The delicate art of Holocaust comedy
A piece in Theguardian recounts a granddaughter’s memories of her German-Jewish grandmother Gisela and explores how third-generation descendants are using humour to tell family stories that sit alongside Holocaust history. The article recalls episodes such as Gisela forcing rancid meatloaf on her son, the author’s childhood refusal to eat a table of German cold meats, and later family disputes over heirlooms — including an uncle smuggling the family silver in his underwear — as the author researched and drew her graphic memoir, The Crystal Vase.
It places these personal anecdotes within a wider trend in recent work that mixes grief and comedy: films such as A Real Pain and Treasure, and Joe Dunthorne’s Children of Radium, are cited as examples where bickering and transgressive moments coexist with reverence for history.
Germany