A tragic overview of the children of the Izieu family told in the comics of the Breton author Pascal Bresson

As part of the 80th anniversary of the Izieu gathering in Ain, Pascal Bresson created a comic with illustrator Giulio Salvadori about this dark side of the German occupation during World War II.

On April 6, 1944, the fate of 44 Jewish children and 7 adults changed. Taking refuge in a house converted into a summer camp, they are arrested by the Gestapo. Only one adult will survive Nazi barbarism. A dramatic story that Pascal Bresson, already the author of works about Simone Veil and the Klarsfeld couple, wanted to tell in a comic book in order to reach a wide audience, especially the youngest.

“It’s the first day of vacation, it’s 8:30 in the morning. The children are having breakfast with a good hot chocolate. Two trucks come, two tow trucks, and there’s chaos, damn it, they pick up all the children under the pretext that they’re Jews. says Pascal Bresson. This very precise story is the result of several stays in the Izieu colony, which today has been turned into a memorial museum.

The author, who lives in Saint-Malo, immersed himself in the places that remained untouched, the atmosphere, the context. He looked at the children’s drawings and discovered the story of their teacher who, after a raid, found a small whistle in her blouse pocket, given to her by one of the students. “It’s touching because she sees that little Raoul again who gave it to her,” reported by Pascal Bresson. With this whistle the teacher will be buried.

Anecdotes that helped the author tell the story of the raid. Pascal Bresson also met with the director of the Maison d’Izieu, who gave him details and recommended works, including the book by Sabine Zlatin, the founder of the colony who was not in Izieu on April 6, 1944.

A duty to remember

Perpetuate the memory of these children among younger generations. This motivated Pascal Bresson to write texts for comics. “For several years now, I have been producing works that talk about the duty of memory. After recounting the life of Simone Veil, the fate of the three Jacob sisters and the hunt for the Nazis of the Klarsfeld couple, it seemed important to me to address the gathering from the Izieu colony. I realized very early on that the duty of memory consists of teaching and passing it on to the youngest. he explains on his publisher’s website Bubble box.

All deported, 44 children died, most of them in Auschwitz. Klaus Barbie, head of the Gestapo in Lyon in 1944, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 for crimes against humanity. Sabine Zlatin, who dedicated her life to preserving the memory of Izieu’s children, will testify at the trial. “Why did you do that? They were not resistance fighters, they did nothing (…). Only one laughs, it’s Barbie”. recalls Pascal Bresson.

The Saint-Malo author will participate in several signing sessions across France until June.

“La Rafle d’Izieu” by Pascal Bresson (screenplay) and Giulio Salvadori (drawings), published by La Boîte à Bulles, 160 pages, 26 euros (issue in April 2024).