July 4, 2014
Author: Vladek Art Spiegelman
Genre: Non-Fiction
Grabber: “If you lock them in a room with no food for a
week…Then you could see what it is, friends!”
Printed: Random House
Places: Germany: Gross-Rosen. Poland: Reich: Lodz, Chelmno, Warsaw, Treblinka, Sobibor,
Majdanek, Belzec, Czestochowa, Zawierci, Sosnowiec, Krakow, Auschwitz, And
Bielsko.
Main Characters:
·
Vladeck: Main character, POW and Jew.
·
Anja: Vladeck’s first wife.
·
Mala: Vladeck’s second wife has millions of problems.
·
Art: The author, Vladeck’s son.
Bad Guys:
·
Germans: Guards, Soldiers, everyone who killed Jews.
Minor Characters:
·
I will just say them, there are just too many.
Main story:
Maus is the story of the holocaust, but they aren’t humans,
they are animals instead:
·
Jew---Mouse
·
German---Cat
·
American---Dog
·
Frenchmen---Frog
·
Finland--- Fish
·
Pole---Pig
The above is a guide, that’s what they are.
It starts way after the war, when Art skins his knee skating
with his ‘friends’ and goes home to his dad. His dad, wondering why he is
crying, asks him why he is. After hearing the answer he says: “Friends? Your
Friends?...If you lock them in a room with no food for a week…Then you could
see what it is, friends!” After a group of years (9 to 41 is how old Art is
now) he goes to his dad to ask a question: “Can I do that book about your life
in Poland and the war?” “It would take many books, my life, and no one wants to
hear such stories, but, if you want…”
“I was, at that time, young, and really a nice, handsome of
me, boy. I had lots of girls I didn’t even know who would run after me. They
always would, but most I didn't even see.
One, Lucia, I took to a dance, and from there, well, we grew."
"But Dad, mom's name was Anja!” “This was before that. See how you get me
messed up? Anyway. This was my first long range affair, until I had to go to my
family for the holiday, it was 35-40 mile trip on train. There I was met by my
cousin, who told me about her friend, Anja. They made the mistake of speaking
English in front of me, which they didn’t know I knew English. I fell in love
with her.” “But dad, what about Lucia?” “Her? She almost destroyed the
relationship, and all by a letter, sending some of the most horrible things
about me. But I convinced her that they weren’t true, and we were happy, until
the honeymoon.”
“The Honeymoon was okay until we hit one of those cities
that were full with people chasing Jews and putting up German signs. God, the
things that the passengers said when we left.
“My cousin had to quit his job. “They killed my brother and his wife.”
“They made Jews life so miserable.” Boy, everyone hated the Germans until one
said “Just hope they don’t start a war!” One of Anja’s ‘boy friends’ who even
kept seeing her after the marriage, wasn’t a boy friend at all! He brought
messages, and Anja turned them into German messages. She went to her
seamstress, and told her to hide it. She did, and only she got arrested, and
then Anja’s father payed the bail, then gave her even more (He was a rich
person.) And he gave me enough to start a factory. Richieu, our son, was
healthy, though pre-mature, but Anja, why, she was hysteric, and we had to go
to a sanitarium. When we got back, the factory was robbed, and while in a riot
too.”
“Everyone was yelling ‘Jews out! Jews out!’ it was quite a
commotion. We were thinking of running back, but we stayed. A mistake. The Jewish police began to begin
sending people to Austwich, where we knew of the gas tanks. “Jewish Police?”“Yes, ones with big
sticks. They thought that if they could send a few, the Germans would give up.
They, unfortunately, didn’t, and took more and more. We made a bunker for
Anja’s parents.” “Bunker? How did you make a bunker?” “In our tool shed, we put
up a false wall, and put them inside.” “Ahh, ok.”
“We go caught soon, though, and had to go to the German
camp. The parents, they were sent to Austwich, and died. I was strong, so the
rest of us were sent to the camp to work, and there I went from teaching some
of the guards English and Polish, to being a tin man, to-” “Tin Man?” “That
what they called the tin workers, and I was a good one. Then I began fixing
shoes. After a while, though, they made some black work.” “Black work, huh?
What’s that?” “They made us pick up rocks and such, to make trenches for the
troops.” “You were that close to freedom? Why didn’t anyone run?” “They always had a gun to our heads, and
even if we didn’t, they were back up ones, most of which not used.”
“We got sent to Austwich, but not for gassing, we were
workers, sent to do the gassing. A Rebellion happened, and about 6, maybe 7,
Germans got killed. The Rebellion got gassed, all of them. I told them it
wasn’t a good idea. I was a roofer, and got a bird’s eye view of the whole
thing. We got back to work, and with more guards. It wasn’t goof, and we we’re
going to die until we got exchanged as prisoner of war with the Americans, and
were sent to a town where they were going to pick us up. They weren’t there,
but we leapt out anyway, and 200 of us got recaptured, and they put us on the
shore of a lake, with machine guns all around. But at the last moment, the
commanders girlfriend saved us. We escaped again, but they captured us again,
about 50. The Americans chased them away, and once again we managed to escape,
this time with no capture. We found the Americans, got home free, and got away
from the Germans once and for all.”
My Review: Good, but a sadistic way.
Message: Trick others when you need to, and make friends
when you have to.
