CYIL vol. 15 (2024)

PETR VÁLEK

CYIL 15 ȍ2024Ȏ

Philippe Sands, Jean-Christophe Camus, Christophe Picaud “Retour à Lemberg”: Could a Comics Explain the Response of International Law to Holocaust? Éditions Delcourt, 2024, ISBN: 978-2-413-04791-9, 279 p p. (Hardcover) [„Návrat do Lvova”: Mohl by komiks vysvětlit reakci mezinárodního práva na holocaust?] In summer 2024, I got into my hands a French comics titled “Retour à Lemberg” (in English: “Return to Lemberg”). The story of this comics is based on the book written by a well-known international law expert Philippe Sands that was published in English in 2016 under the title “East West Street, On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity”. This book was adapted into comics by Jean-Christophe Camus, while the illustrations were made by Christophe Picaud. First of all, I should explain why I decided to write a review of a comics for the CYIL. I have to admit that, in the Czech Republic, the comics books have been traditionally viewed as reading for children, or at best for teenagers. In other words, this genre has not been considered as appropriate to tackle serious issues, so an adult reading a comics in a Czech train would be certainly scrutinized by fellow passengers with curiosity. This perception of comics has started to change recently when new titles have appeared, such as “Article II.” (by Jiří Šimáček and Ján Lastomírský) on the history of assassination of Reynhard Heydrich, the architect of the “final solution”. To commemorate the 80 th anniversary of this event, I organized an exhibition of selected parts of this comics in the seat of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The popularity of comics or la bande dessinée is, however, different in France, where it is considered on a par with other genres. As such, upon entering a French bookstore, it is hard to miss a rich offer of comics books for adults, including on serious topics like – in this case – Holocaust and legal response to it. With this review, therefore, I hope to improve the reputation of comics among the Czech readers and demonstrate how it can be used to promote international law among those who may not necessarily have legal background. The story presented by Philippe Sands in “Retour à Lemberg” is divided into three main lines on three characters, all of whom are connected through their common Jewish origins and their relationship to Lemberg or Lviv today. The first story line is devoted to the family of Philippe Sands, specifically to his grandfather Leon Buchholz, whose family came both from Lemberg and from a small town called “Zhovkva” in Ukrainian and “Zolkiew” in Polish. Already during the existence of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, he moved with his sister to Vienna, where he finished his education and started his own business. Between the World Wars, he married Rita, who in 1938 gave birth to Ruth, author’s mother. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, all three managed to escape separately to France under dramatic circumstances. Gradually, Philippe Sands uncovers how his mother was smuggled out of the Third Reich with the help of a brave British woman. Leon, Rita and Ruth Buchholz survived the war in occupied France, however, family members remaining in Austria and Galicia became victims of Holocaust. The second line tells the story of Sir Hersch Lauterpacht, famous expert on international law, British member of the International Law Commission and Judge of the International

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