This all happened to a kid. Of all the takeaways from the late Estelle Nadel’s incredible story in “The Girl Who Sang,” that’s the one that still lingers hardest. This incredible tale of survival and bravery in the face of overwhelming evil happened to a literal child. Nadel has told her story at universities and on film, but seeing it rendered so beautifully drives home not just the horrors of The Holocaust, but the absolute heroism of both the survivors and the good people who aided them. And reading it from the perspective of someone who was so young when it happened reinforces this.
Written by Estelle Nadel, Sammy Savos, and Bethany StoutCover by Sammy Savos
Art by Sammy SavosThe true story of Estelle Nadel, then known as Enia Feld, as she is forced into hiding as the Nazis invade Poland. “Girl Who Sang” details her escape from Jedlicze jail, her making her way to America, and ultimately finding her voice after years of silence.
In the opening pages, we’re introduced to young Enia Feld. She wouldn’t go by Estelle until she made it to the states and Nadel was a married name. Enia is the youngest of five children, growing up in Borek, Poland. A prologue shows us her at nine years old, hiding in the attic of a humble farm out, wondering if she will ever be free. The first chapter begins and we’re shown Enia, five years younger, singing her heart out as she runs through a Miyazaki-esque landscape (more on the art later). We’re shown her life before the Nazis came through. She helps her family with the cooking and goes to synagogue with her brothers, even if she has to wait outside the sanctuary. And we are again shown that she loves to singing. Growing impatient while her male family members worship without her, she bursts into song as they exit, just top let them know she’s been waiting. But even as we establish her happy childhood, we are getting glimpses of the coming Nazis.
Her brothers complain about antisemitic attacks from their peers. The adults discuss Hitler entering Czechoslovakia. When the Third Reich invades Poland, we see Enia learning she has to wear gold every time she has to go out. Before too long, Enia and her family are in hiding, residing in an attic of Christian neighbor. From there, she loses both her parents, gets discovered, and somehow manages to survive and make it to America. The story dramatizes many of the incredible moments from Nadel’s life. The most notable is her and her brother escaping Jedlicze jail by squeezing through the bars of their jail cell. But the touchpoint for the story is her love of singing. Singing was her passion before the war. Singing is taken away from her when she goes into hiding, And when she makes it to the displaced persons camp in Austria, her singing is what gets her noticed by the soldier who brings her to America. Would grow up to be an accomplished singer, performing at temples across Southern California. Reading this book, you understand just how important music is to her.
Nadel wouldn’t speak about her experiences publicly until she was in her 40s, only doing so at the urging of her daughter-in-law, former University of Colorado Boulder educator Hester Nadel. Reading this book, it’s hard not to be thankful she did. It’s easy to think of historical atrocities as dry statistics and History Channel anecdotes. And the further we get away from World War II, the fewer survivors there are to give us the human perspective. One of the greatest accomplishments of “Girl Who Sang” is capturing that perspective. Not just through the art, but through the moments it highlights. It’s striking how not only are the Nazis cruel, they’re just petty. Between burning down Jewish homes and businesses, they cut old men’s beards and steal families’ groceries. Teenagers roam the streets at night looking for Jews to turn in. And even after Hitler is beaten, the hatred does not vanish. The surviving Felds run to Austria because Jews are still being murdered in the streets, well after the war ends. It’s an often harsh but absolutely honest telling.
Continued belowBut at least this story ends with hope. For every neighbor who turned her in, there was a neighbor willing to hide them. When the brother who was her rock through the worst of times can’t raise her, a kind foster family takes her in. And true to the text, even after with her new name, Enia never stopped singing.
I can’t talk about this book without mentioning the stunning art from Sammy Savos. . While this is her graphic novel debut, Savos comes with a resume that includes storyboarding for Cartoon Network and Titmouse. And her considerable skill shines on every page. The character designs and general aesthetic are cartoony, more akin to a child’s picture book than a graphic novel. There’s an innocence to the art that highlights the innocence of childhood, making the horror of Hitler all the more jarring. Seeing the Nazis arrest Enia’s mother feels all the more brutal on a visceral level when her mamchu looks like she belongs in a Kindergarten storybook. When the Russians arrive and bombs rattle the humble farmhouse they hide in, it feels larger than this world was prepared to handle. It’s hard not to feel like a child thrust into the middle of history. It certainly helps that Savos knows how to frame a panel. The Felds watching the attic room splinter in the bombing run, looking up in horror as rainwater pours through, is easily the most thrilling moment I’ve seen from a comic so far this year (early in it as we are).
Overall, “Girl Who Sang” is a deceptively difficult read that ultimately concludes on an uplifting note. You put the book down not only with an understanding of the darkest moments in recent history, but the bravery that ultimately triumphed over almost existential darkness.
“The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival” is available from Roaring Brook Press. You can read our obituary for Estelle Nadel here.
