CHUTZ-POW: Meet the Superheroes of the Holocaust
In the golden age of superhero blockbusters, it can be easy to overlook the heroic deeds of everyday people. But thanks to CHUTZ-POW!, a comic book series developed by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, readers can reimagine Holocaust survivors and resistance fighters as the superheroes they were and are. On January 16th, the Women’s Institute, Multicultural Affairs, and the Holocaust Center are hosting a reception and gallery talk to celebrate the launch of CHUTZ-POW! Volume IV and the CHUTZ-POW!: Art of Resistance exhibit in Chatham’s Susan Bergman Gurrentz ‘56 Art Gallery. We caught up with Dr. Lauren Bairnsfather, Director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, and Marcel Walker, CHUTZ-POW! Project Coordinator, to discuss the marvels of CHUTZ-POW!
The cover of CHUTZ-POW! Volume IV, c/o Marcel Walker
What do you hope visitors to the CHUTZ-POW! Exhibit at Chatham’s Art Gallery will take away from the experience?
Lauren Bairnsfather: I'm so excited this exhibit is going to be at Chatham. It is all about different kinds of resistance. These are stories that would be empowering to anyone who reads them. There are many different ways that people—Jews and non-Jews—resisted the Nazis. Whether it was academic resistance or armed resistance, all of these things are part of it.
When we were developing this exhibit, it was a chance for us to look differently at the stories of CHUTZ-POW! and think about the overarching narrative to the different volumes. Visitors to the exhibit will benefit from a critical look at the comics. It's a chance to see what Jewish resistance has in common with other kinds of resistance.
Can you walk me through the initial conception of CHUTZ-POW!?
Marcel Walker: A committee was formed with the intention of utilizing a common art form towards providing a new perspective on Holocaust education. The intention was to reframe the narrative surrounding Holocaust survivors. All too often when you see Holocaust narratives, survivors are portrayed as victims; we wanted to portray them as heroes.
Initially the idea was to create a traveling art exhibit with a comic book that complemented it. On that original committee, we had Lead Project Writer Wayne Wise, who wrote the story and the text in the exhibits. He brought in other project artists, including myself who went on to become Lead Project Artist. In August of 2014, we debuted Volume I: one writer and four artists told the stories of five survivors. I did the cover art and a lot of the layout and production work. Initially, not everyone was sold on the idea of a comic book doing this kind of work, but once people saw what we were doing they were fully on board.
Each volume is thematic: Volume I is an introduction; Volume II features subjects who are internationally known figures, many of which are rescuers or resistance participants. Volume III tells the stories of Pittsburgh survivors who were children during the Holocaust while Volume IV focuses again on more widely known figures. We also created the Teachers Resource Guide which is meant to provide supplementary material [to the comics] for educators. It allows teachers to use the books in their classrooms. The resource guide has actually made my life easier; it is a resource for me and I can refer to it when I'm working on a book.
Today, we're working on the last touches of Volume Four. We've expanded the team from five creators to ten, some returning, some new. It's the most inclusive team we've had on the project, half of our team are women creators. I'm as happy with the creative team as I am with the actual work.
How did you go about assembling a team of writers, illustrators, and designers for CHUTZ-POW!?
Noor Anayat Khan, CHUTZ-POW! Volume IV Hero, c/o Marcel Walker
MW: It happened very naturally. Wayne Wise knew all of the artists and was able to reach out to them. Most of our creators are from Pittsburgh. We try to keep it as local as possible to facilitate this type of project and our comic community in Pittsburgh is very tight. People who work for larger comic companies like DC and Marvel also work for us. Some people even reach out to me and ask if they can contribute which is really exciting.
LB: Diversity improves everything that we do—the more creators we have involved, the more perspectives we have involved, the more we are writing stories of the Holocaust to new audiences. I love that we bring in new creators every time. By bringing in new people, we bring in new points of view and change the way that the stories are told. The writing changes, the art changes, and it's a better product. Plus, we're supporting the arts community in Pittsburgh; I think it's one of our greatest contributions to the city. (S/O to Director of the Women’s Institute, Dr. Jessie Ramey who wrote an introduction to CHUTZ-POW! Volume IV!)
MW: When I was working on the first two issues of CHUTZ-POW!, I didn't formally work for the Holocaust Center yet. A position was created for me so that I could segue into this role. For me one of the most attractive things about working for the Holocaust Center is how the center leverages art to teach about the Holocaust. To me that is the highest calling of artwork: leveraging artwork to educate.
Tell me about your favorite heroes in the comics. What qualities do you admire in them?
Audrey Hepburn, CHUTZ-POW! Volume IV Hero, c/o Marcel Walker
LB: I think that's like picking your favorite kid. With the Holocaust, we talk about “choice-less choices.” Even when people had a choice, there was never a good one. What you get out of all of these stories compiled together is resilience, ingenuity, decisiveness, people making decisions under the worst of circumstances.
Some survivors say they were just lucky and that's how they survived. When you hear their stories, you can see the choices they made along the way to increase their chances of surviving. People often compare CHUTZ-POW! to Maus, a famous graphic novel about Art Spiegelman's father. Maus tells a very intimate father-son story, but CHUTZ-POW! tells many stories. With the Holocaust, we like to say if you've heard one survivor's story, you've only heard one story. By reading CHUTZ-POW! you get a perspective on how different people experienced the Holocaust in different places. You become aware of the breadth.
MW: I've applied the lesson Lauren mentioned in my real life. When I'm out in the world, I try to remember that nobody is a monolith. You can get a general sense of a cultural story but you have to remember the individual.
In Volume 2, we tell the story of Irena Sendler who was a Polish social worker. She helped to rescue approximately 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto. When I encountered Irena’s story, I just felt such an affinity for her. She was not a perfect person at all. There is a tendency to put survivors on a pedestal, but I think the best thing you can do is just view them as human beings. Irena's story allowed me to do that; she is flawed just like everyone, which is true of all of our heroes. That's what makes them so heroic, that's what we hope people identify with. Even if you read it and think 'I could never do that,' if you see how they were flawed, it resonates more. I think it's easier to see ourselves in other people's flaws sometimes.
LB: No one has superpowers in CHUTZ-POW!
We are currently facing unprecedented political and environmental crises on a global scale. What lessons do you hope CHUTZ-POW! can teach readers that they can use to impact their environment positively?
LB: The evergreen lesson is not to be a bystander. It matters now and it will always matter. When we see things going on that we know are wrong, we have the choice to do nothing, but we shouldn't do that. I want people to feel empowered to speak up if they have something to say. We know with bystander behavior, if you're in a room full of people and something is going on that you know is wrong, most people in that room also think it's wrong. It only takes one person to be brave enough to say something for everyone else to get behind them. The lessons here are: you don't just have to accept what's going on around you, especially during this time, we need to know what we believe in and stand up for it.
How do you approach developing a comic differently when the heroes are real people?
Simone Veil, CHUTZ-POW! Volume IV Hero, c/o Marcel Walker
MW: I like to work on stuff that has a purpose. If I'm working on a character or a story, I like there to be something there. My own comic book characters are quasi-fictional; the lead character is based on me. When I did the first issue and debuted that at a small comic convention, I had a brief moment of panic where I thought, 'Oh my gosh, am I a raving ego-maniac? Why did I put myself on the cover of my own book?' But then I realized I made the right call.
I'm black and when black people saw me on the cover, they responded. I had an older gentleman talk about how all the comics he read growing up featured white characters and it was so normalized that the idea of a black superhero hadn't even occurred to him. When he saw my cover, he just started laughing saying, ‘I didn't even know this could exist.’
I'm always thinking about how these characters are going to resonate with readers. I've taught comic classes as well and I was teaching a little guy once, maybe eight years old, and he was drawing the original Human Torch from the 1940s. I was like why are you drawing a character from so long ago? His parents had gotten him a book on the history of comics and he found this character who was also a kid and he identified with it. I realized then, you can't predict what will resonate with people so you have to be careful about what you're putting out into the world. You want to make sure that when somebody does identify with something, they're identifying with the right thing.
How does the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh use CHUTZ-POW! to further the center’s work?
Frieda Belinfante, CHUTZ-POW! Volume IV Hero, c/o Marcel Walker
LB: Our goal is for people to learn about the Holocaust and see how it connects with things that are happening now. Because CHUTZ-POW! is now in schools all over the country and people all over the world have the comic book, we have this incredible opportunity to introduce themes and stories from the Holocaust, and engage people to learn the lessons that we've been talking about in this conversation. Marcel mentioned our teacher's resource guide, this is essential. Most of our activities are educational, 92% of our efforts go toward education. Because of this resource guide, a teacher with no background in Jewish history, the religion, or the Holocaust, can pick up a resource guide and feel comfortable with the terminology, geography, and themes.
We want to empower students, teachers, and anyone from the public to understand these stories and see how they matter, to see what they tell us about injustices that are happening now. CHUTZ-POW! exemplifies how we like to do things. Often making an emotional connection is the key and art is a direct connection to our emotions.
Say a visitor to the exhibit is particularly inspired by the kind of work you do at the intersection of education, activism, and art, what first steps would you recommend toward better serving their communities?
LB: We're always happy to have volunteers; that program is coordinated by a very proud graduate of Chatham, Christina Sahovey ‘11. As far as connecting with other organizations that might inspire people, we're doing a program on April 5 called Together We Remember: What Does Never Again Mean to You? at the August Wilson Center which will feature a number of game-changing organizations that you can get involved with.
