Dr Rafael Medoff On Cartoonists Against The Holocaust Cancellation

Posted in: Comics, Dark Horse Comics | Tagged: Craig Yoe, Rafael Medoff

Dr Rafael Medoff On Cartoonists Against The Holocaust Cancellation

Dr Rafael Medoff on the cancellation of the Cartoonists Against The Holocaust book from Dark Horse Comics

Published Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:20:09 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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In 2015, Clizia published the book Cartoonists Against The Holocaust by Dr Rafael Medoff and Craig Yoe. You can still buy it and read it here. But not from Dark Horse Comics.

Last week, the New York Post reported that Dr Rafael Medoff, NYP opinion columnist and founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, claims that Dark Horse Comics refused to publish a recent edition of the book after he refused Yoe Books imprint editor Craig Yoe's "insistence that the introduction include criticisms of Israel for committing "war crimes" in Gaza and the Trump-led US for creating "concentration-style prisons" for migrants." And that "he refused to publish what he believed were falsehoods editor Craig Yoe wanted to put in the book contracted to be published by Dark Horse." Previously, Dark Horse had published Medoff and Yoe's Whistleblowers and Cartoonists Against Racism without issue.

It quotes messages from Craig Yoe wanting to add a note to the new edition, saying to Medoff that President Trump was "attempting to create concentration camp-style prisons, is sending American residents to gulag-type prisons in other countries without constitutionally guaranteed trials… At the same time, a country populated by an ethnic religious group who were immorally and horrifically tortured and killed in the Holocaust for their ethnicity is led by a prime minister that the world's top war crimes court has issued warrants for his alleged acts of war crimes and crimes against humanity." Medoff objected, saying these were "factually inaccurate" and would politicise the book.

Rafael Medoff is quoted as saying in response. "There are no concentration camps in America, and it's not a Nazi country… Misusing the term 'concentration camps' diminishes the suffering that was experienced by the Jewish victims of the real concentration camps in the 1930s-1940s". And that "accusing Israel of genocide is a lie, and requiring a Holocaust scholar to denounce Israel to see his book published is antisemitic bullying."

Rafael Medoff told Jewish News that "Dark Horse accepted Cartoonists Against the Holocaust for publication, sent me a contract, and scheduled it for release in the summer of 2026. The designer completed the layout, the book was ready to enter the production process, and then the editor suddenly began making outrageous political demands. Denouncing Israel became the prerequisite to publishing my book."

Craig Yoe told the New York Post that "there are a number of errors" in Rafael Medoff's account, but didn't elucidate any further. And Dark Horse did not comment. The New York Post also states that since this incident, Craig Yoe is no longer working with Dark Horse. They cite Philip Simon, legal counsel for Dark Horse, confirming that they cancelled the book. He told Carly Gammill, legal director of StandWithUs, by email that "Craig Yoe, of Yoe Books, failed to make our planned schedule for this book as the project's packager, so Dark Horse stepped away from it and decided not to publish it last year. Dark Horse does not plan to publish Cartoonists Against the Holocaust . . . it was a decision based on our company's financial needs and some scheduling issues that had delayed the project too much already."

Rafael Medoff told the Jewish News in response, "the only 'scheduling' problem was the one caused by the Dark Horse editor refusing to proceed because I would not obey his political demands to alter the book. As for financial issues – that is, sales expectations – Dark Horse obviously thought it would sell well enough when they accepted it for publication last year. Nothing happened between then and now that would have affected sales. On the contrary – I guaranteed a large advance order, multiple Jewish organisations offered to help promote the book, my Institute offered to underwrite some of the advertising, and more than a dozen Holocaust studies professors expressed their serious interest in using the book in their classrooms." This is how the book was described when first published in 2015;

Cartoonists Against The Holocaust by Rafael Medoff, Craig Yoe
During the dark days of the Holocaust, a small number of American political cartoonists used their art to cry out against injustice—and to try to inspire the public to demand the rescue of Hitler's victims. "Cartoonists Against the Holocaust" brings back 150 of these amazing cartoons, together with scores of compelling period photographs that place the cartoons in context. We can see the Nazi genocide and the world's response as they unfold, through the eyes of some of America's most famous cartoonists, including the beloved Dr. Seuss, the "Washington Post's" "Herblock," and many others including numerous Pulitzer Prize winners. "Cartoonists Against the Holocaust" is a unique way to learn about the Holocaust—and a journey back in time to an era that we dare not forget. Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies in Washington, D.C., and author of 15 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust. Craig Yoe is an Eisner Award-winner and a noted historian of cartoons and comics. Yoe has called the "genre's master archeologist" by "USA Today." He has edited nearly 100 books in the field.

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