Undesirables

More about the book

In this gripping graphic novel, a Jewish journalist confronts the extension of Holocaust horrors in North Africa. As World War II looms, the rise of fascism and antisemitism in Europe signals the onset of Hitler's genocidal campaign against Jews. However, the atrocities of the Holocaust extend beyond Europe’s concentration camps; antisemitic terror infiltrates Vichy French imperial channels, reaching colonies in North Africa. Here, Jews and other "undesirables" endure brutal conditions in forced labor camps in Algeria and Morocco. Historian Aomar Boum and illustrator Nadjib Berber delve into this lesser-known aspect of Holocaust trauma by following the journey of Hans Frank, a Jewish journalist in Berlin. As he witnesses the Nazi Party's consolidation of power, Hans decides to flee Germany. Through a transnational network of activists opposing fascism, he arrives in French Algeria, only to find that the Vichy regime has labeled all foreign Jews as "undesirables," leading to their internment. Detained by Vichy authorities, Hans is sent to various camps in Morocco and Algeria. Over the next year and a half, he experiences the grim realities of forced labor while hearing the stories of others whose lives have been shattered by violence. Boum and Berber's bold illustrations capture the tension of impending war and the grimness of the Vichy camps, chronicling the far-reaching traumas of the Holocaust through Hans's fictional narrat