Written and Illustrated by Art Spiegelman

Plot Summary

Art Spiegelman, the author and one of the characters in the comic, depicts the survival story of his father, Vladek, who suffered through the Holocaust as a Polish Jew. The action of the comic is divided between war time Poland and the early 1980's in Rego Park, Queens. Art visits his father and conducts a series of interviews about his father's life before the outbreak of World War II, his time spent in the ghettos and hiding from the Nazis. The first book concludes with Vladek and his wife Anja at the gates of Auschwitz. The second book focuses mainly on Vladek's life in the camp, until he was liberated at the conclusion of the war.

Art and Vladek's relationship is another major theme in the comic book. Burdened by guilt due to his easy life in America, Art cannot establish a close relationship with his father. When he was twenty, his mother committed suicide, which pulled the two men further apart. Vladek eventually remarried, however he constantly complains to his son that his new wife is only after his money. Art is frustrated with his father's stubbornness and excessive frugality. The interviews seem to bring the two men closer together. Art spends more time with his father and begins to understand his father's motives for behaving the way he does.

Racial stereotypes are also explored in this work. Jews are depicted as mice, Germans as cats and Poles are pigs. Even though Vladek was the victim of discrimination in Poland, he does not restrain from racism himself. When his daughter in law picks up a hitch-hiker of African decent, Vladek does not spare vulgar comments, written in Polish, translated into English with greater modesty.

Vladek and Anja were married in 1937 and lived in Sosnowiec, Poland. Anja's family was very wealthy and her father helped the couple to open a successful hosiery factory. At the outbreak of the war, Vladek is drafted and becomes a prisoner of war for several months. There is a contrast between the living conditions of Polish and Jewish prisoners. When he returns home, stories of Jewish pogroms in Germany terrorize the people. Anja's aged parents are take away by the Germans, to a “spa” or a sanatorium for the elderly, however one realizes that was not the case. Vladek's family wealth is eventually taken over by the Germans and Vladek and his relatives are forced to live in the ghettos. Vladek's reputation and popularity among the Jewish people allows him to aid his family in the difficult living conditions. Vladek and Anja's little son, Richieu, is sent with a relative to a different ghetto, where the family had more influential friends. However, as the Nazis decide to exterminate that ghetto, Richieu is poisoned by his aunt, along with her other children. Vladek and Anja hide in a bunker with some other friends as the Nazis collect people to be sent to the concentration camps. After everybody leaves, Vladek and Anja escape disguised as Poles, (with pig masks on) and seek a hiding spot with one of the Polish families. They are turned down by their son's former governess, but eventually find a safe place in a bran. Vladek still had jewelry hidden and was able to buy food on the black market. His outgoings were risky and one time a group of children were yelling after him, calling him a Jew. However, Vladek's self control allowed him to convince the parents of those children that in fact he was a Pole, just like them. Things seem to look up when an opportunity comes along to escape Poland. Vladek and some of his friends accept help from a group of Polish men, who promised to get them safely to Hungary. Unfortunately, the men aimed to give the group of Jewish hide-outs to the Nazis. The train made a stop at one of the Polish towns, where Vladek, his wife Anja and their companions get arrested and sent to Auschwitz immediately.

The second book finally glimpses at Vladek's despair, when he admits to be “crying a little” at the beginning of his time in Auschwitz. Luckily, a polish block supervisor foresaw the end of the war and forthcoming of the Allied powers. He wanted to learn English, but in order to do so, he needed someone who could speak both Polish and English. Vladek volunteers and is rewarded with food and exempt from hard work. Later Vladek worked as a tin-man fixing roofs all throughout the camp, and was able to exchange messages and food with Anja. He also made exchanges with the Poles who worked for the camps but were not prisoners. Many of them were poor farmers, able to supply food for little pay. Vladek didn't feel safe working in the tin-shop due to his communist supervisor and eventually became a shoemaker for the Nazi officers. Only towards the end of his time in Auschwitz did Vladek engage in heavy physical work, refereed to as ”Black Work”. It consisted of carrying heavy stones, digging holes and other laboring tasks.

When news of the Allies approaching reached the German Officers in Auschwitz they marched the prisoners to a different camp in Grossen. Later they were transported out of Poland, up to the north. The prisoners who survived up to this point were left out in the field, surrounded by German soldiers. During the night however, the Nazis escaped and left the prisoners to fetch for themselves. Vladek and his friend find a deserted farm and regain strength as the Americans, depicted as friendly dogs, appear. Vladek then takes a long journey back home to Sosnowiec, where he meets Anja. Together they leave for Sweden, where Art was born. Later the family immigrated to the United States.

Little is known, or depicted, of Anja's side of the story. After her death, Vladek burned all of her dairies and notebooks in despair. During their time at Auschwitz they had very limited contact, and Vladek claims not to remember much from their later conversations.

Vladek seems detached from the stories he tells his son. He simply states what happened, instead of how he felt and suffered throughout the experience. As readers, we identify with Art. We can relate to his problems with his father and his life in New York, but we cannot relate to Vladek's life in war-time Poland. The Holocaust seems less of a nightmare depicted as a cartoon, with animals and rodents instead of humans.

Author

Art Spiegelman is best know for his two volume, award winning graphic novel Maus. Throughout his career, Spiegelman aimed to establish comics as a serious medium, equal to fine art. Henry Kurtzman and Mad comics had a great influence on his work. Spiegelman lived in San Francisco in the 1970's and was a part of the Underground Comix, where he experimented with the medium. Upon return to New York, he became an editor to the Raw magazine and taught at the School of Visual Arts. He began to interview his father in hopes of creating a graphic novel at that time as well. In the 1990's he worked for The New Yorker.

After the terrorist attacks of 9-11, Spiegelman started to publish In the Shadow of No Towers in a German newspaper, Die Zeit. In 2004 the work was published as a graphic novel. Currently, Art Spingerman works with his wife on TOON Books, a series of comic books for children.

His influence can be seen in the works of his students, such as Scott McCloud. Spiegelam believes that comics are best express in diagrammatic and iconic matter.

Style

The graphic novel utilizes a simple cartooning style. Black and white rendering of iconic imagery falls on the bottom right corner of Scott McCloud's pyramid. It also allows for a masking effect as described in McCloud's book, where the viewer is able to cast themselves as the main character. Text and imagery are given equal importance throughout the work. As Vladek describes this life story, the panels coincide with what is being said in an additive panel-text relationship. In some cases however, text specific panels dominate. Duo-specific and inter-dependent text-panel relationships can also be ob severed.

Critical Analysis

Depicting different ethnic classes as different animals is a tool well unitized by Spienelman. This allows us to understand the strong antisemitism present at this time in German occupied Europe. It also creates for a less upsetting setting. Cats hunting mice is more acceptable than men hunting men. The simplicity of the illustrations allows the readers to cast themselves as the main character and engage them with the story. Spingemal might have depicted the story from his father's point of view, making him the main character. Instead, the work takes on a more autobiographical approach while at the same time introducing more complex themes. It presents an issue of how we, the next generation is supposed to look at and react to the Holocaust and it's survivors.

Influence of Maus And Its Place In History

Maus is the first comic book to attract scholarly acclaim and win important awards, such as the Pulitzer Prize. Along with the Watchmen and The Dark Night Returns, Maus established the graphic novel, and changed the perception of comics as aimed strictly at children. In 1992 an exposition of making of Maus took place at the Modern Museum of Art, acclaiming comics as fine art in the eyes of the public.