“Did They Forget About Us” is a biographical documentary graphic novel based on the testimony of Klaus Zwilsky,

September 1943: Klaus Zwilsky’s parents are forced to leave their Berlin apartment and move with their son into the Jewish Hospital, where his father manages the pharmacy. Thus begins one of the most unusual survival stories of Jews in the “Third Reich,” as the hospital remained the only Jewish institution in Nazi Germany that was never closed.

During the development of the book, I spent a week at Klaus’s home in Palm Springs, conducting in-depth conversations with him. This was combined with visits to the Jewish Hospital in Berlin and the Jewish Museum, where Klaus donated his family archive. The book is based on interviews, documentary research, and primary sources, situating this personal survival story within a broader historical context.

Editor: Charlotte Schallié
Designer: Dor Cohen

The book was created as part of the international project “Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives” at the University of Victoria in Canada and was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

The graphic novel will be published in 2026 by
C.H. Beck, Germany.
New Jewish Press (University of Toronto Press),
Editions çà et là, France