Alfonso Zapico, a cartoonist, illustrator, and professor in France, who was honored with the National Comic Award in 2012 for his work Dublinés, recently spoke with 4th-year ESO students at San José Ikastetxea in Basauri. He discussed his comic Café Budapest, a work published in 2008 that maintains its relevance and topicality due to the events it describes, particularly the Arab-Israeli conflict.
This graphic novel tells the story of Yechezkel Damjanich, a young Jewish violinist living with his mother in the desolate Budapest of 1947. One day, he receives a letter from Jerusalem sent by his uncle Yosef. Fleeing destitution, Yechezkel and his mother arrive in Palestine during a tumultuous political period, just before the British withdrawal from the region. Uncle Yosef runs the Café Budapest, a quaint establishment near the Old City, where Jews, Arabs, and Westerners coexist. This venue transforms into a small battlefield, reflecting the chaos and barbarity present throughout Palestine, on the verge of eruption as its status as an English colony ends. This episode led to the creation of the State of Israel and the territorial partition of the Protectorate, marking the beginning of a prolonged conflict between the two peoples.
“"I advocate for comics as a pedagogical tool; comics also teach."
The students listened attentively as the author explained the creative process behind the novel and how the idea originated. Zapico emphasized the extensive research he conducted to accurately set the story, believing it helps readers engage and believe in it. He also advised students interested in graphic works that his process involves first contemplating what he will write, then sketching the narrative in chapters, and finally writing the dialogue before drawing. He underscored that for him, the text is the most important element.
San José Ikastetxea in Basauri has been developing this educational activity for nearly a decade, which involves reading comics and graphic novels adapted to various subjects as a didactic tool to complement their education. This practice greatly impressed Alfonso Zapico, who also revealed that a theatrical adaptation of Café Budapest is planned for 2027.
