Adieu Birkenau: Ginette Kolinka’s Story of Survival graphic novel written by Ginette Kolinka, Jean-David Morvan, and Victor Matet

The graphic memoir of Ginette Kolinka, Holocaust survivor, educator, and “ambassador for the memory” of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

It is April 1944. Nineteen-year-old Ginette Kolinka arrives at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Her father and little brother are immediately gassed. Ginette is selected as a worker. She survives. It is October 2020. Ninety-five-year-old Ginette takes advantage of a lull in the COVID-19 epidemic to accompany a group visiting Birkenau one last time.

As a farewell, she brings with her a journalist (France Info’s Victor Matet) and a comic strip writer, J-D Morvan. From this trip a comic book is born. Ginette tells of her life before the war and subsequent imprisonment, as well as her present situation today.

Still sharing what she witnessed with the world, Ginette tells everything with her trademark liveliness and biting humour. If we laugh and shudder, it’s because the story she tells is ours too.

About the Authors:

Ginette Kolinka is a 99-year-old survivor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Since the 2000s, she has been an “ambassador for memory” who speaks to young people about her experiences in the Shoah. In 2019, she and Marie Ruggieri published Return to Birkenau (Grasset), as well as A Happy Life in 2023.

Jean-David Morvan is a comic book writer fascinated by issues relating to war. His work includes an adaptation of Dorgelès’ Les Croix de Bois with Facundo Percio (Albin Michel), the Irena series with Tréfouël and Evrard (Glénat) and Madeleine, résistante with Madeleine Riffaud and Dominic Bertail (Aire Libre). For the latter, he was awarded the René Goscinny Prize for best scriptwriter.

Victor Matet is a journalist and presenter at France Info. He produced several reports on Ginette Kolinka before co-creating a comic strip about her.

Ricard Efa is a self-taught comic book artist. He has published around twenty titles since 2001. He is particularly known for biographical comics, such as those of Django (Aire Libre), Degas ou Monet (Le Lombard). The latter earned him a nomination for the Eisner Awards in 2018. He lives in Barcelona.

Cesc F. Dalmases, born in Sabadell (Barcelona), is the author of various comic strips, including adaptations of such novels as The Bridge of the Jews (Marti Gironell), Victus (Alvert Sanchez Piñol), The Immortal Pyramid (Javier Sierra). His works have been translated into several languages. He often works on sports-themed comics, like Barcelona: The School of Dreams and Barcelona: Eternal Barcelona at Dupuis.

About SelfMadeHero

SelfMadeHero aim to publish ground-breaking and beautiful work by authors and artists from across the globe, from the quirky and humorous to the political and profound. We are proud to bring readers graphic novels and visual narratives that provoke, entertain, inspire, and inform. Releases for 2024 include: Peter Kuper’s Ruins (paperback edition), Jean-Marc Rochette’s The Last Queen, Dr. Frédéric Fanget, Catherine Meyer & Pauline Aubry’s The Anxiety Club, Séverine Vidal & Kim Consigny’s George Sand, Patrick Spät & Sheree Domingo’s Madame Choi and the Monsters, Ginette Kolinka’s Adieu Birkenau, Andrzej Klimowski’s Edifice, and Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s They Shot the Piano Player.

Author Profile

Al Mega

I'm Al Mega the CEO of Comic Crusaders, CEO of the Undercover Capes Podcast Network, CEO of Geekery Magazine & Owner of Splintered Press (coming soon). I'm a fan of comics, cartoons and old school video games. Make sure to check out our podcasts/vidcasts and more!