Two Roses

“Through graphic storytelling, Two Roses creates a beautiful and heartbreaking mosaic of memory and testimony. In concert, text and image weave together a story of loss but also of resilience and survival. This is a narrative of both individual and collective trauma that bridges the distance between past and present. Miriam Libicki’s stunning images reanimate those who were so tragically lost to the devastation of history, reminding us of our obligations to memory.” - Victoria Aarons, O.R. & Eva Mitchell Distinguished Professor of Literature, Trinity University “Swearing in Polish, suppressing the familiar Yiddish, and wearing a cross necklace were common strategies for Polish Jews to become ‘invisible’ during the Nazi regime. Two Roses, the story of the survival of Rose Lipszyc and Rose Finkielsztajn, is the first graphic narrative ever to recall it. Drawn in vivid style by Miriam Libicki, Two Roses challenges the taboo of the Polish antisemitism in a blunt and charming way. This book is absolutely one of a kind.” - Kalina Kupczyńska, Assistant Professor of German Media and Austrian Culture, University of Lodz “The graphic narrative Two Roses contains two real-life stories. The first depicts, in hauntingly delicate visual form, the perilous experiences of its eponymous heroines, two Jewish women who survived the Holocaust by passing as non-Jewish Polish forced laborers in Nazi Germany. The second relates the extraordinary process of co-authorship of the graphic narrative as a close collaboration between one of those women, the survivor Rose Lipszyc; the renowned comics artist Miriam Libicki; and an entire research and editorial team dedicated to generating this remarkable text.” - Erin McGlothlin, Gloria M. Goldstein Professor of Holocaust Studies, Washington University in St. Louis “Miriam Libicki bears witness on the page with her most stunning and compassionate work yet, expertly carrying us through horror, faith, and human connection. Two Roses is an essential testament to the transformative, empathetic power of comics.” - Nate Powell, graphic novelist of the March trilogy and Save It for Later “Two Roses is an important book that belongs to an increasingly rare tradition of Holocaust memoirs written directly from the perspective of a living survivor. Libicki’s sumptuous ink and watercolor illustrations are a perfect complement to Lipszyc’s nuanced story of chance, chutzpah and heroism in the face of humanity’s cruelest impulses. Two Roses is accessible to both adult and young readers, ensuring its relevance to future generations of Holocaust learners.” - Ari Richter, author of Never Again Will I Visit Auschwitz: A Graphic Family Memoir of Trauma & Inheritance “Two Roses is a tour de force that breaks new ground in Holocaust re-imagining and retelling. Both the text and drawings in this graphic novel emerge from sustained, meticulous collaboration between the survivor and the artist. Their work was supported by a brilliant team of historians, archivists, interviewers, filmmakers, writers, and photographers. In character, insight, and action, the work resembles a feature film. It deserves to be a blockbuster.” - Henry Hank Greenspan, author of REMNANTS and What Remains: Moments from a Life among Holocaust Survivors