Littleton High School students engulfed in the illustrated story of Karski’s life (Photo: Courtesy of the Littleton High School)
Mrs. Susan Harvey, a history teacher at the Littleton High School in Littleton, MA, has recently introduced the illustrated story Karski’s Mission: To Stop the Holocaust –published by the Jan Karski Educational Foundation – in her US History I Honors Class. The students were taken in by the fast-paced story and the appealing illustrations, and have shared their impressions with the Foundation. Here are their insightful comments:
“It’s an interesting [concept] to translate a story to the comic book medium. Typically, the pacing of novel, movie, or in this case recollection of historical events doesn’t quite line up with the zip-zap-thrill-per-frame format, but Karski’s tale moves fluidly and never misses a beat. The writing is crisp, bold, and simple, and its brevity lends itself well to the stylish renderings of Karski’s Mission. The artwork doesn’t just illustrate the text, it elaborates on it. The illustrations are not so much pictures to accompany the text, but equal partners in telling the story. Overall, Karski’s Mission is an effective telling of an incredible true story that condenses the scale but leaves the value intact.”
— Axel Anderson
“Karski’s Mission, a thrilling graphic novel, brings life to the historical events in better fashion than a textbook. The captivating structure of this great read leaves readers flipping the pages and wanting to know more. The illustrations allow for the complete understanding of the audience, something that textbooks often don’t include. To conclude, Karski’s Mission by Rafael Medoff and Dean Motter accurately portrays Karski’s story fighting the Nazis and I would highly recommend the story to all teachers trying to engage their students.”
— Katie Young
“Karski’s Mission was a fantastic graphic novel. The story itself was fascinating on its own, but accompanied by wonderful art, the story came to life for me. Karski’s dangerous missions and death defying moments make this book fast paced and a read-in-one-go kind of book. I have to admit, when I heard we were reading a book in class, I was hesitant because nonfiction can be hard to get through. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by Karski’s Mission; it was not only visually appealing, but also a truly interesting story. The language was simple but the words had weight to them. It made me rethink a lot of what I had previously learned about the fight in the US to save the Jewish people in Europe. In the end, I thought this was very educational, but if it had been introduced to me in a non-school setting, I would love it just the same.”
— Isabelle Tringale
The Jan Karski Educational Foundation is offering Karski’s Mission: To Stop the Holocaust to educators to use in their classroom especially on middle and high school level, in addition to other resources, including Karski’s wartime memoir Story of a Secret State, educational packet and others. If you are an educator and would like to obtain copies for your classroom, please contact us at info@jankarski.net.
See the announcement about the publication of Karski’s Mission: To Stop the Holocaust and Littleton High School students’ comments about the comic book.
