Comics to teach German pupils about Nazis

Comic books land in German classrooms today to help schoolchildren learn about Hitler and the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Entitled The Search, the cartoons are similar in style to the Tin Tin books, but their subject matter includes Hitler's rise to power and the horror of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

The comic strip has been produced by the Dutch-based Anne Frank Centre, and relies heavily on drawings by the Dutch artist, Eric Heuvel. It will be used during history lessons for pupils aged 13 to 16 in Berlin and the state of North Rhine Westphalia from today, the end of the week that marked the 75th anniversary of the Nazi Party gaining power.

It is the second of two graphic novels illustrated by Eric Heuvel on the subject. The first, A Family Secret, was published in 2003. The books, which are both available in English, are the brainchild of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, a museum housed in the building where Anne hid.
Die Suche's creators took great care to keep the fictional saga factually accurate. Historians were closely involved with the project and many of the drawings are based on original Nazi-era photographs.

In Germany, which this week marks the 75th anniversary of Hitler's elevation to German chancellor, many fear that young people are disinterested in or misinformed about this important chapter of history.

However, the Anne Frank Zentrum has found that using comic books to liven up lessons is old hat for many teachers. "There was no initial scepticism about the comic-book format for this purpose," Franz said. "In fact, it turned out that many teachers we spoke to had already used Astérix in their history lessons."