The illustration shows a gang of children in Hitler Youth uniforms marching down the street, banging a drum and waving a swastika-emblazoned flag. On the next page, the aftermath of the war can be seen. Children play among the ruins of bombed-out buildings, dejected refugees walk past with suitcases and money changes hands for black market goods.
It sounds like a hard-hitting adult graphic novel about the Third Reich, such as Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Maus." But the work in question, "Die Strasse" ("The Street"), is aimed at children as young as five. The recently published book tells the history of Germany's turbulent last 100 years through the prism of a single street and an apartment building which is home to two families. A series of double-page spreads in the style of the "Where's Waldo?" books shows how the street changes over the decades from 1911 to the present day.
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