“Tele-Pathos” (Feeling From Afar) in Graphic Albums Created During the Holocaust in the Yishuv

Abstract This article explores emotions in two graphic albums created during the Holocaust in Mandatory Palestine by German Jewish refugees: Erich (Eri) Glas's Nights (1942/1945) and Lea Grundig's In the Valley of Slaughter (1944/1947). Despite their considerable differences in form, style, and substance, both albums belong to and address what Barbara Rosenwein calls an “emotional community,” one profoundly impacted by and concerned about the ongoing persecution and extermination of European Jewry. Created during a period of intense collective grief in the Yishuv, when official mourning periods were instituted and public outcry demanded action, these albums challenge scholarly assumptions about silence, knowledge, and representation during the war years. Employing emotional styles (Expressionism), gestures (pathos forms), and topoi (maternal loss), their graphic narratives encourage “tele-pathos”—or feeling from afar—to rouse the emotions of their public and prompt collective action.