Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” Is Being Removed From Russian Bookstores

Agence France-Presse

 on Apr 28, 2015 

Russian stores pull Holocaust graphic novel ahead of WWII anniversary

Russian bookstores were hastily removing an award-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust from their shelves on Monday, reportedly because its cover shows a Nazi swastika.

"Maus", by American artist and author Art Spiegelman won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 and was was published in Russian in 2013.

But Varvara Gornostayeva, the chief editor at the book's publisher Corpus, said major bookstore chains were taking it off their shelves and Internet sites.

A reporter for Echo of Moscow radio, Darya Peshchikova, toured bookstores and said staff were expecting raids by the authorities ahead of May 9, when Russia marks 70 years since Soviet victory over Nazi forces in World War II.

"They are waiting for checks and decided to clean up their shelves," Peshchikova wrote on Twitter. "The reason is the swastika, employees say."

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