• Jewish Museum Berlin
• 128 pages
• ISBN: 978-3-9813045-1-0

In conjunction with the exhibition “Heroes, Freaks, and Super-Rabbis. The Jewish Dimension of Comic Art," the Jewish Museum Berlin presents a full-color, illustrated catalogue. The themes addressed in the exhibition are pursued in greater depth in seven texts. Thus you may learn from Paul Buhle why Jewish authors and illustrators were so active in the world of comics, and from Jens Meinrenken about how American comic book heroes began defending themselves against Nazi opponents at an early date. Collector Alexander Braun recounts the history of “MAD” magazine and the EC Publishing Company, and Ole Frahm addresses the origins and current significance of the graphic novel. Andreas Platthaus introduces you to the underground “comix scene,” and cartoonist Trina Robbins reports on a minor revolution: women’s breakthrough into the male-dominated comic scene of the 1970s. Finally, Galit Gaon describes how comics and, in particular, “the Jewish dimensions of comics” have developed in Israel.
The book “Heroes, Freaks, and Super-Rabbis. The Jewish Dimension of Comic Art” has been sold out and is no longer available.

• Edited by Michal Friedlander and Cilly Kugelmann for the Jewish Museum Berlin
• 304 pages with approximately 170 primarily color illustrations
• Format: 18,5 x 27 cm
• Nicolai Publishing House, Berlin 2009
• ISBN: 978-3-8353-0468-0

"Not quite kosher" is a well-known phrase. Lesser known are the religious laws that define whether food is kosher or trefe, i.e., pure or impure. Dietary laws and prohibitions can be found in all religions and all religious cultures. Nutritional taboos, the distinction between pure and impure, the use of edibles in religious ceremonies, and festive dishes are just a few of the aspects which shape our food intake.

The Jewish dietary laws, the kashrut, along with everything else that has anything to do with food in Judaism, are the focus of the book on the exhibition at the Jewish Museum Berlin. From this angle, it considers comparisons with the other world religions, primarily Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Well-known scholars of religion and culture illustrate the developments and peculiarities of the different religious traditions and how they view food. It ultimately becomes clear that the saying "you are what you eat" also holds true in the religious context: Food promotes identity, be it for a particular group of people or an individual.

"Identities" is the title of one of the eight chapters in the elaborately designed book, in which various authors explore questions concerning "Food and Religion." "Bread and Wine," "Enjoying and Abstaining," and "Paradise" are other aspects the authors consider. Around 170 primarily color illustrations allow further insights into the topic’s rich diversity.

The book’s authors include Peter Heine, Rainer Kampling, Renate Syed, David Kraemer, Doron Rabinovici, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Herman Simon, Ruth Ellen Gruber, and Claudia Roden.

• published by the Jewish Museum Berlin
• 132 pages, approximately 60 illustrations (mostly in color), paperback
• Format: 17,3 x 22 cm
• Wallstein Verlag, 2009
• ISBN: 978-3-8353-0468-0

Beginning with an essay on race hygiene as a leading science of the Nazi regime, the exhibition book covers forced sterilization, the "Kinderfachabteilungen" (Special children’s sections), the T4 campaign – the mass murder of the sick that is seen as the forerun to the genocide of European Jews – and the decentralized murder of the sick in the later stages of the war.

Moreover, the fates of families whose children became victims of Nazi "Euthanasia" and of others who were unable to escape forced sterilization are told with the aid of recently discovered documents, letters, and photos.

The lives of the perpetrators are also considered: The doctors, carers, and helpers who were part of a system that sought to legitimize murder, the majority of whom were able to continue their careers after the war.