{"id":179978,"date":"2025-08-26T11:37:56","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T08:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/?p=179978"},"modified":"2025-08-26T12:15:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T09:15:20","slug":"michel_kichka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blognli2026.moonsite.co.il\/en\/michel_kichka\/","title":{"rendered":"Michel Kichka Illustrates Our World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201c\u2018Kichka\u2019 doesn\u2019t come from the word ‘kishkush<\/em>‘ although some people think that because of my drawings,\u201d explains cartoonist, caricaturist, and illustrator Michel Kichka at the beginning of our interview, referring to a word in Hebrew that can mean both ‘doodle’ and ‘nonsense’. We spoke during a warm and often funny phone conversation ahead of the screening of Kichka: Telling Myself<\/em> at the recent Docutext Documentary Film Festival at the National Library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kichka, who celebrated his 71st birthday on August 15, proves to be, unsurprisingly, a humorous, honest, and friendly conversationalist. He is a devoted family man, a passionate Zionist, and a committed humanist who never stops learning and evolving. As he speaks, the stories flow easily, one leading into the next, and by the end of the conversation it\u2019s clear: Michel Kichka\u2019s artistic work is deeply and inseparably linked to the person he is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There aren\u2019t many people in Israel with the last name “Kichka,” if any at all. \u201cMy father was the only Holocaust survivor in his family, and he was very proud of that name. He wanted the family line to continue. He was thrilled when I was born, his first son, because he knew our name would live on,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI had three sons, and with each one he felt like he was defeating the Nazis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This optimistic story is grounded in a more difficult reality. Both of Kichka\u2019s parents were Holocaust survivors who wanted a family but struggled with the day-to-day demands of raising children. Michel and his three siblings were sent to live in boarding schools.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Kichka
The Kichka family in Belgium, 1962. From a family photo album.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Did he always know he would become an artist? I asked. \u201cAlready in first grade, when they asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said I wanted to draw. I didn\u2019t even really understand what that meant.\u201d He adds, \u201cAs I got older, I had the sense that my father would have liked to be an artist, but it wasn\u2019t a practical choice. He was always focused on survival. Only when he retired did he finally have time for it. I always felt like I was fulfilling that dream for him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kichka began living that dream already in his youth. Growing up in Belgium, where the capital Brussels is often considered the mecca of the comic world, Michel quickly fell in love with graphic novels and comic books. \u201cAcross from our house was a used bookshop where I could buy secondhand comic books. That was all I could afford with the small allowance I got. At the train station I used to travel through to boarding school, they sold little comic booklets too. I would buy those and trade them with kids at the school, so I could read more.\u201d In high school, he published his own comic strips, although he never formally studied illustration.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Kichka
The Kichka children, 1964. From a family photo album.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

At 15, he fell in love, not with a Belgian girl, but with a young country: Israel. In his hometown near Li\u00e8ge there weren\u2019t many Jews. His parents were secular, and there was only one Jewish youth movement in the city: Hashomer Hatzair. At 15, as was customary for members of the movement, Kichka traveled to Israel to take part in a summer camp along with a group of companions. He volunteered on a kibbutz for six weeks. It was the summer of 1969. Israel was still riding high after the Six-Day War, and the sharp contrast between his gray, rainy, industrial hometown and the sun, sand, and freedom of Israel captivated young Kichka. Even then, he knew he wanted to live here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Israel, he also stumbled upon a Tel Aviv kiosk selling issues of MAD Magazine<\/em>, which became the second major influence on his artistic style, alongside the Belgian comic tradition of Tintin and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 19, already studying architecture in Belgium, he made a life-changing decision. His older sister had moved to Israel and joined a kibbutz. During a visit to see her, he heard about Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem and decided to apply. In a seven-page letter (which he still keeps), he explained his idealistic decision to his disappointed parents. \u201cThe Yom Kippur War broke out, and I felt that this was the time to come – the country was in crisis, and I wanted to help build the place and to make something of myself. Not as a slogan, but truly. And that\u2019s what happened. In Israel I met my wife, Olivia. I built my career. I became Israeli. I knew I was coming here to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young Kichka decided to leave architecture behind and pursue illustration and comics. But he hadn\u2019t realized that he\u2019d have to actually be accepted to Bezalel. He arrived with his beginner’s Hebrew – fresh from ulpan<\/em> (Hebrew school) – and a portfolio filled with comic sketches. Still, he was admitted. Since Bezalel had no dedicated tracks for illustration or comics at the time, he enrolled in the graphic design program. \u201cPeople in Israel had a lot of prejudice toward comics. They thought it was lightweight entertainment for the masses, lowbrow culture mostly for kids. There was hardly any comics scene in Israel – just Dudu Geva and Uri Fink\u2019s Zbeng<\/em>, maybe tucked in the back of the newspaper, if that. But I didn\u2019t care. I knew I would make comics. I couldn\u2019t not do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eighteen years later, in 1992, Bezalel asked him to open a course on comic illustration. He taught it until his retirement in 2024, nurturing a new generation of top Israeli graphic storytellers, including members of his very first class: Yirmi Pinkus and Rutu Modan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond teaching, and creating comics and editorial cartoons, Kichka has illustrated dozens of books for children, teens, and adults – including works by some of Israel\u2019s greatest writers: Uri Orlev, Ramona Dinur, David Grossman, Nira Harel, and A.B. Yehoshua. One of the last books he illustrated was The Tooth That Had a Wobbly Kid<\/em> by Meir Shalev, with whom he worked just before Shalev\u2019s passing. \u201cWorking with him wasn\u2019t always easy, but it was a fascinating experience,\u201d Kichka says. \u201cHe knew exactly what he wanted. He had a clear vision. After I illustrated The Tooth That Had a Wobbly Kid<\/em><\/a>, he wanted to work with me again, and while we were working together on Karate Boy<\/em><\/a> I realized he was very sick. It was sad and moving. He managed to approve the final drafts, but passed away before the book came out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Shalev
The Tooth That Had a Wobbly Kid<\/em>, by Meir Shalev (Hebrew), illustrated by Michel Kichka<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Kichka lives, thinks, dreams, and creates in two languages. In his early years in Israel, all he cared about was becoming Israeli, along with his French partner, Olivia. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know anything. At our eldest son\u2019s Hanukkah party in kindergarten, we didn\u2019t recognize a single song. We learned everything together with the kids. In [Europe], they don\u2019t celebrate all the holidays they celebrate here, and certainly not in the same way.\u201d But he never erased his past, his memories, or his mother tongue: \u201cBeing bicultural is an enormous privilege! I know there was once a tendency in Israel to reject anything seen as Diaspora-related. Maybe I was lucky I didn\u2019t end up in a kibbutz like my older sister – I\u2019m not sure they would have let me speak French with my kids there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life in Israel may have seemed peaceful for Kichka and his new family, but the family secrets that had surrounded him since childhood were always there in the background. His world shattered when his beloved younger brother, Charly, took his own life. Michel was 34 at the time. \u201cI felt like a part of me died with my brother. I raised him, I was the protective older brother, the one who supported him. My parents weren\u2019t really there for him – I say that as a fact, not out of blame. Then, during the shiva<\/em> [week-long Jewish mourning period], my father started talking about himself – about what he\u2019d gone through during the Holocaust. But I just couldn\u2019t hear it. I was furious with him for choosing the shiva<\/em> as the occasion to share that story, and I was broken.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Kichka
Michel and Charly Kichka as children. Paris, 1966. From the family album.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

For years, Kichka carried within him the seeds of a major, deeply personal work – a way to process the rupture within his family. He found inspiration in Maus: A Survivor\u2019s Tale<\/em>, the acclaimed graphic novel by Art Spiegelman, which opened the door for comics to be recognized as a literary form not just for children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea had been with him for years, simmering inside of him, but he couldn\u2019t seem to bring it to life. Eventually, it was his wife Olivia who gave him the push he needed: \u201cYou have to decide,\u201d she told him. \u201cEither you do it, or you stop saying you\u2019re going to do it.\u201d That was the jolt he needed. \u201cI knew for sure,\u201d he says, \u201cthat if I didn\u2019t do it, I\u2019d spend the rest of my life regretting it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process of creating Second Generation: The Things I Didn’t Tell My Father<\/em> changed his life: \u201cFor the first time in my life, I was the one writing. It was the most incredible period I\u2019ve ever experienced. I discovered the joy of writing. I realized I remembered far more than I thought. It was like one memory would call forth another – like a muscle growing stronger. I worked like a man possessed, 18 hours a day for a year and a half. I just couldn\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The graphic novel Second Generation: The Things I Didn’t Tell My Father<\/em> was published in 2012, first in French for European audiences, and later in Hebrew. It was translated into several languages. In France, it was adapted into an animated children\u2019s film titled My Father’s Secrets<\/em>, which was released in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8
Cover of the Hebrew edition of Second Generation: The Things I Didn’t Tell My Father<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"2g152\"
“If anything, I’d want to go to Buchenwald. The last camp he was at, following the death march. The camp where his father died. The camp he was liberated from. But to there he was not able to return!” –<\/em> A page from the Hebrew edition of Second Generation: The Things I Didn’t Tell My Father.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThe book – and the film that came out of it in France – turned me into something new: a speaker. I now travel with it, sharing the story with all kinds of audiences: at Yad Vashem, with IDF officers, in libraries across Israel, and abroad. It\u2019s amazing to hear people\u2019s reactions, to see how they connect – even those who have no personal link to the Holocaust. Everyone knows what it\u2019s like to carry family secrets and tragedies. The courage to put everything on the page truly healed us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Charly
Michel and Charly in the animated film My Father’s Secrets<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The book also helped repair Kichka\u2019s complicated relationship with his father: \u201cWhen he saw the book, he was in shock. This was a topic we had never spoken about directly – my brother\u2019s suicide. Even after the book was published. That\u2019s how it is in our family. We\u2019re not used to exposing things. I went far with it and put all my pain and criticism of him in the book,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI carried criticism towards my parents with me for years. But on the other hand, they were survivors who had suffered so much, and all we wanted, all the members of my generation, was to make them happy and meet their expectations. In the end, the fact that I was able to put it all down on paper, without intending to hurt or blame anyone, just to have it out there, to have it said – that was a big deal. The book helped us all heal.”<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\u05de\u05e9\u05e4\u05d7\u05ea
The Kichka family on the streets of Brussels, 1939, before the war broke out. Michel stands on the right with his parents and two sisters. Except for his father, the entire family perished in the Holocaust.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

After the events of October 7, Kichka knew he had to respond. \u201cI joined Uri Fink\u2019s initiative to create a comic book titled At the Heart of October 7<\/em>, which tells 12 stories of civilian heroism from that day. The different stories were assigned to comic artists by lottery, and I had the privilege of meeting Youssef Alziadna, a Bedouin bus driver who rescued young people from the Nova party. I illustrated his heroism, and part of our moving encounter made it into the film as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kichka continues to create even now. \u201cMy next project is a work about the genocide that occurred in Rwanda. I was commissioned to create a book – a graphic novel – about one of the genocide survivors. I have a deep sensitivity to human suffering and to what hatred can bring about. That\u2019s a guiding principle for me, and that\u2019s why this is a project I care deeply about. I was invited to Rwanda in 2020 to speak about my work. They learned a lot from us about different ways to commemorate such a painful event for an entire people. There\u2019s a lot of activity and creativity happening there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film Kichka: Telling Myself<\/em>, directed by Gad Aisen, follows Kichka through his journey as a creator who spent years illustrating the stories of others, until he finally dared to tell his own most personal and complex story. His book Second Generation: Things I Never Told My Father<\/em> is a moving personal account and a family story that has come full circle, one that has touched many hearts around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kichka saw this deeply personal and revealing film for the first time only after it was completed, during a festive screening in front of a large audience – “I had no idea what Gadi, the director, was doing. He filmed me for dozens of hours over four years. I didn\u2019t know what would come out of it. Honestly, at the start, I didn\u2019t fully understand what I was getting into.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The talented comic artist allowed the seasoned documentary filmmaker to enter his life and closely accompany him. The film intimately reveals the process of creation, when the illustrator also becomes the writer, and leaves every viewer with a deeper understanding of the meaning of life, and of our ability, with devotion and effort, to heal what was broken in generations past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Great talent, optimism, sensitivity, compassion, and a deep love for this country, which he had longed to reach since childhood, all come together in Michel Kichka, making him one of Israel\u2019s greatest graphic artists. 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