Ode to Joy: One Boy’s Journey Across War-torn Europe

A moving graphic novel about a family of Holocaust survivors’ true story during the Second World War, and the persistence of art through the darkest times.

Perfect for fans of Persepolis, Maus, and Nora Krug's Belonging.

In this one-of-a-kind visual masterpiece, filmmaker Sarah Gavron and artist-poet Sophie Herxheimer combine cinematic storytelling expertise with lyrical language and breathtaking artwork to tell Gavron’s family story of surviving Theresienstadt concentration camp.

We follow Gavron’s father-in-law Ib Katznelson, an ordinary young boy who gets swept up in the extraordinary tides of fascism, war and propaganda in Denmark during the Second World War. Ib and his family attempt to escape Denmark in 1943, but eventually arrive at Theresienstadt, the 'model' concentration camp. Here the Nazis' horrors were hidden from the world, yet it was also a place where, somehow, art and culture flourished in secret. Satirical cabarets entertained the starving in desolate attics, children made breathtaking works of art, huge choirs sang together about death.

This epic, full-color graphic novel contains all of life, from its darkest moments to its most precious and surprising joys. It is a tribute to those for whom the imagination was their only escape: a way not to just to survive, but to stay human. Equal parts exceptionally poignant and arrestingly beautiful, Ode to Joy tells a story of terrible suffering and trauma, but also one in which art-making flourishes as resistance even in the darkest times.