What's Inside: The Division of Poland and Start of World War II

Maus
Study Guide by Course Hero
World War II are narrated in the first person by Vladek himself,

What's Inside conveying the anxiety and fear of his experiences.
TENSE
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 Maus by Art Spiegelman is told in the past and present tenses.
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1 ABOUT THE TITLE

Maus is the German word for "mouse." Author Art Spiegelman
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 2 depicts the main characters in the book, almost all of whom
are Jewish, as mice, alluding to the stereotyping of Jews as
h Characters .................................................................................................. 3
pests, being hunted and captured by cats, who represent the
k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 8 German Nazis. The subtitle, A Survivor's Tale, emphasizes the
various ways in which characters survive the Holocaust
c Chapter Summaries .............................................................................. 15 throughout generations.
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 27
l Symbols ..................................................................................................... 30
d In Context
m Themes ....................................................................................................... 31
Most of the events of Maus take place before and during
e Suggested Reading .............................................................................. 33
World War II in Poland. The main character, Vladek
Spiegelman, is a Polish Jew who survived both battle on the
front lines as a soldier and eventually the Holocaust in Poland
j Book Basics
and Germany.
AUTHOR
Art Spiegelman
The Division of Poland and
YEARS PUBLISHED
Start of World War II
1980–91
By 1939 Adolf Hitler, the Führer of Germany and the leader of
GENRE the National Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) Party, wanted
Memoir two things as part of his plan for world domination: more
German territory and fewer Jewish people in that territory.
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR Famously anti-Semitic since his youth, Hitler believed Jews
Maus tells two stories at the same time. The first is about were a subhuman race intent on taking over the world as
author Art Spiegelman's relationship with his father, Vladek. enemies of Germany. His message spread like wildfire when he
Artie narrates those sections in the first person, conveying the became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, and it
conflicts associated with being the son of Holocaust survivors. became the official party line when he obtained dictatorial
The flashbacks to the past about Vladek's experiences during
Maus Study Guide Author Biography 2
control that spring. Jews were harassed, discriminated against, Jews in one place. Entire ghettos were emptied onto freight
and chased out of Germany throughout the rest of the 1930s, train cars which took them to one of the six extermination
fleeing to nearby countries for safety. camps in Poland. Prisoners were herded into large gas
chambers, which were then filled with carbon monoxide or
This safe zone rapidly shrank as the German army mobilized Zyklon-B, a pesticide. Their bodies were then destroyed in
and began taking over central and eastern Europe, starting massive crematoriums.
with Austria in 1938, followed by present-day Czechoslovakia.
Hitler had his eye on Poland next. He didn't want its neighbor, The largest extermination camp was Auschwitz, near the city
Russia, to stand in his way, so he made a deal with the of Oswiecim in southern Poland. Auschwitz was actually three
communist country to divide Poland in two. Germany got the separate camps. The first, built in 1940, was a concentration,
western third and Russia would get the rest. But Poland, which or prison, camp. The second, Birkenau, was built in 1941 as an
had only recently become an independent nation after 100 extermination camp. The third, Buna-Monowitz, was a slave
years of foreign rule, obtained an agreement of promised labor camp opened in 1942 and heavily funded by German
protection from Great Britain and France should Germany industrial companies. Of the estimated 1.5 million people who
invade. Hitler was infuriated by this countermove and hastened died at Auschwitz between 1941 and 1945, approximately 90
plans for an attack. German forces entered Poland on percent were Jewish brought there from everywhere in Europe
September 1, 1939; Great Britain and France declared war two the Germans had conquered.
days later. World War II had begun, and the Nazi armies soon
conquered the outnumbered Poles. There are no firm counts of how many people died during the
Holocaust, but historians estimate six million Jewish men,
women, and children lost their lives to the Nazi ideology of
Nazi Germany Attempts racial purity. An estimated 34 to 46 million more people of all
nationalities and races died on the battlefields or at home
Eradication of Jewish Race between 1939 and 1945, making World War II the largest and
deadliest war in history.
The Nazi Party championed an "Aryan," or so-called pure-blood

German race, and in their minds the only way to ensure its
growth and purity was to destroy competing ethnicities, first a Author Biography
and foremost the Jews. While they tried to figure out how to
solve the "problem" of the Jews, Nazi officials across German Arthur "Art" Spiegelman was born on February 15, 1948, to
territory began forcing Jewish families out of their homes and Vladek and Anja Spiegelman, Polish Jewish refugees from
herding them into ghettos, all of them much too small for the World War II living in Sweden, where they escaped after the
number of people living there. In Warsaw, Poland, for example, war. The Spiegelmans moved to the United States in 1951,
with the largest Jewish population in Europe, 30 percent of the finally settling down in Queens, New York, in 1955. Art attended
city's population were housed in just 2.4 percent of the city's high school at the Manhattan School of Art and Design,
area after the rapid German military victory over Poland. Food followed by a few years at the State University of New York at
was scarce, work was either nonexistent or nonpaying, and Binghamton, where he became interested in alternative
disease spread rapidly. Thousands of people died from the comics. He left school after his mother's suicide in 1968.
poor living conditions alone.
An illustrator for The Long Island Post by day, Spiegelman
The Jewish ghettos were a stopover point on the way to the spent the early 1970s dabbling in the underground comics
Nazi's final solution: mass murder. For years the Nazis had scene. One of his first pieces was the three-page "Maus,"
executed criminals and opponents of the party, but in 1941 they published in the 1972 comic anthology Funny Animals. The
began orchestrating mass shootings of hundreds of Jews at a comic, which depicted Jews in World War II–era Poland as
time. The process became more efficient in 1942, when Nazi mice traumatically hiding from German cats, was inspired by
leadership agreed to establish not just concentration facilities his father's own war experiences. Realizing he had barely
but extermination camps. These "death factories" were skimmed the surface of his parents' story, Spiegelman began
constructed for the express purpose of killing thousands of interviewing his father almost immediately after publication.
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Maus Study Guide Characters 3
The resulting decade of in-depth interviews eventually became

Maus, which was first published in monthly installments as Artie
Spiegelman worked on it. Volume 1 of Maus was published in
1986; Volume 2 followed in 1991. The collection was awarded a Artie Spiegelman is the son of two Polish Jews, Vladek and
Special Pulitzer Prize in 1992. Then in 2011 MetaMaus was Anja Spiegelman, both of whom survived the Holocaust. As a
published. This book is valuable to read as a follow-up to Maus, child, he was closer to his mother than his father, with whom
as it has extensive information about all the people involved he never really got along. Like his mother, Artie suffers from
and about the genesis of Spiegelman as an artist and author. mental health issues and spent a month in a mental hospital
when he was 20. Anja died not long after. In his 30s, Artie
In addition to being a researcher and writer, Spiegelman is the seems perpetually annoyed with and worried about his aging
co-founder of Raw, an underground comic and graphics father. As Artie interviews Vladek about his experiences during
anthology, with his wife, Françoise Mouly, also a well-known the war and the Holocaust, he gains a better understanding of
artist and editor born in Paris. He brought the repulsively how his father's past affects his present. Artie may not always
hilarious Garbage Pail Kids to life during his 20-year like Vladek, and the men often are exasperated with each
relationship with Topps chewing gum and has worked as an other, but with the help of his wife, Artie learns to accept his
illustrator for the New York Times, Playboy, and The New father for who he is.
Yorker, where he also served as a writer. Tragedy entered
Spiegelman's work again in 2004's The Shadow of No Towers,
which is about the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Anja
Center, and in 2008 he published a graphic memoir,
Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!. Born in 1912 to a wealthy family, Anja Spiegelman is known for
her intelligence, her kindness, and her bouts of anxiety and
depression. Though she is frail and, in Vladek's opinion, entirely
h Characters too altruistic, Anja survives the Holocaust by relying on the
close friendships she established with other women in
Auschwitz. After the war and a brief stint in Sweden, Anja and
Vladek move to the United States to be closer to her only living
Vladek relative, her brother Herman. Herman's death in 1962 is very
difficult for Anja, and she ends up taking her own life in 1968.
Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew living in Queens, New York,
survived the Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps
during World War II. In his early 70s, Vladek is frugal and set in
his ways, which often puts him at odds with his 30-year-old
Mala
son, Artie, and his second wife, Mala. Vladek's personality was
Mala Spiegelman was a longtime family friend before she
partially shaped by his experiences during World War II. A
became Vladek's second wife following Anja's death. As a
former prisoner of war and a survivor of the Holocaust, Vladek
Holocaust survivor who is friends with a large group of other
was a quick study with a strong work ethic, which made him
survivors, she doesn't believe Vladek's more unappealing
valuable to his superiors, who in turn protected him from the
personality traits are only an effect of the war. Her marriage to
gas chambers. Unlike the millions of others who died at the
Vladek is an unhappy one—they are always fighting about
hands of the Nazis, Vladek survived the war and reunited with
money, with which Vladek is notoriously stingy, and Mala feels
his wife, Anja, but the figurative scars of his experience are still
she will never be able to live up to the idealized image of Anja
visible, as is his deep sense of loss after Anja's death.
Vladek still clings to.

Françoise
Françoise Mouly is Artie's French wife who converted to
Judaism shortly after and she and Artie married. She is patient
with Vladek's quirks and demands until near the end of the
book, when his racism surfaces on a routine trip home from the
grocery store. She can't understand how someone who
experienced the racism of eastern Europe before and during
World War II can be so prejudiced against minorities in the
United States.

Character Map
Stepmother Artie
Cartoonist; tries to make
sense of his family's past
Spouses Son
Son
Françoise Vladek Anja

Supportive but opinionated Gruff survivor of the Nazi Intelligent and kind;
French woman; listens to extermination camp Spouses Holocaust survivor;
Artie about his father at Auschwitz eventually commits suicide
Second wife
Mala
Long-suffering
Holocaust survivor
Main Character
Other Major Character
Minor Character

Full Character List Lucia Greenberg

Lucia Greenberg is Vladek
Spiegelman's obsessive girlfriend in
the early 1930s before he met Anja.
Character Description
The black hitchhiker who receives
Hitchhiker Vladek's scorn is on his way to his
Vladek Spiegelman, the husband of
cousin's house in upstate New York.
Vladek Anja and father of Artie, is a
Holocaust survivor living in New York.
Howie is Artie Spiegelman's
Howie
childhood friend in Queens.
Artie Spiegelman, the son of Vladek
and Anja Spiegelman, interviews his
Artie
father about his experiences during Mr. Ilzecki, a tailor, is one of Vladek's
the Holocaust. Mr. Ilzecki
former customers in Sosnowiec.
Anja Spiegelman, née Zylberberg, is Janina is the Spiegelman's Polish

Vladek's wife and Artie's mother. A nanny before World War II begins.
Anja
Holocaust survivor, she committed Janina She refuses to help the Spiegelmans
suicide in 1968. during the war and sells their
valuables.
Mala Spiegelman is Vladek's second
Mala wife. She is also a Holocaust Jenny is one of the women from
survivor. Jenny Sosnowiec Vladek recognizes in
Belsen.
Françoise Mouly is Artie
Françoise
Spiegelman's wife. Mr. Karmio is Anja's 90-year-old
Mr. Karmio grandfather, who is killed with the
rest of the elderly in Auschwitz.
The American doctor sends Vladek
American doctor home from La Guardia Hospital in
New York. Mrs. Karmio is Anja's 90-year-old
Mrs. Karmio grandmother, who is killed with the
rest of the elderly in Auschwitz.
Anja's Anja's communist friend asks Anja to
communist translate communist documents
friend from Polish into German. Mrs. Karp Mrs. Karp is Edgar Karp's wife.
Anja's kapo (prisoner assigned to Edgar Karp is Vladek's neighbor in

administrative duties) in Birkenau Edgar Karp
Anja's kapo the Catskill Mountains.
treats Anja horribly until Vladek
repairs her shoes.
Mrs. Kawka lets Anja and Vladek hide
Mrs. Kawka
in her barn.
Nahum Cohn, a family friend of the
Spiegelmans, is hanged for dealing
Nahum Cohn Mancie protects Anja in Birkenau and
goods without coupons in
Sosnowiec. Mancie delivers letters between Anja and
Vladek.
The French prisoner in Auschwitz is

so grateful for Vladek's friendship Mr. Mandelbaum, who formerly
French prisoner Mr. Mandelbaum owned a candy store, tries to escape
that he shares his care packages
from home with him. to Hungary with Vladek and Anja.
Gelber tries to reclaim his family's

Gelber bakery in Sosnowiec after the war.
He is hanged.

Abraham Mandelbaum, Mr. Abram Spiegelman is Vladek's father.

Mandelbaum's nephew, is forced to Abram He voluntarily goes to Auschwitz to
Abraham
write a letter saying it is safe for the Spiegelman help his daughter Fela with her four
Mandelbaum
Spiegelmans and Mr. Mandelbaum to children.
come to Hungary.
Chaja Spiegelman, Vladek's mother,

Moniek Merin is the selfish head of Chaja dies of cancer after Vladek is
Moniek Merin the Jewish council in the Srodula Spiegelman released from the prisoner of war
ghetto. camp.
Mrs. Motonowa, a black-market Fela Spiegelman is Vladek's sister.

Mrs. Motonowa grocery dealer, allows Anja and She is sent to Auschwitz for having
Fela Spiegelman
Vladek to hide in her home. too many children to be able to do
slave-labor work.
The office boy in Auschwitz invites

Office boy Vladek to hide in the bunker attic Haskel Spiegelman is the chief of the
with his friends. Haskel Jewish police in Srodula. He helps
Spiegelman Vladek, Anja, and Lolek escape the
holding area in Srodula.
Orbach, a friend of the Spiegelman
family, pretends Vladek is his cousin
Orbach when Vladek is set free from a Jakov
Jakov Spiegelman is Vladek's cousin.
prisoner-of-war camp in Lublin, Spiegelman
Poland.
Leon Spiegelman, one of Vladek's
Pavel is Artie's psychiatrist and a Leon younger brothers, deserted the
Pavel
Holocaust survivor. Spiegelman Polish army and lived in Russia
during World War II.
The Polish priest assures Vladek he

Polish priest will make it through the war alive Marcus Marcus Spiegelman is Vladek's older
because his serial number is "lucky." Spiegelman brother. He died during World War II.
The quarantine block kapo protects Miloch Spiegelman, Vladek's cousin,

Quarantine
Vladek after Vladek begins teaching Miloch supervises the shoe shop in Srodula.
block kapo
him English. Spiegelman He gives Anja and Vladek a place to
hide when Srodula is liquidated.
The rabbi in the prisoner of war

camp tells Vladek he is a roh-eh Mordecai Spiegelman is Vladek's
Rabbi
hanoled, or one who can see the Mordecai cousin, who ensures that Vladek and
future. Spiegelman his family aren't sent to Auschwitz
during the culling at the stadium.
Shivek, whom Vladek knew before

Shivek the war, travels with Vladek after Moses Moses Spiegelman, Vladek's younger
their release from Dachau. Spiegelman brother, died during World War II.
The shoe kapo puts Vladek in charge Pesach Spiegelman, who is a crook
Shoe kapo Pesach
of the shoe shop in Auschwitz. like his brother Haskel, is Vladek's
Spiegelman
cousin.
Sonia is one of the women from

Sonia Sosnowiec Vladek recognizes in Pinek Spiegelman, one of Vladek's
Belsen. Pinek brothers, deserted the Polish army
Spiegelman and lived in Russia during World War
II; he eventually went to live in Israel.

Maus Study Guide Plot Summary 8
Richieu Spiegelman is the son of Hela, also called Helen, Zylberberg is

Hela Zylberberg
Richieu Vladek and Anja, who died from Herman Zylberberg's wife.
Spiegelman poisoning when he was six in order
to save him from the Nazis.
Herman Zylberberg is Anja's brother
Herman who was visiting the United States
Yodja Spiegelman is one of Vladek's Zylberberg when World War II began and was
Yodja
younger sisters who died in able to remain there.
Spiegelman
Auschwitz.
Israel Itzak Zylberberg is Anja's

Israel Itzak
Zosha Spiegelman is one of Vladek's father. He is the wealthy owner of
Zosha Zylberberg
younger sisters who died in several hosiery factories.
Spiegelman
Auschwitz.
Josef Zylberberg, Anja's brother,

Josef
Miss Stefanska is the seamstress committed suicide after his girlfriend
Zylberberg
Miss Stefanska who goes to jail after Anja hides left him during World War II.
communist documents in her home.
Levek Levek Zylberberg, Anja's brother,

Bibi Steinkeller is the young daughter Zylberberg died in Warsaw, Poland, in 1943.
of Wolfe and Tosha. She is one of
Bibi Steinkeller the three children Tosha poisons
before the Nazis can take them Lolek Zylberberg is the son of
away. Lolek Zylberberg Herman and Hela Zylberberg. He
survives World War II in Poland.
Tosha Steinkeller, née Zylberberg, is

Anja's older sister. She cares for Lonia Zylberberg is the daughter of
Tosha Herman and Helen Zylberberg. She is
Richieu before killing the children
Steinkeller Lonia Zylberberg one of the three children Tosha
and herself when the Nazis liquidate
the Zawiercie ghetto. Steinkeller poisons before the Nazis
can take them away.
Persis Steinkeller, Wolfe Steinkeller's

Persis Malka
uncle, is on the Jewish council in the Malka Zylberberg is Anja's mother.
Steinkeller Zylberberg
Zawiercie ghetto.
Wolfe Steinkeller, Tosha's husband,

works for the Jewish Community
Wolfe Steinkeller
Organization in Sosnowiec. He thinks k Plot Summary
the war will be over quickly.
Maus tells two separate but entangled stories: that of

Steve is Artie Spiegelman's
Steve concentration camp survivor Vladek Spiegelman's experiences
childhood friend in Queens.
during World War II and that of the relationship between him
and his son Artie. Artie, who is interviewing his father about his
Mr. Szklarczyk is a grocer in
Mr. Szklarczyk Sosnowiec with whom Vladek experiences for a prospective graphic novel about the
partners to sell black-market goods. Holocaust, narrates the scenes in the present (roughly
1978–87), while Vladek narrates the scenes in the past.
Vladek's unnamed cousin introduces Vladek's war stories are told in parallel to what is currently
Vladek's cousin Vladek Spiegelman to Anja happening in the tenuous relationship between father and son.
Zylberberg.
Yidl is the chief of the tin shop in

Yidl
Auschwitz.

marginal section of the city designated for Jews. The Nazis

Book 1: My Father Bleeds keep a tight hold on the area, arresting and killing Jews who do
not have the proper work permits and identity papers. The
History elderly are targeted, and Anja's grandparents are forcibly
removed from the home to go to what is described as a
Artie Spiegelman has always wanted to write about his father's retirement community in another city. The family later learns
experiences during World War II, but Vladek isn't sure anyone they were taken to Auschwitz, an extermination camp. A few
would want to read such a horrible story. Artie insists Vladek at months later, all the Jews in the area report at the local
least tell him what happened during the war, and Vladek stadium. Two-thirds are sent away to extermination camps,
capitulates, mostly to get the chance to spend more time with including Vladek's father and sister.
his son. The interviews are productive but often punctuated by
misunderstandings and hurt feelings. As a child, Artie was In 1943 the remaining Jews in Sosnowiec are sent to Srodula,
never close to his father, and his mother's suicide seemed to the Jewish ghetto. Anja and Vladek send Richieu to live with
deepen the gulf between them. As an adult, he still finds Vladek family in another, supposedly safer, ghetto. He dies months
overbearing and controlling, but he also can't help but notice later, they eventually discover. Meanwhile, the Spiegelmans
the unmistakable signs of Vladek's decline—his illnesses, his and Anja's parents hide from the Nazis in bunkers inside their
multiple medications, and his inability to maintain his house on assigned homes. A fellow Jew turns them in, and they are
his own. Torn between guilt and resentment, Artie does the taken to a holding area before being transported to Auschwitz.
least amount of work necessary to appease his father so they A cousin helps Vladek and Anja escape, but Anja's parents are
can continue the interviews. left behind. They are taken to Auschwitz the next day.
Vladek's story begins in 1935, shortly before he meets Anja Anja and Vladek hide in various barns and homes for the next
Zylberberg. They marry in 1937 and set up a home in year in the Polish countryside. Tired of hiding all the time,
Sosnowiec, Poland, Anja's hometown. Their first son, Richieu, is Vladek decides they would be safer in Hungary. The Polish
born that same year. As the Spiegelman family grows, so does smugglers he hires to transport them across the border turn
Nazi propaganda and anti-Semitism in Poland's neighboring out to work for the Gestapo, and Vladek and Anja are taken to
Germany. Vladek is called up for the Polish army reserves in Auschwitz instead, and likely to their deaths.
August 1939; World War II begins the following month. After a
brief stint on the front lines, Vladek is taken as a prisoner of In the present Artie presses his father about the whereabouts
war. of the journals Anja kept as a record of her life. She meant for
Artie to have them, but Vladek was so distraught after her
The Jewish prisoners are treated so badly in the German POW death that he burned all of her prized possessions, including
camp that Vladek volunteers for the hard labor work camp. The the journals. Vladek's confession drives Artie into a blind rage,
living conditions are much better, but the work is debilitatingly and he calls his father a murderer.
difficult. In February 1940 Vladek and the other prisoners are
released. Instead of being taken home to Sosnowiec, however,
Vladek and the other men who live in areas directly controlled Book 2: And Here My Troubles
by the Germans are taken to Lublin, another city in central
Poland, where the Germans intend to execute them. The local Began
Jewish authorities negotiate for the prisoners' release,
however, and Vladek sneaks back into Sosnowiec days later. Book 2 finds Artie and his wife, Françoise, on vacation in
Vermont. They receive a call from Vladek, who is at his summer
Life in Sosnowiec has changed since Vladek's departure six
home in the Catskill Mountains. His second wife, Mala, has left
months earlier. Worried about the family finances, Vladek turns
him. Artie and Françoise abandon their vacation to comfort
to buying and selling goods on the black market. His income
Vladek in person. He wants them to stay with him for the rest
keeps the extended Zylberberg family, with whom the
of the summer and then move in with him back home in New
Spiegelmans are living, afloat. At the end of 1941 they are
York. Françoise isn't completely opposed to the idea, but Artie
forced to give up their house and move to Stara Sosnowiec, a
won't hear of it. While they are together, Vladek continues his

story where it left off: at the gates of Auschwitz.
Vladek and Anja are separated upon entering Auschwitz.

Vladek survives by making himself invaluable to his captors in
the camp hierarchy. He teaches English to one, smuggles in
food for another, and earns the respect of many Gestapo
officers by skillfully repairing their shoes. He makes contact
with Anja, who is in nearby Birkenau, another part of the camp
two miles away, and even arranges to see her during work
assignments, before arranging for her to be transferred to
Auschwitz. They do not get to speak much, and Vladek is
severely punished when he's caught giving her food, but he is
glad to have her nearby.
Auschwitz is shut at the end of 1944 as the Russians close in,

eventually taking over in January 1945, and those left in the
camp are forcibly marched to Dachau, far away in southern
Germany. The Dachau camp is riddled with lice and typhus,
and Vladek comes down with the disease. As he begins to
recover in the infirmary, he is released as part of a prisoner
exchange. He and the other sick inmates are to be taken to the
Swiss border for the exchange, but the war ends before they
can get there. They are instead put on an unguarded freight
train. They walk aimlessly when it stops but are soon herded
together by a local Nazi patrol unit that threatens to kill them
before disappearing in the night. This happens a second time
before Vladek and a friend escape to an abandoned farm. They
are soon joined by American forces, who allow them to stay
and work until they are forced to go to a displacement camp
for the surviving inmates and others.
Vladek can't fathom that Anja survived the war, but he

searches for news of her anyway. He runs into two girls from
Sosnowiec at the largest displacement camp in Poland, and
they tell him Anja is alive and safe. Vladek travels by train and
foot for weeks to get back to her. They are reunited in the
summer of 1945.
Vladek's health is rapidly failing by the time he finishes telling

Artie about the aftermath of the war. Mala has grudgingly
agreed to move back in, and even she says Vladek seems to
be fading. During the last interview, Vladek tells Artie he's tired
and done talking for awhile, then mistakenly calls Artie
"Richieu." The book ends somewhat abruptly with an
illustration of Anja's and Vladek's shared headstone.

Plot Diagram
Climax
11
10
12
9
Falling Action
Rising Action 8
13
7
6 14
5
15
4
Resolution
3
2
1
Introduction
8. Another Jew turns in the Spiegelmans to the Gestapo.

Introduction
9. Anja's parents are sent to Auschwitz; Spiegelmans escape.
1. Vladek and Anja Spiegelman meet, marry, and have a son. 10. Spiegelmans hide in various houses and barns.
Rising Action Climax
2. World War II begins; Vladek is on the front lines. 11. Spiegelmans sent to Auschwitz for trying to escape Poland.
3. Vladek is taken prisoner by the Germans.
4. Vladek sneaks back into Sosnowiec after his release.

Falling Action
5. Zylberberg and Spiegelman families move to Stara
Sosnowiec. 12. Auschwitz closes; Vladek marches to Dachau.
6. Anja's grandparents are taken to Auschwitz. 13. World War II ends; prisoners are released.
7. Spiegelmans send their first son away for safety; he dies. 14. Vladek walks across Poland to get back to Anja.

Resolution
15. Vladek and Anja are reunited in Sosnowiec.

Timeline of Events
1935
Vladek and Anja meet in Sosnowiec, Poland.
February 14, 1937
Vladek and Anja marry.
October 1937
Anja and Vladek's first son, Richieu, is born.
August 24, 1939
Vladek is drafted into the Polish army. War against

Germany begins on September 1.
Mid-February 1940
Vladek is released from a German prisoner of war camp

and sneaks into Sosnowiec.
December 1941
The Zylberberg family moves to the Stara Sosnowiec

district of the city.
May 1942
The Zylberbergs are forced to hand over Anja's

grandparents, who are taken to Auschwitz.
August 1942
All Jewish residents of Sosnowiec are forced to report to

stadium; 11,000 are taken to Auschwitz.
Spring 1943
The Zylberberg family moves to the Jewish ghetto in

Srodula.
August 1943
Tosha poisons herself and three children in her care,

including Richieu, to avoid brutal deaths.

January 1944
The Srodula ghetto is liquidated. Vladek and Anja hide in

various houses and barns in Sosnowiec.
March 1944
Vladek and Anja are captured after trusting duplicitous

smugglers and taken to Auschwitz.
January 1945
Auschwitz prisoners are taken to Dachau as the

Russians close in on the Germans.
April 1945
Vladek is released from Dachau as a prisoner of war.
Summer 1945
Vladek and Anja move to Sweden. Their son, Art

Spiegelman (Artie), is born there in 1948.
1951
The Spiegelmans emigrate to the United States.
May 1968
Anja commits suicide.
1972–82
Artie interviews Vladek for the comic strips that will

eventually become Maus.
August 18, 1982
Vladek dies.
September 1986
The first volume of Maus is published.

Maus Study Guide Chapter Summaries 15
c Chapter Summaries Summary

Book 1 is titled My Father Bleeds History. Artie Spiegelman
visits his father and his father's second wife, Mala Spiegelman,
Book 1, Prologue in Rego Park, a neighborhood in Queens. It has been a long
time since his last visit—he says he and his father aren't very
close. They go into Artie's old bedroom so they can chat while
Summary Vladek Spiegelman rides a stationary bicycle. He's already had
two heart attacks, and the doctors say pedaling is good for his
It's summer 1958, in Rego Park, a neighborhood in Queens, heart. Artie, a comic book writer, wants to write about Vladek's
New York. Ten-year-old Artie Spiegelman is roller-skating with experiences during World War II. Vladek doesn't think anyone
his friends. He falls down but they keep skating. Crying, Artie would want to read about it, but Artie insists he would. Vladek
heads home. He tells his father, Vladek Spiegelman, his friends begins his story by telling how he met Artie's mother, Anja
skated off without him. Vladek stops what he's doing and tells Spiegelman.
Artie that if they were all locked together in a room with no
It's the mid-1930s. Vladek lives in Czestochowa, Poland, near
food for a week, "THEN you could see what it is, friends."
the German border. He buys and sells textiles and earns a
modest living. He's considered to be good looking, like Rudy
Valentino in The Sheik, and girls are always chasing after him.
Analysis
He dates one girl, Lucia Greenberg, for three years, but he has
no intention of marrying her, especially after he meets Anja.
Maus is divided into two books, My Father Bleeds History
Anja Zylberberg of Sosnowiec, where Vladek's parents and
(Book 1) and And Here My Troubles Began (Book 2). Both
extended family live, is the daughter of a millionaire
books bounce between the past and the present as Artie tells
businessman and prominent figure in the Jewish community.
his father's story in tandem with the story of his and his father's
She's smart and sensitive, and Vladek quickly falls in love with
relationship. This brief glimpse into the early years of their
her. Lucia tries to win Vladek back, even going so far as to
relationship indicates that Vladek isn't very sympathetic to his
write an anonymous letter to Anja to tell her what a terrible
son's childhood hardships. Vladek knows what real suffering is,
person Vladek is, but Vladek is able to convince Anja
and he never lets Artie forget it. It eventually becomes a strain
otherwise. By the end of 1936, they are engaged. He moves to
on their relationship.
Sosnowiec, and they are married on February 14, 1937.
Maus is a graphic novel, so the images within the book are just
Vladek pauses his story to tell Artie he doesn't want anything
as important as the words. Though this is a nonfiction memoir,
about Lucia in the book. Private information like that "isn't so
writer and artist Art Spiegelman takes liberties with the
proper, so respectful." Artie promises he will omit it.
physical features of his characters. With one exception, human
faces are never shown in the book. Instead, the characters
take the form of anthropomorphized animals, or animals with
human traits. Each species is representative of a specific
Analysis
people. Artie and his family are Jewish, so they are drawn as
While this chapter is merely a prelude to Vladek's experiences
mice. Later in the book, Germans are represented as cats,
during World War II, it offers a lot of insight about his
Poles as pigs, Americans as dogs, Swedes as reindeer, French
character. Vladek quit school at 14 so he could work to earn
as frogs, and Gypsies as butterflies.
money for his family, but decided to take private English
lessons so he would someday go to the United States. His
dreams for himself are far beyond Polish family man. The
Book 1, Chapter 1 combination of his fluent English and his willingness to work
hard to get ahead are what ultimately help him survive the war.
Vladek is also enormously practical. He chooses Anja over

Lucia because he knows intelligence and kindness are far October 1937. Vladek is running his own textile factory in
more important than good looks when it comes to having a Bielsko, Poland, thanks to a generous start-up fund from his
good relationship. He can barely stand Lucia before he meets father-in-law. He lives in Bielsko during the week and comes
Anja, whose presence makes him realize just how wrong Lucia home on the weekends. At the beginning of 1938, Anja falls
is for him. His practicality is also financial, as Lucia's family into a deep depression. Vladek accompanies her to a
can't afford even a modest dowry, while Anja's family is sanatorium in Czechoslovakia while his in-laws take care of
wealthy far beyond average. He loves Anja for herself, but the things at home. On the train ride there, Vladek and Anja see a
promise of financial stability doesn't hurt. German flag in the center of the city. It's the first time Vladek
sees a swastika. A fellow traveler tells them about the pogroms
As much as Maus is about Vladek, it's also about his (organized acts of cruelty against a people, often escalating
relationship with Artie. Spiegelman began interviewing Vladek into a massacre) in Germany. They all hope the "Nazi
in 1972, when Artie was 24 and his father was 66. Prior to this gangsters" get "thrown out of power."
Spiegelman had heard only bits and pieces of Vladek's
experiences during the war, which he used as the basis for his The sanatorium is more like a luxury hotel than a hospital. They
three-page "Maus" comic in 1972's Funny Animals. Spiegelman spend three months there, and Anja seems like a different
brought the comic to his father, who immediately launched into person when they return home. Then Vladek learns his factory
the story of his entire war experience, filling in the gaps was robbed while they were gone. He had no insurance, so he
Spiegelman didn't even know were there. His father talked for has to start all over again. His father-in-law finances this, too.
four days, and Artie recorded the entire thing. Most of Maus Within a few months they are up and running once more. Then
comes from those conversations, though Spiegelman the Nazis start causing trouble in Bielsko. Vladek and Anja
interviewed his father on an almost continual basis in the decide to move back to Sosnowiec if things get any worse. Not
intervening years. Spiegelman presents this a little differently in long after, Vladek gets a draft notice from the Polish army. As
the book—Artie visits Vladek with the intention of writing a of September 1, 1939, Poland and Germany are at war.
book about Vladek's experiences, and the interviews take
place circa 1978. This is one of several instances where
Spiegelman takes artistic liberty with the narrative. The truth of Analysis
Vladek's experiences and the tense relationship between him
and his son are never up for debate, but the timeline Anja's kindness very nearly gets her arrested. Though she
sometimes is complex. thinks she is merely helping a friend, Vladek sees the grave
danger in her actions. Historically, Russia and Poland had a
terrible relationship. In the mid-1770s, Russia, Prussia, and
Book 1, Chapter 2 Austria partitioned Poland, which means they redrew its
borders so they each got a piece of the country. Independent
Poland essentially disappeared for more than 100 years. In
1918 following the end of World War I, US President Woodrow
Summary Wilson laid out his ideas for world peace in the form of the
Fourteen Points. Point 13 stipulated "[a]n independent Polish
Not long after Vladek and Anja Spiegelman are married, she is
state should be erected which should include the territories
nearly arrested for aiding and abetting communists. She is
inhabited by indisputably Polish populations." The Russian
friends with one, and she translates Polish documents into
government had to cede its Polish territory, and it wasn't happy
German for him. She is tipped off by another friend that the
about it. The Soviets staged an offensive in 1920, which the
police are on their way. She stashes the documents with Miss
Poles managed to stop, but there was always the fear of
Stefanska, a seamstress who is a tenant in her father's
another attack and the loss of Polish independence. That's why
building. The seamstress is arrested and stays in jail for three
Vladek was so upset by Anja's actions. In his eyes helping the
months. Vladek nearly divorces Anja and tells her she can no
communist government make inroads to Poland was akin to
longer be friends with communists.
treason in support of the Soviets. He loved Anja, but he could
Anja and Vladek's first son, Richieu Spiegelman, is born in not allow himself to be associated with someone who was
helping the communist cause.

It would be easy to say Vladek married Anja for her father's sign is posted calling for Polish POWs to volunteer for a
enormous wealth, especially since Mr. Zylberberg seems to be German work camp. Vladek's friends think it's a trick, but
so generous with his money when it comes to his son-in-law's Vladek says anything would be better than dying in the POW
business. Spiegelman, however, demonstrates this isn't the camp. His friends eventually agree with him, and they volunteer
case. Vladek has no intention of starting a factory—he's been as workers. They end up literally moving mountains, flattening
saving money for a textile shop of his own. It's Mr. Zylberberg the surrounding terrain with shovels and pick axes.
who says that isn't good enough, and it is he who offers the
funding not once, but twice. Family is important to Anja's Vladek has a dream that foretells they will all be released on
father, and he wants to ensure his grandson will never want for the date of Parshas Truma, which will be in three months' time
anything. The other sign of Vladek's love for Anja is his in mid-February. (Parshas Truma is a yearly Jewish
decision to accompany her to the sanatorium. He has a remembrance of God's instructions to the people about
fledgling factory to take care of, not to mention a new baby at building the holy place where they are to worship and the
home, yet he drops everything to be by her side. In an interview objects to be used in their worship rituals.) The prophecy
years later, Spiegelman said that though his parents' comes true. On that very day the Gestapo and the Wehrmacht
relationship wasn't always happy, "[t]hey were wrapped up come to the camp and begin discharging POWs onto a train. A
around each other in ways that were inextricable." In Maus fellow prisoner, who is also a rabbi, tells Vladek he is a "Roh-eh
Anja's depression after Richieu's birth seems to be a kind of Hanoled," or a person who can see the future. But Vladek
turning point in their relationship. Just a few months prior, couldn't imagine what would happen next. Instead of getting
Vladek was ready to leave Anja over the business with the off the train at Sosnowiec, he is forced to go to Lublin, where
communists, but her illness irrevocably connects them during days before 600 Jewish Poles were marched into the forest
good times and bad. and shot. Luckily, Jewish officials have bribed the Germans to
allow the new group of POWs to be released to local families
as "relatives." Vladek is claimed by a family friend, Orbach. He
Book 1, Chapter 3 rests for a few days and then convinces a Polish train
conductor to help him sneak across the border to Sosnowiec.
He is reunited with his parents and Anja.
Summary Returning the narrative to the present, Vladek complains to

Artie about Mala, whom he says is concerned only about
Artie Spiegelman goes to his father's house for dinner, and he money. Artie doesn't want to talk about it, but Vladek insists
tells Mala Spiegelman how his dad used to force him to eat there's no one else he can talk to. Artie goes to the closet to
everything his mother served him when he was a kid. After find his old coat, but it's not there. Vladek has thrown it away
dinner, Vladek Spiegelman resumes his story. as he continues to treat his son like a child.
In August 1939 Vladek has only a few days of training before

being sent to the front lines of battle against the Germans.
Analysis
Vladek doesn't know what he should be shooting at and
decides to just shoot his gun in the air. Then he sees a bush War is shown in its effects on people. Vladek, who has so far
"walking" on the other side of the river and begins shooting shown himself to have fairly high morals, doesn't necessarily
madly. Two hours later he and the rest of his unit are captured want to shoot his gun at the opposing German army. "Why
by the Germans. They are marched to the other side of the should I kill anyone?" he wonders in his trench. Yet when he
river, where they have to load the bodies of fallen German sees the "bush" moving across the river, he not only shoots the
soldiers into transport vehicles. Then the Prisoners of War man hiding behind it, but keeps on shooting even after the man
(POWs) are taken to a camp near Nuremberg, Germany. The puts his hand up in surrender. When Vladek sees the man's
Jews are separated from the rest of the detainees. The Poles body, he feels pride instead of remorse. "Well, at least I did
live in relative comfort, while the Jews are housed in flimsy something," he says to himself. Vladek doesn't feel bad about
tents with only their summer uniforms and thin blankets for his actions, because, as he puts it, "otherwise, he could have
warmth. They barely get any food. After six weeks of misery, a shot me!" Vladek is learning that pacifism, or the belief that

violence is never justified, has no place in times of war, his father, Vladek Spiegelman, who is angry that Artie came
especially when one's life is on the line. over after dark. He wanted Artie to fix a leaky drain pipe on the
roof. The interview resumes about Poland.
Vladek was in more danger after his release than during his
stay in the POW camp and the work camp. The problem was A lot has changed in Sosnowiec since Vladek left for the army.
the way Germany and Russia had conquered and divided Jews are allowed just a little bread, sugar, jam, and margarine
Poland in the five months since the beginning of the war. each week. The Zylberberg family buys everything else they
Germany claimed the western part of Poland for the Reich, an need on the black market. Vladek's father-in-law is concerned
alternate name for the German Empire; the USSR claimed the about how long the money will last because the family's
east. The central area was a protectorate, which meant it was factories, even Vladek's, have been taken over by "Aryan
Polish in name but run by Germany. Poles in the west, which managers." Vladek begins smuggling fabric to a local tailor and
included Sosnowiec, were considered German subjects. brings home money his first week back from the war. It's
International law didn't prevent Germany from doing anything dangerous for Vladek to be walking around town without a
to its own people, including killing them. That's how the Nazis work permit, so his father-in-law arranges for a friend, who is a
managed to kill 600 prisoners of war in the forests of Lublin tinsmith, to get Vladek a priority work card.
without technically breaking the law.
On January 1, 1942, all the Jews in Sosnowiec are forced to
Vladek still carries a lot of metaphorical baggage with him leave their homes and move into the Stara Sosnowiec quarter.
more than 30 years after the war. Artie's recollection about Not long after, four men, two of whom Vladek did business
Vladek forcing him to eat everything on his plate, even if he with, are hanged and left hanging as a warning in the center of
didn't like it, is common for children of parents who survived town for selling goods without coupons. Smuggling is too much
long spells of poverty and hunger, such as the Great of a risk, so Vladek trades gold and jewelry, sells black-market
Depression and war. It is hard for Vladek to understand why groceries, and works in a German carpentry shop.
anyone would turn away good, hot food after so much of his
life had been spent with no food at all. Food (and the lack of it) In 1942 the Jewish police force the Zylberbergs to hand over
was used as a weapon in the POW camp, as in the Anja Spiegelman's grandparents so they can go to
concentration camps in which Vladek was imprisoned later in Theresienstadt with the rest of the city's elderly Jews. The
the war. Vladek knows what it's like to not have any food at all, family later learns they were taken to the gas chambers in
and he can't stand to see it wasted. Vladek's disposal of Artie's Auschwitz instead. A few months later, all the Jews in
beloved coat is also a long-term effect of the war. New Sosnowiec and the surrounding areas are told to report to the
clothing was considered a luxury during the war years, and stadium. Nearly 30,000 people show up. They are divided into
Jewish prisoners were never dressed appropriately for the two groups—those who are young and able-bodied enough to
season or climate. Vladek can't understand why Artie would work and those who are either old, without work cards, or have
want to wear a shabby old coat when Artie could wear too many children. The Zylberbergs are approved to stay, but
Vladek's coat or even purchase a newer and warmer coat with Vladek's sister, Fela Spiegelman, and her four children are sent
just a trip to the store, just as Artie can't understand why his to the left with the rest of the "rejects." Vladek's father sneaks
father thinks he has the right to dictate what Artie wears. onto the "bad" side so Fela won't have to take care of the
Instances like this illustrate the deep rift in their ongoing children alone. Vladek never sees them again.
relationship.
Vladek tells Artie he's done for the day after this long story.
Slumped on his exercise bike, he looks exhausted and sad.
Artie visits Mala Spiegelman, Vladek's second wife, for a few
Book 1, Chapter 4 minutes. She tells him how her mother escaped the "bad" side
of the stadium only to end up in Auschwitz with her husband
before the war's end. Artie searches the sitting room for Anja's
Summary old diaries, which Vladek briefly mentioned during the
interview. It turns out Vladek is something of a hoarder, saving
Artie Spiegelman brings a tape recorder to his next visit with everything he's ever been given. Unable to find the journals,

Artie says he'll try again another day. death. Vladek explains many who cooperated with the
Germans thought "[i]f they gave to the Germans a few Jews,
they could save the rest." In other words, they believed in
Analysis sacrificing a few people for the greater good. Siding with the
Germans also allowed the Jewish police to ensure that they
Vladek survives the war and the concentration camp because and their families would live at least a little bit longer. Artie's
of his ingenuity and his willingness to take risks. This is partly and Vladek's position on this topic illustrate the differences
because of the experiences he had during the first few months between peacetime and wartime morality. Artie, who has never
of fighting. While his brother-in-law, Wolfe, is convinced the experienced war, can't fathom that the Jewish police would
war will be over soon, Vladek has seen the utter hatred the actually help the Germans break up Jewish families. Vladek, on
Nazis have for the Jewish population. He knows they will stop the other hand, doesn't blame the Jewish police at all for their
at nothing to kill anyone who stands in their way, and he's actions. They did what they had to do to survive.
certain they won't be stopped until they get what they want.
Until Vladek's return, Wolfe and the rest of the Zylberbergs
have been somewhat protected in Sosnowiec. Mr. Zylberberg Book 1, Chapter 5
is probably still the wealthiest Jew in town, and he has
connections worth far more than money. He pays for the
black-market goods that allow them some aspect of comfort,
and he arranges working papers and a cover story for Vladek,
Summary
who is the only person actually bringing money into the
In hysterics Mala Spiegelman calls her stepson, Artie
household. Vladek takes risk after risk to ensure his son, his
Spiegelman, because his father, Vladek Spiegelman, is on the
wife, and his wife's extended family survive. This instinct to
roof, trying to fix the leaky drainpipe himself. Artie is annoyed
take care of others has been visible since childhood. According
by the early call and the demand for his help, and then even
to Spiegelman, Vladek's family called him "Little Father"
more annoyed when Vladek gets on the phone and says a
because he exhibited so much practicality and a willingness to
neighbor is going to help him. Vladek seems depressed when
take care of his family, even as a child.
Artie visits a few days later. Mala says it's because he read
Book 1, Chapter 4 makes the first mention of Auschwitz, the Artie's comic about Anja Spiegelman's suicide, Prisoner on the
infamous extermination camp where Vladek was eventually Hell Planet. Vladek and Artie walk to the bank so Artie can get
imprisoned. Auschwitz was actually three separate camps near a key to Vladek's safety deposit box. Vladek is convinced Mala
the Polish city of Oswiecim. The first, Auschwitz I, was built in will try to take everything if something happens to him. On the
the summer of 1940. It was mainly a work camp and prison, but way he picks up stray telephone wire on the street to hoard
there was an area to kill "small, targeted groups of the and has to rest to take nitrostat for his chest pains. He also
population." It was a regular destination for Jews in Sosnowiec resumes telling his story.
who had broken laws, even minor ones like forgetting to wear a
In 1943 all Jews in Sosnowiec are moved to nearby Srodula,
badge. About 65 Sosnowiec residents were sent each week.
now a Jewish ghetto. Wolfe, Tosha, and Bibi Steinkeller leave
Relatives learned of their loved ones' deaths weeks later via
the rest of the family to go to Zawiercie, where Wolfe's Uncle
letters in the mail. Rumors about Auschwitz spread, but many
Persis is the head of the Jewish council. Vladek and Anja send
people couldn't—or wouldn't—believe it, even when people
their son, Richieu Spiegelman, and their niece, Lonia
returned from the camp with eyewitness accounts. But soon
Spiegelman, with them, thinking they will be safer in Persis's
the rumor became impossible to ignore. As Vladek tells Artie,
care. Months later, they learn the Nazis sent everyone in
"[t]his same news came more and more, so we believed, and
Zawiercie to extermination camps. Tosha got early warning of
later on we saw."
what was to come, and she poisoned the children and herself
Artie has trouble understanding how the Jewish police, who so they wouldn't be taken by the Nazis.
had been the ones to force the Zylberbergs to hand over

Life in Srodula is hardly better than prison. The Jews are
Anja's grandparents, could be involved with the mass
locked in the city except when coming and going to work
deportations they must have known were going to end in

camps, which are a 90-minute march away. People are being Artie of the comic, "It's good you got it outside your system." In
arrested whether they have work permits or not. At the end of later interviews Spiegelman says his father's reaction to
July, 10,000 Jews are moved to an extermination camp. Prisoner on the Planet Hell was one of the first times he
Vladek, Anja, their nephew Lolek Zylberberg, and Anja's realized just how little he understood his father's personality.
parents are spared because they hide in a basement bunker. He had been expecting uncontrollable anger and rage, but he
They build another bunker, this time in an attic, when they are got sympathy instead.
forced to move to a new house, but a fellow Jew finds them
and turns them into the Gestapo. Vladek later buries the same Most of Book 1, Chapter 5 takes place in Srodula, the ghetto
man, whom his cousin Haskel Spiegelman ordered to be shot. for Jews from Sosnowiec. Ghettos were established by the
Nazis throughout Poland as a means of segregating the Jewish
Haskel is a chief of the Jewish police. He smuggles Anja, population from non-Jews and from one another. More than
Vladek, and Lolek to safety after they are captured by the 1,000 ghettos existed at one time or another in Poland and the
Gestapo but doesn't attempt to save Anja's parents because Soviet Union during the war years. They were not permanent
they are so old. Vladek and Anja get jobs at the shoe shop, homes, but rather a way station while Nazi officials tried to
which is run by Vladek's other cousin, Miloch Spiegelman. figure out how to "solve" the problem of the Jews they had
When the Nazis begin "liquidating" the last 1,000 people in the under their control after conquering Poland. In the meantime
ghetto, Miloch, Vladek, Anja, and a dozen others hide in a the ghettos were run by Jewish councils. Appointed by the
bunker in the shoe shop hidden underneath a massive pile of Nazis, these groups oversaw daily life in the ghetto. Laws were
shoes. Miloch's brother Pesach Spiegelman, who is hiding in enforced by Jewish police like Haskel, Vladek's cousin. Both
another bunker, bribes a German officer to "look the other Haskel and Persis, Wolfe's uncle, are lulled into a false sense of
way" while he and a group of others escape. Miloch and Vladek security because of their close working relationship with the
think this is a bad idea. They are right—the entire group is shot Nazis. They think they and their families will be spared the fate
upon sight. After a few days of silence in the ghetto, Vladek, of the rest of their people because they have proven
Miloch, and Anja leave the bunker and go their separate ways. themselves to be different and valuable. They don't understand
With nowhere else to hide, Vladek and Anja head toward they are pawns in a game that was rigged from the beginning.
Sosnowiec. They are wearing pig masks. Vladek does. He never fully trusts any of his cousins except
Miloch because he thinks they are kombinators, or crooks, who
are hardly any better than the people trying to kill them. It
Analysis doesn't matter if they're family—that kind of loyalty died long
ago. At the same time, Vladek would not have survived Srodula
Prisoner on the Hell Planet, which is included in the text of if Haskel hadn't weaseled his way into the good graces of the
Maus, was originally published in 1972 in Short Order, a short- Nazis. That's why he still sends care packages to Haskel, who
run underground comic. Spiegelman never intended his father is still alive and living in Poland decades later. Vladek doesn't
to see it because he assumed Vladek would be angry with him like the type of man Haskel was, but he also knows he owes
for portraying Anja's suicide in such a crude, unsympathetic him his life.
way. In the last three cells, Spiegelman shows himself as an
inmate in a large prison as he blames his mother for his own The last page of Book 1, Chapter 5 is full of symbolism. Vladek,
depressive nature. "You murdered me, Mommy, and you left Anja, and the rest of the group emerge from the shoe bunker
me here to take the rap!!!" he yells after accusing Anja of wearing pig masks. In Maus non-Jewish Poles are depicted as
"short[ing] all [his] circuits," "cut[ting] [his] nerve endings," and pigs. Wearing the masks, which are pig faces that tie with a
"cross[ing] his wires." This is a reference to Spiegelman's string around the back of the head, is symbolic of how the
diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia when he was 20, which group is trying to hide their Jewishness and blend in with the
resulted in a month-long stay at a state mental institution just rest of the Polish population. That the masks are pig faces is
prior to his mother's death. The comic is an emotionally particularly significant, since religious Jews do not eat pork
overwhelming and unflattering portrayal of a family in the and ham, staples of the Polish diet. There's a sense this
middle of a crisis, but Vladek is saddened by it only because it scheme isn't going to work well. Spiegelman draws the road to
makes him miss Anja more than he already does. Showing an Sosnowiec in the shape of a swastika, the symbol of the Nazi
unusual sensitivity to the feelings of others, Vladek says to Party, which is a foreboding hint there will be no place for

Vladek and Anja to safely hide. here will not come out anymore," Vladek tells Artie.
Artie asks Vladek once again if he was able to find Anja's
Book 1, Chapter 6 journals—he wants to know what she experienced when she
and Vladek were separated. Vladek finally admits he burned
the journals, as well as several other of Anja's dearest
possessions, in a fit of depression. Artie is livid. "You murderer!
Summary How the hell could you do such a thing!!" he yells. Vladek is
surprised by the outburst, and Artie calms himself, pretending
Mala Spiegelman is home alone when Artie Spiegelman visits
everything is fine as he says goodbye to conclude Book One.
next. She complains about how terribly her husband, Vladek
Spiegelman, treats her, and Artie isn't sure how to respond. He
says Vladek is probably like this because of the war. Mala
Analysis
doesn't buy it. "All our friends went through the camps. Nobody
is like him," she says. Artie later suggests to Vladek they get Vladek and Mala's relationship is based more on convenience
marriage counseling, but Vladek is interested only in hiring a than love. Finding themselves alone at an advanced age, they
lawyer. The interview then resumes. naturally gravitate toward others who have similar experiences
and backgrounds. In this case they found each other within
In the fall of 1944, Vladek and Anja Spiegelman search
their close-knit group of Jewish friends who survived World
Sosnowiec for a place to hide and eventually end up in Mrs.
War II. Their unspoken bond, however, isn't strong enough to
Kawka's barn. Cold and exposed, it is less than ideal. Vladek's
withstand their clearly incompatible personalities. Mala thinks
scouting expeditions reveal the local black market and a
Vladek's a miser; Vladek thinks Mala's a spendthrift. Yet there
potential new place to stay—the house of Mrs. Motonowa, the
is also some affection between the two, at least on Mala's part,
black-market grocer, 20 kilometers outside Sosnowiec. They
as she is jealous of Vladek's continued devotion to Anja. Artie
feel safer in her home than in the unheated, unlocked barn, but
is stuck in the middle. He doesn't think Mala is nearly as bad as
it's still not perfect. She kicks them out in fear of a Gestapo
his father says she is, but he also doesn't want to agree with
raid only to ask them to return two days later. A few weeks
Mala when she badmouths Vladek. He doesn't necessarily see
after that, her husband comes home from Germany for 10
eye-to-eye with his father, but he is still loyal to him.
days. Anja and Vladek huddle in Mrs. Motonowa's grocery
storage cellar the entire time with great difficulty. That same quality meant very little in Nazi-occupied Poland in
the early 1940s. Vladek makes it clear to Artie that every safe
Anja feels they are safe with Mrs. Motonowa, but Vladek wants
place he found and every alliance he made were based on the
to escape to Hungary, where things are allegedly better for
exchange of money or goods. Nothing was done out of the
Jews. Mrs. Kawka connects him with Poles who reportedly
goodness of one's heart. Helping Jews in any way, from selling
smuggle Jews across the Hungarian border. Vladek runs into
them food to transporting them to hiding them, was punishable
an old acquaintance, Mr. Mandelbaum, and his nephew,
by death. This is why Janina, Richieu's former nanny, refuses to
Abraham Mandelbaum, at the meeting. Mr. Mandelbaum and
help Vladek and Anja when they first arrive in Sosnowiec.
Vladek don't completely trust the smugglers, so Abraham says
Though she had once told them she thought of them "as part
he will go first and write a letter if it is safe for them to follow.
of [her] own family," she now deems their presence too risky.
Anja is completely against this plan, but Vladek convinces her
So why take the risk? It's a simple enough answer—money.
it's the best choice. The letter from Abraham arrives. It is
Goods and services were far and few between during World
written in Yiddish and bears his signature, so the
War II, even for non-Jews. Things like eggs, chocolate, and
Mandelbaums, Vladek, and Anja get on the train with their
cheese were available on the black market, but they were
Polish contacts. An hour after their departure, the train is
incredibly expensive. For some non-Jewish Poles, the reward
stopped by the Gestapo in Bielsko, the home of Vladek's
of a more comfortable life was worth the risk of aiding
former factory. It had been a trap. After a few days in the
fugitives, a category to which all eastern European Jews
Bielsko prison, Vladek and Anja are reunited on a truck headed
belonged by 1944.
toward Oswiecim, the home of Auschwitz. "And we knew from

Book 1, Chapter 6 ends the first half of Maus, and Spiegelman driven to Florida, and Vladek is a mess, so Artie and his wife,
leaves the reader with a cliffhanger of sorts, at the entry gates Françoise, drive back to the Catskills to stay with him for the
to Auschwitz itself. Vladek has burned all of Anja's journals, weekend. Vladek has other ideas. He thinks they should spend
which Artie says he desperately needs for his book. In later the rest of the summer with him and then move into his house
interviews Spiegelman said he would have been more likely to in Queens. That's not going to happen. His constant
tell Anja's story instead of Vladek's if the journals had survived. complaining and criticisms are driving Artie crazy, and after a
As well as changing the narrative arc of Maus, Anja's missing painful fight about saving matches, Artie leaves the house to
journals serve as a symbol in the book itself. Vladek says he cool off, only to be accosted by Vladek's neighbors who insist
burned the journals because Artie must stay to take care of his father. Later in the day, Artie
"[t]hese papers had too many memories." This is important and Vladek take a walk to the Pines, a loosely secured resort
because Vladek doesn't get rid of anything, not even 13-year- where Vladek likes to pretend he's a guest to play bingo and
old unused calendars! He also knew how much Anja wanted use the steam room. Vladek resumes his story.
Artie to have the journals. The journals are full of Anja's
memories, and Vladek burns them as a means of trying to Vladek and Anja are separated upon their arrival at Auschwitz
forget the past, Auschwitz included. Their destruction is a in 1944, but Vladek manages to stick close to Mr. Mandelbaum.
symbol of his ongoing anguish after her death. They are forcibly showered, completely shaved, and tattooed
with their six-digit serial numbers. Vladek is told by a Polish
Artie's reaction to Vladek's news is also significant, both for priest that his number, 175113, is a good omen because it adds
how he acts in the moment and how he presents himself in the up to the lucky number 18. The priest is certain Vladek will
book. Vladek essentially erased any possibility of Artie's make it out of Auschwitz alive. This gives Vladek, who had
getting to know his mother better through her own words, been very depressed, somehow the strength to carry on. Mr.
which is why Artie calls him a "murderer." Artie's anger stems Mandelbaum, however, isn't doing well. His clothes are too big,
from his regret for not taking the time and initiative to get to one of his shoes is too small, and he has lost his spoon. He is
know Anja outside the mother-son relationship, and he takes it freezing and hungry and miserable.
out on Vladek. Therefore, it is Artie, not Vladek, who comes off
as the bad guy at the end of Book 1 of Maus. Spiegelman's Shortly after they arrive, the kapo, or supervisor, of the unit
fictional avatar acts like a petulant child throwing a tantrum recruits Vladek to tutor him in English. The kapo, who is a
about something that was destroyed even if it caused his Polish prisoner, already knows German, but he thinks it would
father immense pain. It's not a flattering portrayal, but it's be valuable to know English if the Allies win the war. He is
probably an honest one. Spiegelman didn't write Maus to make impressed with Vladek and treats him almost as a friend,
himself look good—he was more focused on staying true to his making sure he is safe from the daily culling of the prisoners.
father's story and an honest depiction of their frayed He also gives Vladek all the food he can eat and a set of
relationship. That required him to present himself exactly how clothes that fit, including real leather shoes. Even Mr.
he was, flaws and all. Mandelbaum benefits from the kapo's generosity, but his
change of fortune lasts only a few days, as he is soon sent to a
work detail. Vladek never sees him again.
Book 2, Chapter 1 Vladek stays in the quarantine block for two months under the
kapo's protection, much longer than any other prisoner. When
the kapo can hold Vladek no longer, he arranges for him to
Summary have one of the better work details in the tin shop.
As Book 2, And Here My Troubles Began, opens, Artie

Spiegelman and his wife are vacationing with friends in Analysis
Vermont when they receive a phone call from Vladek
Spiegelman, whom they visited just days before at his Vladek would likely not have survived Auschwitz without his
bungalow in the Catskill Mountains. Mala Spiegelman had unique skills. He speaks English, knows how to work with tin, is
taken money from their bank account, hopped in the car, and comfortable doing carpentry, and can even cobble shoes. His

practical experience in a variety of fields makes him invaluable adult in the relationship. Artie shouldn't have to take care of
to his superiors, who soon forget he's just another nameless him. But Vladek's medical conditions and his age have turned
Jew. Names, in fact, can matter in Auschwitz because they are the tables. The proud man who managed to survive Auschwitz
hardly ever used. Each prisoner was assigned a six-digit serial with nothing but his ingenuity now feels like he needs someone
number, which was tattooed on one arm. Guards and other to take care of him. With the safety net of Mala gone, the only
officers referred to the Jews only by their numbers, not their person left is Artie.
names, which was a means of dehumanization. Taking away a
person's name damages self-esteem and the person's sense
of self-worth, which makes everyone easier to control. People Book 2, Chapter 2
treated this way become more like livestock than actual
humans, which makes it easier for the people in charge of the
camp to punish and eventually kill them. This is one of the
Summary
reasons the kapo keeps Vladek around for so long. He begins
calling Vladek by his last name rather his number, after Vladek
It is February 1987. Vladek Spiegelman died in 1982. Artie
becomes his tutor, and even eventually calls him Vladek. The
Spiegelman is overwhelmed by the success of the first volume
kapo is a nasty guy—Spiegelman draws him as a snarling pig
of Maus, which was published to critical and commercial
with a cigarette perpetually dangling from his mouth—but his
acclaim in 1986. He's also depressed. Thinking about the
interactions with Vladek make him realize Vladek is perhaps a
Holocaust all the time is taking its toll, and he feels like
human being with thoughts and feelings. It's a lot harder to hurt
anything but a "functioning adult." A visit to his psychiatrist,
someone when you value him as a human being.
Pavel, puts things in perspective. Artie goes home and listens
to some of his father's taped interviews from the summer of
Vladek manages to keep both his humanity and his morality in
1979, when he and Françoise visited Vladek in the Catskills.
his first weeks in Auschwitz. He risks his own safety to secure
a new spoon, new shoes, and a belt so Mr. Mandelbaum can be
Vladek's work in the tin shop takes him all over the camp to
more comfortable and less afraid, and he uses the information
repair roofs. This is how he meets Mancie, a kind woman
the kapo gives him to help his friend stay safe as long as
leading a group of female workers from Birkenau, the second
possible. That kind of selflessness can be hard to find during
of the Auschwitz camps. She acts as a go-between for Vladek
times of war. Abraham, Mr. Mandelbaum's cousin, is a good
and Anja Spiegelman, delivering letters and food. Vladek gets
example. He tells his uncle and Vladek the Gestapo would have
to Birkenau himself on a work excursion and gets to see Anja
killed him if he hadn't written the letter encouraging them to go
in person. Just talking to her is dangerous—a suspicious guard
through with the escape to Hungary. He knows they are going
nearly beats Vladek to death on one occasion. Vladek doesn't
to be captured and sent to Auschwitz, but that doesn't seem to
dare go to the hospital, which is known as a one-way ticket to
matter. He is concerned only with saving himself. Vladek, who
the gas chamber.
understands the instinct for self-preservation, doesn't blame
Abraham for his actions. The reader might. What if Abraham By using his quick wits, Vladek gets himself a job as the only
had refused? He would have died, but he might have saved two shoemaker in Auschwitz. He does top-notch work, and his
lives in the process. There isn't any right answer in this reputation spreads among the officers in the Gestapo, who
situation, which illustrates the moral quandaries many people bring him food as thanks. He even repairs the shoe of Anja's
face in life-or-death situations such as the unimaginable cruel kapo, who takes Anja under her wing afterward. The shoe
Auschwitz. shop closes after a few months, and Vladek is moved away
from his warm and solitary work environment to "black work,"
Back in the present, Artie is faced with a moral dilemma of his
or hard outdoor labor. On the bright side, Anja has been
own. Does he stay to help Vladek now that Mala is gone or
transferred to the new women's barracks in Auschwitz thanks
does he live his life as before, dropping in now and again for an
to bribes organized by Vladek.
interview? Artie doesn't want to be burdened with caring for
his father—he doesn't even really like being around him—but he Vladek is moved back to the tin shop toward the end of 1944.
feels a sense of obligation to Vladek, and he's uncomfortable The Russians are getting close, and tin men are needed to
with it. From Artie's point of view, Vladek is supposed to be the dismantle the machinery in the gas chambers so it can be

moved to Germany, where the Nazis can "finish [the Jews] in The same reasoning applies to his penchant for picking up
quiet." Huge holes are being dug outside the gas chambers. trash off the street. He had to save every scrap of material
They are mass graves. Vladek says the "lucky ones" are dead goods in Auschwitz—paper, wood, lead—because one never
from the gas chambers when their bodies are thrown in. knew when it would be needed. This information not only gives
Others are put in alive before being burned to death. Artie asks the reader a better idea of why Vladek is the way he is, but it
Vladek why the Jews didn't resist. Vladek says they were too also makes Artie a less sympathetic character in the process.
hungry and scared to fight back. Most of all, none of them Spiegelman could easily have presented his father as the
could believe any of this was really happening. stereotypically miserly old man but instead casts a bit of the
shadow on himself too for not being fully understanding, which
is perhaps another symptom of his life-long guilt.
Analysis
Writing Maus wasn't necessarily good for Spiegelman's mental Book 2, Chapter 3
health. He was suddenly under the spotlight for something he
didn't even experience, and he felt stuck in terms of how to
proceed with the story. His diminishing self-confidence is
represented by his constantly shrinking form on the page. By
Summary
the time he's ready to see Pavel, he is drawn as a small child.
Vladek Spiegelman is upset that Artie Spiegelman and
His talk with Pavel helps him regain his confidence and sense
Françoise Mouly are planning to leave him alone the next day.
of purpose, and as he walks home he grows taller and taller.
He tries to give them half-eaten food to take home but Artie
Yet he shrinks almost immediately upon returning home, this
refuses, so Vladek decides to try to return it to the grocery
time because he hears himself yelling at Vladek on tape. Years
store. On their way there, he continues his story.
after his father's death, Artie is ashamed of his impatience in
getting Vladek's story. As he suggests to Pavel, he draws Nearing the end of the war, the Russians are about 25 miles
himself small because he feels guilty that his life is so much away from Auschwitz, and the Germans are making
easier than Vladek's. This is one of the reasons why he never preparations to move everyone in the camp into Germany.
felt he was good enough for Vladek. Until Pavel mentions it, Vladek and a group of men prepare to hide in a dorm attic but
Artie never considers the possibility that Vladek also suffered abandon the plan after hearing the Germans are going to
from survivor's guilt and showed off all the time as a way of bomb and burn the entire camp. They fall in line with the other
proving to himself why he was allowed to live while millions of prisoners and have to endure a walk of hundreds of miles into
others died. Germany. After a brief stop at another small camp called
Gross-Rosen, the prisoners are loaded onto a cattle train. The
The interviews Spiegelman used to build Book 2, Chapter 2 of
car is dangerously crowded, and they go without food and
Maus provide a lot of insight into Vladek's character during the
water for days on end. Again miraculously, Vladek is one of 25
period of the interviews themselves. There are two aspects of
out of 200 people who survive the train ride, which takes them
his father's personality that really annoy Artie: his father's
to Dachau, outside the German city of Munich.
refusal to throw anything away and his expertise in nearly
every aspect of household repair. The reader initially sides with Dachau is overrun with lice, which are spreading typhus, a
Artie because that type of difficult behavior sounds annoying. bacterial disease. People are dying from illness and fighting
But Spiegelman isn't interested in portraying himself only as over soup, which isn't served to anyone who has lice on their
the put-upon son or as his father's savior. He wants to tell how clothing. Vladek gets an infection in his hand, and after he is
things really are, which means telling both sides of the story, released from the infirmary he meets a Frenchman who speaks
even if it means making himself look somehow petty. Vladek English. The man is so grateful to be able to talk to someone
mentions his capabilities all the time because they are what else that he shares with Vladek the care packages his family
kept him alive during the war. "You see?" he says to Artie. "It's sends him. Vladek trades some of the food to secure clean
good to know how to do everything!" He's not bragging—he's shirts for both himself and the Frenchman. Now they always
telling his son why it's important to know how to do things on get soup.
your own.

Vladek is stricken with typhus a few weeks later. He is taken to Vladek survived the war, but, as Artie points out, there are also
the infirmary, but he is too weak to eat and talk. Everyone some ways in which he didn't survive. He was irrevocably
assumes he's going to die. He hangs on, paying other patients changed by his experiences. Though he had always been a
with bread for assistance to and from the toilet. When his fever careful and practical man, his need to make use of every object
breaks, he's released from the camp as part of a prisoner of in his path didn't start until the war nor did his penny-pinching
war exchange. He and other patients from the infirmary are put ways. These traits are common in people who have withstood
on a train heading toward the Swiss border. financial difficulties, but Vladek takes it to the extreme. He is
literally trying to return boxes of food that have been opened
Françoise stops the car on the way home from the grocery and half-eaten. He doesn't understand this is socially
store to pick up a hitchhiker, who is black. Vladek freaks out. unacceptable, nor does he see it's impractical—and financially
He doesn't trust this "shvatsa" (a derogatory Yiddish term ruinous—for stores to refund money for half-used products. He
meaning "black man") and watches the man closely to make sees only a commodity that has no value for him but may have
sure he doesn't steal any of their food. Françoise is livid with value for someone else.
Vladek after they drop off the man. "How can you, of all people,
be such a racist!" she demands. "You talk about blacks the way One surprising thing about Vladek that doesn't change after
the Nazis talked about the Jews!" Vladek insists there's no the war is what we would call his racism. Françoise, who is
comparison. They go home to have lunch. French, is particularly upset about the way Vladek reacts to the
hitchhiker. She did not grow up aware of the discriminatory
attitudes against black people in the United States, so she is
Analysis horrified by what Artie interprets as usual behavior for people
of his father's generation. She thinks that Vladek, as a minority
The Dachau Camp, located in Dachau, Germany, was the first himself, should be less judgmental about other minorities. He
concentration camp established by the Nazis and served as a knows what it's like to be discriminated against, so he should
model for all subsequent camps. Built in 1933, it was originally be more sympathetic to the man looking for a ride. Spiegelman
used as a detention center for those who opposed Nazi ideals, includes this scene to show that suffering doesn't necessarily
such as German Communists, Social Democrats, and trade make a person better—it just makes someone a person who
unionists. Over time other marginalized groups, such as Roma suffered and then shares unacceptable prejudices with others
gypsies, homosexuals, and Jehovah's Witnesses, were sent in a new environment.
there as well. Jews didn't have much of a presence until 1938,
when 10,000 Jewish men were sent there after Kristallnacht, a
night of region-wide rioting and violence across Germany Book 2, Chapter 4
directed against Jews. Most of those men were released within
a few months, but the numbers of Jews in the camp continued
to rise throughout the course of the war. There is no evidence
gas chambers were used in this particular camp, but thousands
Summary
upon thousands died from the effects of medical experiments,
It's late fall in Rego Park, New York. Vladek Spiegelman has
forced labor, and poor sanitary conditions. Hundreds were
realized he can no longer live on his own. However, he doesn't
killed in front of firing squads, and thousands more were
want to move to a retirement community, and Artie Spiegelman
shipped to a killing center in Austria. As the Allies closed in on
and his wife, Françoise Mouly, won't move in with him. He
Germany in 1945, the Nazis moved prisoners from all over
wonders if he should give his estranged second wife, Mala
Europe into Dachau, causing massive overcrowding that
Spiegelman, the $100,000 she wants to move back in. Vladek
resulted in even more deaths from starvation and disease.
also wants Artie to help him put up the storm windows, but
Nearly 61,000 prisoners were liberated by the Allies on April
Artie wants to hear more of his father's story first.
29, 1945. Seven thousand more on a "death march" away from
the camp were rescued days later, but not all made it. For In that story Anja Spiegelman, Vladek's wife, survived the war
many it was far too late. Historians estimate 28,000 lives were thanks to Mancie, who always kept Anja close by. They were
ended at Dachau between 1940 and 1945. liberated by the Russians, and Anja goes back to Sosnowiec

before Vladek, who has to wander for months before getting rest of Maus. Bearing the same neutral facial features as every
home. The prisoner of war exchange at the Swiss border never other mouse in the novel, they'd be completely unidentifiable
happens. They are taken off the train and marched to the without names and dates scrawled at the bottom of each
frontier, where word spreads that the war is over. Vladek and "photo." This artistic choice is symbolic of Spiegelman's
the rest of the prisoners aren't free yet. They are detained attempts and failures to understand truly the incomprehensible
twice by Wehrmacht patrols threatening to kill them, but the losses his parents endured and his ultimate inability to connect
threats don't come to fruition before the Germans flee. Vladek with relatives he never met.
and his friend Shivek separate themselves from the group and
hide in a barn connected to a recently abandoned house. They Going through the photographs is hard on Vladek, both
are soon discovered by an American regiment, which allows emotionally and physically. Many of his conversations with
them to work and live in the house alongside them now that the Artie end in chest pains or extreme exhaustion, yet Vladek
war is over. never refuses the opportunity to answer Artie's questions in

great detail. He and Artie have never had a great relationship,
Following the story, Vladek gives Artie a box of family and Artie doesn't show much interest in spending time with his
photographs, many of which were taken before the war. Nearly father until he decides to interview him about his experiences
everyone in the photographs died in the war with the exception during the war. This is a watershed moment for Vladek, who is
of Anja's brother Herman Zylberberg and his wife, Hela; their portrayed in the book as craving his son's attention. He will
son (Artie's cousin) Lolek; and Vladek's brother Pinek take any time with his son he can get, even if that means
Spiegelman. Vladek gets chest pains as he and Artie talk, and reliving some of his most painful memories. The pleasure of his
he decides they can't do the storm windows today. Artie feels son's finally taking an interest in him poignantly outweighs the
guilty for making his father talk for so long, but Vladek doesn't pain of the past.
mind. "Always it's a pleasure when you visit," he says.
Book 2, Chapter 5
Analysis
Living on his own has made Vladek realize he's not as strong
and self-sufficient as he once used to be, but he's loathe to
Summary
rely on anyone but Artie. For one thing Artie's help doesn't cost
It is winter. Vladek and Mala Spiegelman are back together
Vladek anything. It's also an excuse for Vladek to see his son,
again, and Vladek has been in the hospital for some health
who remains distant even though he and his father have been
problems. Artie Spiegelman flies to Florida to help them pack
spending more time together, talking about Vladek's
so they can go back to New York to see Vladek's regular
experiences in Auschwitz. From Vladek's perspective it is
doctors. An ambulance takes Vladek and Artie to La Guardia
Artie's familial duty to take care of his father in his old age, just
Hospital as soon as the plane lands, and Vladek goes through
as Mr. and Mrs. Zylberberg took care of Anja's grandparents in
several rounds of tests. The doctors say he's okay and send
Poland once they were too old to live on their own. That's just
him home with a very unhappy Artie, who had been under the
the way things were done. Artie has never experienced that,
impression something was severely wrong with Vladek. It turns
though, because almost everyone in his extended family was
out Vladek just wanted to be closer to his "health plan hospital"
killed during the war. The loss of life also resulted in the loss of
so he wouldn't have to pay out-of-pocket for medical
tradition and culture. Growing up in the United States and
expenses. Artie is so mad at Vladek he doesn't talk to him for a
without many relatives, Artie's sense of responsibility toward
month. When he finally does visit, he learns Vladek and Mala
Vladek is not as pronounced as it might have been had Vladek
are moving to Florida permanently. Vladek isn't doing well—he
and Anja's families survived the war.
seems very forgetful, and he has to rest all the time—but he's
The photographs Vladek gives to Artie are the only tangible tired of arguing with Mala. "I want only peace," Vladek says. He
connection Artie has to his parents' past. Yet instead of agrees to tell Artie the rest of his story.
showing the reader the actual photographs, Spiegelman draws

In 1945 the Americans sent Vladek and Shivek to a displaced
them in the same style of illustration as used throughout the

Maus Study Guide Quotes 27
persons' camp. Vladek becomes ill with what doctors think is his sense of responsibility to take care of him. Artie doesn't
typhus but is later diagnosed as diabetes. When he feels well want to be beholden to anyone, particularly the man with whom
again, he and Shivek go to Hanover to visit Shivek's brother, he felt no connection for nearly 30 years. He thinks he will be
who is married to a gentile (or a non-Jewish) woman. Vladek happier without having to deal with Vladek's problems. But by
spends a few days in nearby Belsen, the home of a large doing so, he's only creating problems for others, particularly
displacement camp, to search for news of Anja. While there, he Mala. Vladek has no known friends in Florida, and when he falls
runs into two girls from Sosnowiec. They say Poles are killing ill, Mala is the only person he can call. She is reeled in again
Jews who try to reclaim their property, but Anja is alive and against her will, but she doesn't feel she has much of a choice
safe. Anja, meanwhile, visits a gypsy fortune-teller who tells her in this situation. If Artie won't help Vladek, then it's all up to her.
Vladek has been very ill but is still alive. She foresees a Yet Mala isn't emotionally and, in some cases, physically able
boatride to a faraway place and the birth of another son. to do all the caretaking. She in turn relies on Artie. Artie is
learning it's impossible to be a passive bystander where his
Vladek and Shivek head to Poland by train and on foot, but family is concerned. He has no other choice but to give up his
they are separated when the train leaves while Vladek is role as child and become the adult in the relationship.
searching for water. He is left with only the clothes on his back
and his water jug, but he continues marching toward The end of Book 2, Chapter 5 also underscores the uncertainty
Sosnowiec. After nearly a month of walking, he and Anja are of memory and the human instinct to recall events as being
reunited. They move to Sweden while they wait for approval to better than they actually were. Despite Vladek's insistence that
come to the United States to live near Anja's only surviving he and Anja were "happy, happy ever after," the reader knows
relative, Herman. "We were both very happy, and lived happy, the truth isn't as black and white. Anja suffered from
happy ever after," Vladek tells Artie. He asks Artie to turn off depression her entire life and ends up killing herself when Artie
the tape recorder but accidentally calls him Richieu. The book is 20. Yet Vladek remembers—or chooses to remember—only
ends with a drawing of Vladek and Anja's joint headstone. the good times with her. His rewriting of their story to have a
happy ending calls into question everything he's told Artie
about his experiences during the war. Artie and the reader
Analysis must remember that Vladek is telling his version of the truth.
His personal experiences create a narrative that would be
The final chapter of Maus focuses on the end of both of much different from someone else whose path mirrored his
Vladek's stories, his life in the war and his life in the present. He own. Memory is not only experiences but attitudes, feelings,
is not well. His memory and body are failing, and there is a and the absence of things forgotten. That all adds up to a story
sense of urgency that Artie hear the rest of his story before it that is truthful but maybe not absolutely so.
is too late. Spiegelman has said in interviews that the depiction
of his father's decline is compressed to take place in a much
shorter time frame, but it all actually happened. The
headstrong, domineering father Artie knew as a child and
g Quotes
young adult quite suddenly turns into a frail old man, whose
spirit is fading along with his health. Just a month after he and
"For my condition I must fight to
Mala return from Florida, they are headed there for good
because he doesn't want to fight anymore. This should be a save myself."
relief for Mala, but even she is melancholy. The old Vladek is
disappearing, and his memories are going with him. Thankfully — Vladek, Book 1, Chapter 2
for Artie, Vladek's memories of the war are still intact. These
experiences are so seared into his psyche that they have
Vladek speaks about his current health condition, which
become indelible. He may confuse his adult son for the son
includes diabetes and heart problems. He doesn't trust doctors
who didn't live past the age of six, but he remembers the name
to take care of his body, so he adds dozens of vitamins to his
of a man whom he hasn't seen in more than 30 years.
medication regimen. This quote also applies to how Vladek
Artie's drive to get the end of his father's story is stronger than approached life during the war. The only person who could

save him was himself. He never relied on the goodness of

"To die, it's easy. But you have to
others to see him through.
struggle for life!"
"People came back and told us. — Vladek, Book 1, Chapter 5
But we didn't believe."

Vladek says this to Anja when she's despairing over their
situation: they have no home, they are hiding from the Nazis,
— Vladek, Book 1, Chapter 4
and their young son is dead. Vladek acknowledges it would be
far easier to die, but he doesn't want to die. He wants to fight
The extermination camps weren't a secret during the war, and to survive, and he needs Anja to fight alongside him.
those who made it out alive spread word of the fate that
awaited millions of Jews in eastern Europe. The mass
slaughter was so inconceivable that no one could fathom it
"What you think? Someone will
was actually happening until they saw it with their own eyes or
experienced it. risk their life for nothing?"

"It's good you got it outside your
system." Artie always seems surprised when Vladek tells him about
paying others to help him and Anja survive in Sosnowiec after
the liquidation of the ghetto. Artie thinks people would help
because of family ties or simply because they didn't agree with
what the Nazis were doing. He doesn't understand the extreme
Vladek says this to Artie about Artie's comic, The Prisoner on danger of the situation, even for non-Jewish Poles. If Jews
Planet Hell, which is about Anja's suicide. Artie expected his wanted help, they had to make it worth the while of the helper.
father to be angry, but Vladek surprises him by understanding During the Holocaust, altruism was basically as good as dead,
the need to release his anger and grief. This one sentence though heroic exceptions existed.
prompts Artie to reevaluate his assumptions about his father
and their relationship.
"This was 1944 ... we knew

"He was a millionaire, but even this everything. And here we were."
didn't save him his life." — Vladek, Book 1, Chapter 6

Vladek and Anja have no illusions of safety when they are
taken to Auschwitz at the end of 1944. They believe the rumors
Mr. and Mrs. Zylberberg bribed Vladek's cousin Haskel to help about the atrocities within, and they are sure this is where they
them escape the detention center, but Haskel wasn't willing to will die.
risk his own life for theirs. The Nazis basically didn't care about
a person's status, wealth, or reputation, so all Jews were equal
when it came to deciding who was next to die.
"I feel so inadequate trying to
reconstruct a reality that was


worse than my darkest dreams."
— Artie, Book 2, Chapter 1 Vladek's method of survival at Auschwitz is different from

Anja's. He is completely independent, relying on no one except
himself for his safety. Anja, on the other hand, has a supportive
Artie has never suffered as much as his parents did during
group of friends who protect one another. She shares scraps
World War II, and he probably never will. Even though he knows
of food with them, which Vladek thinks is a mistake. Anja is
their story best, he feels unqualified to tell it because he has no
already frail and needs all the food she can get. He tells her to
basis for comparison. This feeling of inadequacy has been
stop sharing food not only for her own survival, but for his own
present throughout Artie's entire life. Nothing he does or
happiness. He doesn't want to live without her.
experiences will ever be equal to surviving the Holocaust.
"But I'm telling not rumors, but only

"What could I do? They'd have
what really I saw."
shot me then and there."
— Abraham Mandelbaum, Book 2, Chapter 1
Vladek says this before describing the gas chambers in

Abraham Mandelbaum is reunited with his uncle and Vladek in
Auschwitz to Artie. He's making certain Artie realizes what he
Auschwitz. They want to know why he sent a letter saying it
is saying can't be dismissed as rumor—it is fact, and the facts
was safe to go to Hungary when it really wasn't. He says he
are awful.
didn't have a choice—he would have been killed if he hadn't.
But his desire to live put his uncle and Vladek in great danger
as well. That doesn't matter to Abraham, who is concerned
only about himself.
"How can you, of all people, be
such a racist!"
"People haven't changed ... Maybe — Françoise, Book 2, Chapter 3
they need a newer, bigger

Françoise can't believe the way Vladek reacts when she stops
Holocaust." to pick up a black hitchhiker. From her limited point of view,
Vladek's thoughts about the hitchhiker are no better than the
— Pavel, Book 2, Chapter 2 Nazis' thoughts about the Jews. Spiegelman includes this
interaction to show that just because one has suffered doesn't
Pavel, Artie's therapist, is speaking about the many published mean one has changed as a person.
experiences of Holocaust survivors and victims. He fears the
public isn't as affected by the gravity of these stories as they
should be, and worries something worse will have to happen "Let the Germans have a little
for people to learn lasting lessons about intolerance and the
danger of racial supremacy.
what they did to the Jews."
"Don't worry about friends. Believe

Vladek and Shivek come upon a German couple whose home
me, they don't worry about you."

Maus Study Guide Symbols 30
was destroyed by American troops. Vladek doesn't feel bad for separate from the mouse-cat-dog food chain, which is
them, as this is just a fraction of the horrors the Germans symbolic of the role of the Polish as bearing witness to the
inflicted on the Jews during the war. atrocities. But as pigs they carry all the negative
connotations associated with pigs as well. In fact, the
extermination camps were made by the occupying Germans
"We were both very happy, and on Polish land, which brought great pain to the already
difficult relation of Polish Catholics and Jews—going back
lived happy, happy ever after." centuries.
Photographs
Vladek ends his "story" with his reunion with Anja. He chooses
to remember their marriage as being like a fairy tale, but Artie
(and the audience) know it wasn't always happy. Vladek
There are two types of photographs in Maus: actual
chooses to remember the past as being better than it really
reproductions of family photos and Spiegelman's hand-drawn
was.
interpretation of family photos.
Only three of the photos in the book are actual

reproductions: the snapshot of Anja and young Artie in
l Symbols "Prisoner on the Hell Planet" in Book 1, Chapter 5, the photo
of Richieu at the beginning of Book 2, and the "souvenir"
photo of Vladek near the end of Book 2, Chapter 5.
Animal Heads Together, these three pictures show everyone in
Spiegelman's immediate family. His connection with them is
the strongest, so they are shown as they actually are.
The hand-drawn photographs in the book are all family
The use of animals to depict different races and nationalities is members who died during the war or passed later on. To
the most obvious use of symbolism in Maus. In addition to Spiegelman these people's lives are separate from his own,
letting Spiegelman avoid drawing the facial features of people like a fictional story with a tragic ending. He's trying to
he's never seen, this technique also helps the reader connect with them but can't picture them as fully formed
understand the power structure and national relationships in people. They remain one-dimensional characters who look
place during World War II. like every other mouse in the book.
All Jews, no matter their home of origin, are depicted as The photographs in Book 2, Chapter 4 have great meaning to
mice. They are the most vulnerable animals portrayed in the Vladek, both for who is and who isn't in the pictures. Anja's
book, taking refuge in small hiding places as they are hunted family photos were kept safe by Janina, the family's former
by the Nazis. nanny, during the war. The majority of those people died during
Germans are cats—in the book sneaky, conniving, and ready the Holocaust, including Richieu. "All what is left, it's the
to pounce with their claws out. Cats are hunters and the photos," Vladek says of the Zylberbergs. The extended
natural enemy of mice. Spiegelman clan isn't pictured because "it's nothing left, not
Americans are drawn as dogs. In the animal kingdom (and even a snapshot." Without photographic evidence of their lives,
children's cartoons), dogs are always chasing cats into it is as if Vladek's parents, brothers, and sisters never existed.
hiding. Spiegelman draws these particular dogs without any
discernible breed characteristics—they are mutts, which
represents the blended nature of the population of the
United States.
Polish people are depicted as pigs. They are entirely

Maus Study Guide Themes 31
even more. The death of her son, Richieu Spiegelman, and

Anja's Journals nearly all of her relatives left her with feelings of loss and
despair so strong that she took her own life in 1968. Even
though Vladek soon remarries, he too feels lonely when he
Anja was a lifelong diarist, even during the most stressful times thinks about all the people the war took from him, including his
of the war. Her journals didn't survive the war, so she started beloved bride.
from scratch, documenting her life from the beginning for
Even though their son, Artie Spiegelman, wasn't alive during
future generations. Artie desperately wants these journals as
World War II, he is still affected by it. The memory of his dead
he's working on Maus so he can better understand his
brother, Richieu, looms over everything he does, making Artie
mother's point of view. They are the closest he will be able to
feel inadequate compared to the "perfect" son who never grew
get to talking to his late mother once more, and to Artie they
up to become an adult. Aware that nothing he will ever do will
are a symbol of Anja herself. Vladek sees Anja in the journals,
be as impressive as surviving the Holocaust, Artie feels both
too, which is why he burns them. He misses his wife
guilty for missing it and a little envious of his parents'
desperately after her death, and seeing the journals brings
experiences. He has never suffered like his parents, which is a
back too many painful memories. The act of destroying the
good thing, but it also makes it harder for him to connect with
journals is symbolic of Vladek's attempts to forget the past. It
them, particularly his father. It isn't until they talk about
also causes great pain to Artie as part of the acceptance of
Vladek's experiences during the war that Artie can begin to
the entire wartime experience that is forever lost to him, as his
bridge the gulf that had separated them for so long.
mother is in committing suicide without leaving a note.
Family
m Themes
Family comes first in Maus. This is true during World War II,
Impact of War when Vladek, Anja, and their extended family have to make
heartbreaking decisions about parting ways to ensure the
safety of their loved ones:
The effects of war last long after the peace treaties are signed
Richieu, the Spiegelman's young son, is sent to live with
and the prisoners are released. For the survivors of World War
relatives in the hopes it will be safer in another ghetto but
II and the Holocaust, some of these effects lasted a lifetime
ends up dying before Vladek and Anja are sent to
and even bled into the next generation. This is true of the
Auschwitz.
Spiegelman family, in which both parents (and a stepparent)
The Zylberbergs try to protect Anja's grandparents from
survived Nazi extermination camps. Vladek Spiegelman, for
being sent to a so-called retirement community (actually to
example, has trouble shaking the frugal habits he picked up
their deaths), but the Jewish police threaten to take away
during the war years, including saving money and hoarding
family members one-by-one until the grandparents are
scraps of useful trash, like paper. He continues both of these
turned over to the authorities. Anja's father makes the
practices 30 years later, becoming so stingy with money he
difficult decision to turn in his in-laws to save the rest of the
alienates his second wife, Mala. Vladek saves everything just in
family.
case tragedy strikes again. This translates to an automatic
Vladek's father is one of the few allowed to stay in
suspicion of anyone who doesn't share his saving habits,
Sosnowiec after the mass deportation at the stadium, but
including his son and his wife.
sneaks into the line destined for Auschwitz after his
Anja Spiegelman, Vladek's late wife and Artie's mother, was daughter, Fela Spiegelman, and her children are cast out.
already predisposed to anxiety and depression when the war He knowingly gives his own life to help his daughter protect
began, but the events that followed magnified her unhappiness her children in the extermination camps.

Maus Study Guide Themes 32
In each case the goal is to keep the family together as long as others. The Zylberbergs bribe Haskel to sneak them to safety
possible. Anja had vetoed Richieu's departure the previous with the Spiegelmans, but Haskel just leaves them there after
year, but she knew Sosnowiec was becoming more unsafe by taking their valuables. He rationalizes he would have been
the day. She couldn't have known that the group he would have killed had he been caught helping two elderly people escape
gone with the year before would survive while the group taken the detention center. Abraham Mandelbaum says pretty much
in the second year would not. Like all the other parents, she the same thing when explaining to Vladek and Mr. Mandelbaum
had to do what felt right in the moment to protect her family. why he wrote the letter encouraging them to go to Hungary
even though he was caught and on his way to Auschwitz.
Even Artie can't escape the duty he feels toward his family, "What could I do? They would have shot me then and there," he
particularly Vladek. Father and son have never gotten along explains. Abraham and Haskel were focused on saving their
well, and Artie would rather do anything than help his father own lives. If that meant risking the lives of others, then so be it
around the house (and on the roof). Yet after his mother's for them.
death, Artie still feels compelled to maintain a presence in his
father's life. His sacrifices are smaller than those made by his
parents and grandparents, but they are still sacrifices in his
own life: he cuts his vacation short to be with Vladek after Mala Father-Son Relationships
leaves, and he goes to Florida to help Vladek and Mala pack.
Most notably, he pushes aside his anger with his father to try
to understand him as a person, not just a parent. Though their
Artie and Vladek have a rocky relationship at the best of times.
personalities stand in the way, Artie and Vladek both want a
Artie has always felt inadequate compared to his father, a
closer relationship with each other, and Artie is the one who
Holocaust survivor and talented craftsman who seems to know
makes the move to achieve it.
everything about everything. Vladek can't relate to Artie, who
was born in the United States and makes his living writing and
drawing comics, also a handcraft but a very different one.
Morality Under Vladek's boastful facade, however, is a genuine love for
his son and a sense of regret that they never had a strong
connection.
There's a big difference between what's accepted during times Their already tense relationship is put under even more strain
of peace versus what's accepted during times of war. People as Vladek's health begins to fail. He can no longer climb on the
can afford to be altruistic and generous during peacetime and roof to make repairs or install storm windows himself, and he
don't think twice about helping their neighbor. That's not the turns to Artie for help. Artie is torn—he doesn't like his father to
case during war, and it's not the case in Vladek's experiences do dangerous things on his own, but he also doesn't want to
in Maus. Everyone, even gentiles, lived in fear during the actually help. Irritation at being asked to do chores around the
German occupation of Poland, and helping even a family house turns to jealousy when a neighbor offers to take his
member could result in death. Those who were willing to risk place. The more Vladek needs help and advice, the more
themselves would do so only for money, like Mrs. Kawka and uncomfortable Artie becomes. He is not ready for this role
Mrs. Motonowa, whom Vladek and Anja paid to keep them safe reversal in their relationship wherein he acts as the parent and
from the Gestapo. Vladek even had to pay his cousin, Haskel Vladek is the child in need of care.
Spiegelman, to help him and Anja escape the Srodula
detention center. "At that time it wasn't anymore families. It Despite their differences, Artie wants to understand his father
was everybody to take care for himself," Vladek tells Artie, who better, which is why he begins interviewing Vladek about his
has trouble comprehending how someone could be so greedy. experiences during World War II. Strangely enough, it is stories
But this wasn't greed, it was self-preservation. Haskel wasn't about the worst times in Vladek's life that bring him and his son
going to risk himself without a return on his investment. closer together. As Artie bears witness to Vladek's testimony,
he begins to understand why his father is the way he is and
Looking out for oneself often had devastating effects on gains a deeper respect for the family lost before he was even

Maus Study Guide Suggested Reading 33
born. The interviews by no means repair their fractured

relationship, but they do give father and son neutral ground on
which they can stand together.
e Suggested Reading
Bosmajian, Hamida. "The Orphaned Voice in Art Spiegelman's
Maus I & II." Literature and Psychology 44.1 (1998): 1-22.
ProQuest Discovery; Research Library.
Cooke, Rachel. "Art Spiegelman: 'Auschwitz became for us a

safe place.'" The Guardian. 22 Oct. 2011. Web.
Kohli, Puneet. "The Memory and Legacy of Trauma in Art

Spiegelman's Maus." Prandium, The Journal of Historical
Studies 1.1 (2012): n. pag. Web.
Spiegelman, Art. MetaMaus. New York: Pantheon, 2011. Print.
Spiegelman, Art. "Why Mice?" The New York Review of Books.

20 Oct. 2011. Web.
Tabachnick, Stephen E. "The Religious Meaning of Art

Spiegelman's Maus." Shofar 22.4 (2004): 1. Research Library.

What's Inside: The Division of Poland and Start of World War II

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Maus

Study Guide by Course Hero

World War II are narrated in the first person by Vladek himself,

d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1 ABOUT THE TITLE

The Nazi Party championed an "Aryan," or so-called pure-blood

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The resulting decade of in-depth interviews eventually became

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Françoise Vladek Anja

Other Major Character

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Full Character List Lucia Greenberg

Anja Spiegelman, née Zylberberg, is Janina is the Spiegelman's Polish

Anja's kapo (prisoner assigned to Edgar Karp is Vladek's neighbor in

The French prisoner in Auschwitz is

Gelber tries to reclaim his family's

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Abraham Mandelbaum, Mr. Abram Spiegelman is Vladek's father.

Chaja Spiegelman, Vladek's mother,

Mrs. Motonowa, a black-​market Fela Spiegelman is Vladek's sister.

The office boy in Auschwitz invites

The Polish priest assures Vladek he

The quarantine block kapo protects Miloch Spiegelman, Vladek's cousin,

The rabbi in the prisoner of war

Shivek, whom Vladek knew before

Sonia is one of the women from

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Richieu Spiegelman is the son of Hela, also called Helen, Zylberberg is

Israel Itzak Zylberberg is Anja's

Josef Zylberberg, Anja's brother,

Levek Levek Zylberberg, Anja's brother,

Tosha Steinkeller, née Zylberberg, is

Persis Steinkeller, Wolfe Steinkeller's

Wolfe Steinkeller, Tosha's husband,

Maus tells two separate but entangled stories: that of

Yidl is the chief of the tin shop in

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marginal section of the city designated for Jews. The Nazis

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story where it left off: at the gates of Auschwitz.

Vladek and Anja are separated upon entering Auschwitz.

Auschwitz is shut at the end of 1944 as the Russians close in,

Vladek can't fathom that Anja survived the war, but he

Vladek's health is rapidly failing by the time he finishes telling

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8. Another Jew turns in the Spiegelmans to the Gestapo.

Rising Action Climax

3. Vladek is taken prisoner by the Germans.

4. Vladek sneaks back into Sosnowiec after his release.

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15. Vladek and Anja are reunited in Sosnowiec.

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Vladek and Anja meet in Sosnowiec, Poland.

February 14, 1937

Vladek and Anja marry.

Anja and Vladek's first son, Richieu, is born.

August 24, 1939

Vladek is drafted into the Polish army. War against

Vladek is released from a German prisoner of war camp

The Zylberberg family moves to the Stara Sosnowiec

The Zylberbergs are forced to hand over Anja's

All Jewish residents of Sosnowiec are forced to report to

Mrs. Motonowa, a black-market Fela Spiegelman is Vladek's sister.