Crises are good times for comics: you can see that in the Erika-Fuchs-Haus, the museum for comics and language arts in Schwarzenbach an der Saale (Hof district). So far, the house, which opened in 2015, has come through the economic crisis well, says museum director Joanna Straczowski. In the meantime, the number of visitors is similar to that before the corona pandemic.
The situation doesn’t harm creativity either, as Straczowski explains: The exhibition “The Best German Comics” runs until April. It is dedicated to the winners of the Max and Moritz Prize, which the city of Erlangen awards annually. The house is also currently showing a traveling exhibition about Erich Ohser (1903-1944). The draftsman became famous under the pseudonym eo plauen with his “Father and Son” picture stories. The retrospective “eoplauen – and his self in comics” explores how Ohser immortalized himself in his comics.
In the summer, the museum exhibits African comics on colonialism. “It’s an interesting change of perspective,” says Straczowski. Africa’s comic scene is organized very digitally. Many works are distributed over the Internet rather than in print, Straczowski said. The winter exhibition revolves around “100 years of Walt Disney”. In October 1923, Walt and Roy Disney founded the “Walt Disney Company” which produced heroes like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
Without them there would be no Erika Fuchs House. Erika Fuchs (1906-2005) became famous as a translator of the Donald Duck comics. She did this with wit, onomatopoeia, quotations and allusions that were not always recognized as such. Words such as “Echz”, “Groan” or “Sigh”, which express human sounds or emotions, passed from the comic translations as “ericative” into general usage. After her marriage in 1932, the native of Rostock moved with her husband to his home town of Schwarzenbach an der Saale. Erika Fuchs stayed in the town until her husband died in 1984 and then moved to Munich. The Erika Fuchs House opened in Schwarzenbach in 2015. The city owes its nickname “Ducktown” to the museum.
The permanent exhibition shows the life and work of Erika Fuchs in seven rooms on 600 square meters and places it in the history of comics. In one room is a recreation of Duckburg, the home of Scrooge and Donald Duck and their nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. The museum also shows changing special exhibitions. According to Straczowski, around 15,000 people from all over the German-speaking world come to the Erika-Fuchs-Haus every year.