Perspolis, Iran, Maus, and the Holocaust

Back on April 2nd, I attended a presentation and book signing for Marjane Satrapi, author of the graphic novel and movie "Persepolis". She spoke at the McLean Virginia Community Center and drew a full-house crowd of about 400. I had recently seen the movie and was very moved by it. It is the story of a young girl in Iran growing up around the time of the Islamic Revolution (1979), her family and people. It spans about 10 years or so in her life, much of it during the Iran-Iraq war.

There are a lot of areas of discussion that I am sure have already been covered, but at this presentation I learned a couple of new things.

First, Marjane discussed her inspiration for using the graphic novel (or "cartoon", the term she prefers) form. It comes from Art Spiegelman's book "Maus", which is a heart-wrenching story of the Holocaust.

Given all of the negative words that have been eminating from the current leadership in Iran, especially their denial of the Holocaust, it was wonderfully refreshing to find out that at least this person had not entered that terrible camp. From what I've heard from other Iranians in the U.S, this is also true of most of their population.

(Furthermore, there is a moving scene in the book where she sadly learns that her next-door neighbor in Tehran, a Jewish family, ends up being killed by Saddam's bombs during the war with Iraq. And let's keep in mind who was supporting Saddam - the United States.)

I asked her a question during the Q&A about the Iranian people's attitude towards Israel. I may not have worded it too well, as she began her answer speaking about "anti-semitism" - how it was really a "European" phenomenon, and how the Jewish people have lived in Iran for over 1000 years and have been treated with great respect (facts are, though, that many have left since 1979). But at the end, she stated that the people of Iran have no issue with Israel's existence, but feels very strongly that Israel does have some human rights issues. The last part of her response made me feel somewhat uncomfortable, but I was at least satisfied that it was not as bad as what the press says, and we could respectfully disagree and hopefully have some dialogue.

The picture is of Ms. Satrapi just before she signed my copy of her book. It was well-worth attending! (I immediately bought "Maus" afterwards).

Thank you for reading