Lukas Ruegenberg (1928–2026)

The third picture book about Edith Stein presented here was published before the others and raises the most questions. The story of the Jewish woman who converted to the Catholic faith and was murdered in Auschwitz is told as part of a Christian education. The following scene is described in words and pictures in which Edith prays: “(…) 'Dear Jesus, my Jewish brothers and sister are doing badly. I want to help them and carry their cross with you. Show me what I should do.' Jesus says: show more 'Edith, come and walk by my hand!' Then Edith understands that she should enter the Carmelite monastery." The end of the selection in Birkenau is particularly problematic: "' Get in the shower!' one of the guards shouts loudly." But Edith stays calm and waits for the big, never-ending celebration with Jesus, as it is written in the picture book. A red-yellow ball rises above the entrance to the ramp, which visually represents this content. What ideas about the Holocaust develop in children for whom this book is recommended from the age of 4 (!)? What interpretations are offered here for the mass murder of European Jews? Auschwitz is recontextualized here as a Christian symbol. Parallels can be discovered, among other things, in the main camp with the practiced veneration of saints (Maximilian Kolbe). Here a religious meaning is interpreted into the genocide policy, which prevents rather than promotes historical-political learning. Precisely because political and moral attitudes are developed in preschool and primary school age, the use of this picture book in school and at home should be rejected. The well-known deportation picture can also be found on the double page in Edith Stein. Ruegenberg's illustrations create visual connections between the three stories presented. But this decontextualizes them. Grunewald train station, the Warsaw Ghetto and the Westerbork camp in Holland become one place, without the diverse differentiations being able to stimulate thought. Children can think in much more complex ways than is offered to them here. show less