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Jack Kirby's Family Address President Zelenskyy Of Ukraine

Jack Kirby's family address President Zelenskyy of Ukraine in his memory

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 15:57:08 -0600

Article Summary

Jack Kirby's family shares heartfelt message to President Zelenskyy, showing support for Ukraine.
Granddaughter Jillian Kirby expresses pride in Kirby's Ukrainian roots and critiques US leadership.
Jack Kirby, co-creator of iconic characters, was born Jacob Kurtzberg in 1917 Manhattan.
Kirby's family's history linked to Austro-Hungarian Galicia and Russian Jewish immigration.

Jillian Kirby, daughter of Neal Kirby and granddaughter of Jack Kirby, has sent the following to Bleeding Cool on behalf of her mother, who with her father, sent it to President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. She writes;

"Sir, you are supported by many Americans. You are owed an apology by the Vice President and President for their disgraceful behavior. My father in law, Jack Kirby, was the co-creator of Captain America. I am sure he would be appalled by our President and Vice President. My husband and I send our best wishes to you and the valiant Ukrainians. Jack Kirby has lineage to Ukraine as well, and we hold that with pride in our hearts because of all Ukrainians and your courage and grace!"

Jack Kirby, creator and co-creator of Captain America, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, The Avengers, X-Men, Eternals, New Gods, Doctor Strange, Darkseid, and so much more, was born Jacob Kurtzberg on the 28th of August, 1917, at 147 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City when he grew up. His parents, Rose Bernstein and Benjamin Kurtzberg, were Austrian-Jewish immigrants, and his father earned a living as a garment factory worker.

Jack Kirby's Family Address President Zelenskyy of Ukraine — Tom Scoli's Jack Kirby biography

The Kirby Museum reports that Jack Kirby's father's family were from a section of Austria-Hungary known as Galicia, which had Ukrainian-inhabited Eastern parts. Beginning in the 1880s, mass emigration of the Galician populace occurred due to economic issues and growing animosity towards the Jewish population. Poles, Ukrainians, Jews, and Germans all participated in this mass movement of countryfolk and villagers, many to the USA. A total of several hundred thousand people were involved in this Great Economic Emigration, which grew steadily and became more intense until the outbreak of the First World War. His mother's family had come to America from Russia a few years earlier, possibly to escape the great Kishinev pogroms against Jewish populations of the very early twentieth century.

Famously, Captain America, created by Joe Simon, with Captain America taking down Adolf Hitler, was published before the USA entered the Second World War and at a time when isolationism was the popular policy. And if the US was to have entered the war, it wasn't entirely sure which side it would enter on. Which caused Jack Kirby considerable problems working on such a comic book.

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