In Toulouse, comic book hero Spirou conveys the history of the Shoah in an exhibition at the Museum of Resistance and Deportation

A traveling exhibition, “Spirou in the turmoil of the Shoah” is set up in the Pink City. It is inspired by a series of albums by Emile Bravo. The designer has published, from 2018, four volumes where the famous bellhop is thrown into the heart of the Second World War

Presented for nearly 9 months at the Shoah Memorial in Paris between December 2022 and August 2023, this exhibition was a great success. She returns to Toulouse with some adaptations.

Spirou faced with the tragedy of deportation

Spirou was imagined in 1938 by the Belgian publisher Jean Dupuis and drawn by Rob-Vel. Then several designers took turns to bring the young groom to life. 80 years after its creation, Emile Bravo took hold of the character to transpose it into the dark years of the 1939/45 war. “It allowed me to talk about what happened during that time because I feel like people were starting to forget. A lot of kids don’t know that story. Through such a popular character, It’s not bad to be able to explain all that” points out the author.

In the first volume of Hope despite everythingEmile bravo imagined a fictitious meeting between Spirou and victims of Nazi barbarism who really existed. “Emile Bravo’s brilliant idea is that Spirou, who is a fictional character, will meet real people who are Felka and Felix Nussbaum. They are German painters who hid in Brussels during the war. They unfortunately ended their days in Auschwitz in 1944.” explains Didier Pasamonik, curator of the exhibition Spirou in the turmoil of the Shoah.

From the invasion of Belgium to the Jewish refugees of Toulouse

The 4 volumes of the series Hope despite everything are the common thread of this exhibition created by the Shoah Memorial. After a first part devoted to Emile Bravo’s Spirou, the public is invited to travel to this Belgium invaded by German troops in May 1940. The dramatic story of Félix Nussbaum and his wife Felka Platek is of course widely discussed. We also discover that Spirou’s diary, through its traveling puppet theater called The Leprechaun, was an ideal cover for the Resistance.

To the first exhibition presented in Paris, the Departmental Museum of Resistance and Deportation in Toulouse brought a regional touch with period photographs. Black and white photos of Jewish refugees arriving in Toulouse in June 1940 to flee the German invasion. “The question of Belgian refugees was naturally a gateway since many of them arrived in our city. They were photographed by Germaine Chaumel. This was ultimately a first connection of the Toulouse population to the war and to the civil drama that was being played out”, reports Antoine Grande, director of the museum. A history lesson for everyone with the popular Spirou, as private guide, to discover until March 3, 2024.

Exhibition “Spirou in the turmoil of the Shoah” until March 3, 2023
Departmental Museum of Resistance and Deportation

52 Allée des Demoiselles in Toulouse
Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.