Michel Kichka is an Israeli cartoonist and illustrator who was born and raised in Belgium. His father, Henri Kichka, was a survivor of Buchenwald and a well-known and respected educator on the Holocaust. Second Generation is the story of their relationship.

Michel's childhood was defined in part by the Holocaust. He spent hours looking through his father's books on the Shoah searching for pictures of family members and fearing he would see his teenage father in the photos. His father saw Michel's good grades and achievements as a way to get back at Hitler, and Michel and his siblings felt a constant pressure to be the perfect family. Years later while talking to his sister, he thinks that it was "as if we weren't entitled to teenage angst because Hitler robbed him of his."

Michel moves to Israel, graduates from art school, marries, and has children of his own, but the Holocaust still shadows his life and family. His brother-in-law commits suicide and three months later his brother does too. The shock of losing his brother sends Michel into a tailspin, and a floodgate is opened in his father's memories. Henri writes his memoirs, Une adolescence perdue dans la nuit des camps and begins teaching about the Holocaust and leading groups to Auschwitz. Michel wonders, "I sometimes feel that his testimony has replaced his memory... His death march has been going on for 67 years. He walks on while his deceased loved ones pile up behind him." ( )

Recensione su: http://wp.me/p3X6aw-pG ( )