece of chocolate in there. I ate chocolate in the tub. Chocolate for youâ€¦ Because you insisted on giving each grandkid their first taste.â€

â€œIt was so sweet.â€
Instead of the same traced drawing, this page shows the gate to the Sachsenhausen camp, reading â€œArbeit Macht Frei.â€ Beyond it is a field and walking path, with people walking and clouds filling the sky.

â€œAfter Camp April 4, 2024â€ All of the following text is written in speech bubbles, paired by the same repeating drawing traced from a photo of Adam as a boy standing with his grandpa, whose hand rests on Adamâ€™s shoulder. â€œHi again, Grandpa. I went to Sachsenhausen today. On a train, then a taxi, then through the â€˜Arbeit Macht Freiâ€™ gate. One of the staff members there, Agnes, gave us a special tour. I felt bad not speaking any German. English was work for her. For you too, right? One of the things I never got to know was how you sounded when you werenâ€™t effecting in Englishâ€”who you were in your native tongue(s).â€

â€œYou were at Sachsenhausen less than a year, confined to a tiny area of the campâ€¦ I know you had it better there than at Auschwitz, where you were beforeâ€¦ But I was surprised how small an area you lived in that whole time. You and the other counterfeitersâ€¦ To say anything in here I keep having to squeeze my speech bubbles into distorted shapes. Thatâ€™s not a problem youâ€™re having. Whatever you said or didnâ€™t was all justified. Iâ€™m just finding it hard to let go of. Iâ€™m squeezing words into narrow placesâ€

â€œAmanda looked at the date when you were â€˜arrestedâ€™ in the LÃ³dÅº Ghetto, during its final liquidation. People knew the war would likely end soon. They were told if they went on the transports voluntarily their families could stay together. The Nazis said they just needed workers. They put factory equipment on the trains for showâ€¦ You went straight to Auschwitz. You were likely separated from Mira and Bella as soon as you got there. The war would only last another eight months. Somehow you wound up with one other Pole and a bunch of Hungarian Jews at Sachsenhausen. Your intake papers say your wife and daughter were â€˜livingâ€™ at Auschwitzâ€¦your hope, or a cruel Nazi lie? They were surely dead.â€

â€œI get to say anything to you in here. I can make a speech bubble like the big bagels we used to get in Fair Lawn. A big irregular hole at its center. [This speech bubble is shaped like a bagel.] I canâ€™t make you speak, though. I grew up, Grandpa. I donâ€™t look anything like this anymore. And Iâ€™m not sure why I started needing you more, not less, as time passed.â€

â€œWhen we got back from Sachsenhausen to our Airbnb in Berlin, I went straight into a hot bathâ€¦ I brought a piece of chocolate in there. I ate chocolate in the tub. Chocolate for youâ€¦ Because you insisted on giving each grandkid their first taste.â€

â€œIt was so sweet.â€ Instead of the same traced drawing, this page shows the gate to the Sachsenhausen camp, reading â€œArbeit Macht Frei.â€ Beyond it is a field and walking path, with people walking and clouds filling the sky.

Published On: May 22, 2024

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One thought on “After Sachsenhausen by Adam Rosenblatt”

Martha Kuhlman
05/29/2024, 10:33 am
- Reply
Stunning, beautiful! I like the interplay between the speech balloons and the difficult content. The ending is also sharp-sweet like dark chocolate. You have a talent for non-fiction comics!

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