German news asking me about Tennessee school board ban of “Maus”

The German news outlet Die Welt (“The World”) interviewed (and overdubbed) me for this short piece about the Tennessee school board banning of Maus.

I do not remember exactly what I said, nor do I know which portion they excerpted. If your German, like mine, is rusty, the best I can do as far as a translation: I probably repeated something I already wrote here.

My letter to the Tennessee school board that banned “Maus”

News broke on 1/27/22 (International Holocaust Remembrance Day) that the 10-person school board of McMinn County, Tennessee, unanimously banned the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic memoir Maus by Art Spiegelman because it contains “rough language” and nudity that the board considers inappropriate for 8th graders. 

Of course, the book also contains the Holocaust, which calls into question if the reasons the school board have stated are the only reasons. 

In any case, banning books was deplorable when the Nazis did it, and it’s deplorable today. 

I joined the international chorus of individuals and organizations condemning this decision by contacting Lee Parkison, the director of schools, at lparkison@mcminnschools.com, and each of the board members (one by one) via this form.

I didn’t set out to write an open letter, but sharing is caring:

1/27/22

Mr. Parkison and the McMinn County School Board,

“Remember that whenever you’re in a position to help someone, be glad and always do it because that’s the Universe answering someone else’s prayers through you.”

I hope you and your families are well.

I’m a Maryland author of books for young readers. I’ve had the privilege of speaking to kids of all ages/backgrounds in 30+ states (including Tennessee) and a dozen countries.

Therefore, you and I are in the same business: trying to do what’s best for future generations.

But I don’t write to you as a writer. Rather I reach out as a parent, a fellow adult, and a Jew to encourage you to reverse your decision to ban Maus.

No matter where I am, the kids are smarter and more capable than many adults give them credit for. I’m sure you see this in your community.

Maus is a difficult book, yes—which is a reason why it is important.

Hiding unpleasant truths can harm kids more than talk of unpleasantness. Helping them understand those truths equips them for life. If we share only what we consider good, kids will be blindsided when they grow up and realize they were not taught how to handle the bad.

I know you banned this book not because it addresses genocide but because it includes objectionable language and an image of nudity.

We all know that every middle schooler in your district—in every district, throughout history—has already seen nudity and heard curse words. So did we, when we were young. We carried on.

But some middle schoolers may not be aware of the devastating scope of the Holocaust, and may not pay attention if it’s covered in class, and may never hear a word of it at home…but may pick up a graphic novel about it.

If we banned every book that offended someone, we’d ban every book. Like everything in life, America is imperfect, yet despite its problems, it remains a place where freedom of expression is a right. Live and let live.

Read and let read.

Future leaders in your community need this book. Please give them access to it.

Thank you for your time.

P.S. Did you agree with that quotation at the top? It’s from a 1/16/22 Facebook post by Donna Casteel. 

(Donna Casteel is one of the school board members.)

Believe it or not, that is me trying to keep it short.

It seems (as of 2010) that no Jews live in McMinn County (h/t Gregory Paul Silber at The Beat).

All the more reason to reinstate this book.

Superman vs. Hitler

One curious piece of Superman lore exists not among the panels but in real life. Numerous books and essays written about Superman perpetuate the claim that Superman comics were banned in Nazi Germany—in some versions, by Adolf Hitler himself.

In my earliest drafts of the Author's Note for Boys of Steel, I did my part to continue the perpetuation, trusting that the story must be true if such well-regarded sources as Gerard Jones's Men of Tomorrow referenced it (page 162).

Yet when I checked the Notes on Sources section of Men of Tomorrow, I saw that Gerry did not cite where he got the story. So I asked him. (It was not the first verification question I'd lobbed to Gerry, and he was the definition of graciousness each time.) He said Hitler banning Superman was a Siegel family story for which he had no further authentication.

Another great man I've had the honor of getting to know through my research was another Gerry, this one a Jerry: comics legend Jerry Robinson. In his essay "The Ultimate Fantasy," published in the catalogue for the Golden Age of Comic Books exhibit that originated at the Breman Jewish Heritage Museum of Atlanta, he writes, "Hitler pronounced Superman to be a 'Jew' and banned him from Germany." So I asked Jerry. He, too, had no source for the story, going on memory and accepting on faith.

My fact barometer begin to sputter and smoke. It banned me from using the banning anecdote unless I found mention of it in a non-comics-related book. I checked more than a few respected WWII histories, particularly ones focusing on propaganda, but none mentioned Superman. So I e-mailed a gaggle of professors with special knowledge of Nazi Germany from universities including Dartmouth and Princeton, plus a couple in Germany, plus a rabbi/writer/comic book historian. Not a one knew of evidence for it.

Finally I was directed to a writer/translator named Dwight Decker. Recounting the impressive show of research he did for an article for Amazing Heroes and then Alter Ego, he convinced me that the story is most likely untrue. One point especially stood out: "A Dutch researcher in the '80s went through collections of wartime Reichstag speeches and did not find anyone referring to Superman."

Of course, that doesn't imply that the researcher went through every speech. And perhaps Hitler was not in the Reichstag when he allegedly enacted the ban. But when added to the lack of proof I already dug up, it only suggests even more strongly that the event never happened.

Yes, Superman's creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were Jewish. 

Yes, Superman's Kryptonian name is Kal-El, which if interpreted as Hebrew can mean "all that God is." 

Yes, for the 2/27/1940 issue of Look magazine, Jerry and Joe created a two-page comic strip "How Superman Would End the War" (in which Superman captures Hitler and Stalin and delivers them to the League of Nations for justice).

Yes, a 4/25/1940 piece in a Nazi newspaper called Das schwarze Korps (possibly in response to Look) did ridicule Jerry for being Jewish. 

Yes, the 6/29/1940 issue of the The New Yorker ran a short piece (pages 64-66) marveling that such a new character could rankle the Nazis. 

Yes, a 4/9/1965 Time article says that Goebbels once wrote, "This Superman is a Jew!" (The source was not stated, but Goebbels did keep copious journals.) 

Yes, the Nazi Party did ban material from outside Germany.

But amidst a worldwide war, did Hitler himself stop and specifically single out a comic book hero as off-limits?

Unless a primary source document turns up stating that, I'm sticking with nein.

9/5/14 addendum: Trivial Pursuit is not helping.

6/5/24 update: I modified the post to include mentions of Look and The New Yorker.