Historical Context of Maus in the Holocaust
Our First Historical Context
One of the most compelling aspects of the Holocaust that Spiegelman includes in his text is the way that the liberation of the camps during the final days of the war were incredibly difficult and dangerous for the captives. On pages 264 through 270, Spiegelman discusses how the prisoners were moved from Dachau by train and left out in the open by the German troops in anticipation of the arrival of the Americans. Even though the prisoners were technically free, they were still alone in a war-torn and threatening landscape where they were subject to recapture and accidental attack from American bombardments. The events that Spiegelman discusses are echoed in the article attached to the link below which states that not only was there mass confusion during the liberation period, but many trains that were transporting prisoners were destroyed by Ally attack that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of captives. I found this fact to be interesting as it demonstrates that even efforts to free the victims of this genocide resulted in danger and destruction. It makes the stories of survivors all the more harrowing and remarkable. -Kyle
"History of Dachau Concentration Camp." Scrapbookpages.com - a Web Site for Tourists and Armchair Travelers. 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. <http://www.scrapbookpages.com/dachauscrapbook/overview.html>.
"History of Dachau Concentration Camp." Scrapbookpages.com - a Web Site for Tourists and Armchair Travelers. 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. <http://www.scrapbookpages.com/dachauscrapbook/overview.html>.
Our Second Historical Context
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During Art Spiegelman's interviews of his father, Vladek, he brings up many memories of his father's time in Auschwitz. There were many things that people did in order to survive but in one particular incident that his father recalled, the prisoners in Auschwitz finally stood up for themselves. In a way, it was suicide, but the principles they stood up for and the way in which they did this, gave other prisoners hope. This story continues to be one of bravery and hope to people who are familiar with it today. Vladek says, "Some prisoners working the the gas chambers revolted. They killed 3 S.S. men and blew up a crematorium. Yah. For this they all got killed. And the four young girls what sneaked over the ammunition for this, they hanged them near to my workshop. They were good friends of Anja, from Sosnowiec. They hanged a long, long time.. sigh" (239). The story Vladek recounts here did, in fact, happen in Auschwitz. This is a very famous incident that occurred called The Revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau. In this provided link, the revolt is recounted through the stories told in the Jewish Virtual Library. - Amanda
Our Third Historical Context
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In many parts of Maus, Vladek talks about all of the Jewish citizens both in and out of the concentration camps were punished and persecuted for trying to live normal lives. These punishments were often extremely worse for those who tried to help others who were not so fortunate. One of these examples was starting on page 84, when a Jewish man who often sold goods without coupons was hung for a week in the town center with a few others for doing the same thing. This absolutely astonished the Spiegelman family, because without this man's good deeds, they would have had a much harder time surviving on so little food. Researching this event, it was not uncommon all over Nazi-controlled towns for deaths like this to occur. There are many descriptive events listed at the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation. While this Jewish man was hung, there were multiple accounts of Nazis taking Jews and beating them to death in crowds, entering shops and shooting at random, or even stepping on human heads while on the pavement. As if that was not bad enough, often the friends and family members of these victims had to clean up the mess made or suffer similar punishment. These events were an extreme eye-opener throughout the book, as they did not cease...they only continued to be more frequent and more brutal. - Jessie
Our Fourth Historical Context
Finishing up the graphic novel highlights how Vladek survived neither because of luck, nor skill but rather a combination of the 2. As a skilled business man prior to the war he had many connections and coming from a rich family on his wife's side gave him many valuables that he was able to later trade; however neither of these positive traits allowed Anja's father to live, who was also a millionaire. Spieglman writes, "he was a millionaire, but even this didn't save his life," describing how Anja's father was unable to use all his wealth to show how in this war no one had any power except “the right race” (115). Looking at this makes me realize how the anonymity of the Holocaust challenges us to not understand it. Although we understand that the Jewish population was being destroyed, so many years later, it is hard to grasp why and how these people couldn’t survive. Looking at how Vladek managed to survive based on all of his traits where his father-in-law could not tells me that to better understand the Holocaust stories like these are necessary. Anonymous No Longer is a program and part of Yad Yashem's website for the complete understanding of the Holocaust that promotes the identification of photos during this time to help us understand their fate. With websites like this one, I believe we can better begin to assess both the intensity of how many were killed and feel the randomness with which people lived or died.
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/museum_photos/index.asp
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/museum_photos/index.asp