Remember Us to Life

About Remember Us to Life

WINNER OF THE NORDIC COUNCIL LITERATURE PRIZE • Available for the first time in English: a moving and masterful graphic memoir exploring one woman’s search for identity as she slowly uncovers the truth of how her Jewish relatives “disappeared” during World War II.

Told through a genre-defying blend of illustrations, photography, and found objects, Remember Us to Life chronicles Joanna Rubin Dranger’s investigation into her Jewish family’s history, spanning time, space, and three continents in search of her lost relatives. As discolored photos are retrieved from half-forgotten moth-eaten boxes, Joanna discovers the startling modernity and vibrancy of the lives her family never spoke about—and the devastating violence that led to their senseless murders.

Carefully researched and expertly told, Remember Us to Life recounts Joanna’s family’s immigration from Poland and Russia to Sweden and Israel, where her relatives found work, marriage, and community, blissfully unaware of the horrors to come. Interweaving these anecdotes and stories are historical accounts of the persecution of Jewish people in Germany, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia prior to and during World War II, as well as the antisemitic policies and actions of the supposedly neutral government of Sweden, Joanna’s home country. Joanna’s unflinchingly brave and intimate portrayal of one of history’s greatest tragedies will capture and break readers’ hearts.

Following in the tradition of classics such as Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Remember Us to Life is a thought-provoking exploration of grief, alienation, and reclamation of one’s history.