Series
Description
With a preface by Will Eisner. Paracuellos is a work of great courage, created at a time when telling the truth about Spain's political past could get one killed. It is arguably the most important graphic memoir ever created in comics. Carlos Gimenez's autobiographical account of the plight of children in post-World War II Fascist Spain has won virtually every comics award in Europe, including "Best Album" at the 1981 Angoulame Festival, and the "Heritage Award" at Angoulame in 2010. In the late 1930s when Spanish fascists led by Franco, and aided by Hitler and Mussolini, overthrew the elected government, almost 200,000 men and women fell in battle, were executed, or died in prison. Their orphaned children-and others ripped from the homes of the defeated-were shuttled from Church-run "home" to "home" and fed a steady diet of torture and disinformation by a totalitarian state bent on making them "productive" citizens. Carlos Gimenez was one of those children. In 1975, after Franco's death, Carlos began to tell his story. Breaking the code of silence proved to be a milestone, both for the comics medium and for a country coming to terms with its past. An illustrated essay by Carmen Moreno-Nuno, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Kentucky, places the comics in historical perspective. "The stories transcend just being about a historical moment in Spain. Their humanity will speak to everyone. The stories are heartbreakers, but Carlos never loses his sense of humor."-William Stout… (more)
Publication
User reviews
As a result of the war and the government’s totalitarian policies, many children were left orphaned or abandoned and were placed in Social Aid Homes. The aim of these homes was to produce ‘good’ citizens loyal to the state. Carlos Gimenez was one of those children. After Franco’s death in 1975, he began recording his memories of those days but in comic book form, an act of extreme bravery given the continued dangers of criticizing the Regime. The result is a powerful, occasionally humorous but extremely heart wrenching picture of what life was like in these homes. The children were starved, beaten, and served a daily dose of propaganda wrapped in religious platitudes by sadistic ‘carers’. The story is historically accurate as Gimenez refused to soften the account to make it more palatable. Eventually, he wrote and drew six volumes to tell his story; this is a review of Paracuellos Vol. 1.
This graphic novel is not meant only as an uplifting story of the human spirit transcending evil - the deprivations and abuses these children were forced to endure are heartbreaking made more so because they are told by a survivor. This is Gimenez’ honest telling of his own story and this honesty makes it at once painful to read but important to understand. Not all of the children or even many of them behave in heroic ways - many are bullies and snitches, willing to turn others in for the smallest infractions to gain the smallest of rewards. Yet, despite this, they still often act like children, inventing games and amusements and always holding out hope that their families will come to rescue them.
The use of the comic form to tell such a powerful true tale may seem counterintuitive. It doesn’t elicit ‘healing’ tears the way a prose telling might nor does it produce the kind of intellectually objective response that a straight relaying of history would. Rather it demands a more immediate visceral response about the horrors of life in a totalitarian state for its most vulnerable members as well as offering a warning about the dangers of ignoring the lessons of history.
The story does end on a surprisingly hopeful note. In a world where friendship is frowned on, and deprivation, violence and spying are constants,Gimenz shows how even seemingly small acts of defiance and bravery can have huge positive and lasting effect.
A very high recommendation from me.