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Lasting effects of the Holocaust on survivors
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Nearly two thirds of the Jewish population in Europe was killed during the Holocaust, one of the darkest parts of mankind’s history. Vladek Spiegelman is a survivor of the Holocaust whose story is told in the graphic novel Maus by his progeny, Art Spiegelman. He is shown as being very intelligent which helps him avoid death numerous times during the Holocaust. In addition, Vladek is characterized with extreme frugality due to the Holocaust and his conservative attitude.Vladek holds his values and abilities close because they were essential to his survival through traumatic experiences; therefore, others find him unique and untraditional.
Vladek is very smart which helps him survive the Holocaust. When Vladek was at Dachau, he needed to show
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the camp guards a lice free shirt in order to get soup. Lice was everywhere at that camp, and it was also on Vladek’s shirt. Despite this fact, Vladek was able to obtain an extra shirt by trading chocolate and bread with another prisoner for his shirt.
After obtaining an extra shirt, Vladek tells Art, “I cleaned the shirt very, very careful. And outside I dried it. I was lucky to find a piece of paper… So careful I wrapped it. I unwrapped only when they called to soup. Here was a shirt with really no lice!” (I: 94). He showed this shirt to the person in charge of the soup while hiding his other shirt in his pants. This allowed him to obtain soup every time at Dachau. Vladek’s actions show that he is smart because he was able to come up with a strategy to help him obtain necessary resources. His capabilities were heavily tested because there was food on the line during a time of great hunger. This is not the only instance of Vladek’s shrewdness. For example, Vladek was able to obtain room and survive within the crowded train car on page 85 of Maus II by creating a makeshift hammock to rest on. Vladek states “High up I saw a few hooks to chain up maybe the animals. I had still the thin blanket they gave me. I climbed to somebody’s shoulder and hooked it strong. In this way I can rest and breathe a little. This saved me” (85). The makeshift hammock allowed Vladek to actually rest and sit down instead of
being piled on top of by other prisoners. Vladek displays intelligence because he is able to come up with effective ideas in time of danger. His innovative ideas helped save himself and others on multiple occasions. This is significant because it displays how surviving the Holocaust was relied heavily on abilities. Without perceptiveness, Vladek would not have been able to acquire essential resources. Instead, there would be a large chance that he would be dead solely due to his lack of astuteness. This portrays the survival situation during the Holocaust. Therefore, Vladek is very intelligent, but this is not the only way he is characterized. Vladek is portrayed as an extremely frugal Holocaust survivor. He keeps useless items in order to save a small amount of money. His wife, Mala, says, “Look at all this stuff!... Old menus he picked up on cruises… a pile of stationary from the Pines Hotel. He drives me crazy! He won’t even let me throw out the plastic pitcher he took from his hospital room last year! He’s more attached to things than people!” (I: 93). This example displays his frugality because he is very sparing in terms of money. He is too scared to waste things because during the Holocaust because anything could prove useful. An old pitcher or a pile of stationary could be traded or sold during desperate times despite how worthless it seems in modern day. This is significant because it displays the Holocaust and its aftermath. There was a loss of resources and many Jews were only able to scavenge for valueless items. This characteristic is shown and emphasized since Art wants to show Vladek’s altered personality. Furthermore, Vladek does not waste food because of the Holocaust. When Art was young, Vladek made sure that Art ate all of the food on his plate during dinner (I: 43). Vladek is so insistent because he has experienced many days with a lack of food. Due to the times where he lacked food, he does not think that it is right to waste and values food a lot. For example, one of the war prisoners states, “The other prisoners get two meals a day. We Jews only get a crust of bread and a little soup” (I: 53). This shows that he has experienced times of great hunger and explains why he does not like to waste food. He is very parsimonious because even though he has the wealth to spare a few scraps of food, he does not allow anyone to throw it out. He acts as if every piece of food is immensely valuable even though it can easily be replaced in modern day. The Holocaust has lasting effects to the point where someone becomes stingy in essential areas such as food. Vladek’s innate principles are altered by the Holocaust, which leads to his stinginess and shrewdness despite how much the world has changed. Vladek’s combination of abilities, values, and luck lead to his survival, causing him to be one of the heavily affected survivors who retain habits that were practiced during the Holocaust. Vladek’s characterization is an example of how horrible this genocide was and the impact that it had on people’s lives by changing their personalities and testing their capabilities. Watching close family members and friends die or betray each other for the empty promise of escape are memories that stay with survivors throughout their lives.
Six million Jews died during World War II by the Nazi army under Hitler who wanted to exterminate all Jews. In Night, Elie Wiesel, the author, recalls his horrifying journey through Auschwitz in the concentration camp. This memoir is based off of Elie’s first-hand experience in the camp as a fifteen year old boy from Sighet survives and lives to tell his story. The theme of this memoir is man's inhumanity to man. The cruel events that occurred to Elie and others during the Holocaust turned families and others against each other as they struggled to survive Hitler's and the Nazi Army’s inhumane treatment.
The Silber Medal winning biography, “Surviving Hitler," written by Andrea Warren paints picture of life for teenagers during the Holocaust, mainly by telling the story of Jack Mandelbaum. Avoiding the use of historical analysis, Warren, along with Mandelbaum’s experiences, explains how Jack, along with a few other Jewish and non-Jewish people survived.
Possessing intelligence was vital for Vladek, since every move he took would mean life or death. Vladek knew if he wanted to survive in the concentration camps, he must make clever actions and have inside information on what the Nazis were planning. Since Vladek knew English, he started teaching it to a Nazi who worked at his concentration camp and befriended him. His Nazi friend informed Vladek on what was going to happen to the Jews, and how he could survive. Vladek’s intelligence is the main reason he survived throughout the Holocaust, and his intelligence also saved the life of his wife.
By means of comic illustration and parody, Art Spiegelman wrote a graphic novel about the lives of his parents, Vladek and Anja, before and during the Holocaust. Spiegelman’s Maus Volumes I and II delves into the emotional struggle he faced as a result of his father’s failure to recover from the trauma he suffered during the Holocaust. In the novel, Vladek’s inability to cope with the horrors he faced while imprisoned, along with his wife’s tragic death, causes him to become emotionally detached from his son, Art. Consequently, Vladek hinders Art’s emotional growth. However, Art overcomes the emotional trauma his father instilled in him through his writing.
The comic implies that surviving the holocaust affects Vladek’s life and wrecks his relationship with his son and his wife. In some parts of the story, Vladek rides a stationary bike while narrating his story (I, 81, panel 7-9). Given the fact that it is a stationary bike, it stays immobile: no matter how hard Vladek pedals, he cannot move forward. The immobility of the bike symbolizes how survivor’s guilt will never let him escape his past. Vladek can never really move past the holocaust: he cannot even fall asleep without shouting from the nightmares (II, 74, panel 4-5). Moreover, throughout the story, the two narrators depict Vladek before, during and after the war. Before the war, Vladek is characterized as a pragmatic and resourceful man. He is resourceful as he is able to continue his black business and make money even under the strengthened control of the Nazi right before the war (I, 77 panel 1-7). However, after surviving the holocaust, Vladek feels an obligation to prove to himself and to others that his survival was not simply by mere luck, but because h...
...s would be all too happy to pay for a meal with the lives of others, there were some good people left. There were people all around who were ready to aid someone else in their quest to stay alive, sometimes at the expense of their own lives. People such as the soldier, the priest, Ms. Motonowa, and Mancie kept things going from day to day for the Spiegelmans. In the end, Vladek and the others survived not because they did not have any friends as Vladek feels, but because they had many friends. Without the people who helped them along the way, Anja and Vladek would have surely died in the concentration camps along with the hundreds of others victims who were not so lucky.
...childern in a neighboring ghetto. A friend showed Vladek the bunker under the shows and said he and the family could hide in there. There was a Jewish stranger in Sosnowiec who helped Vladek find food and shelter. Even in Auschwitz the Jews helped eachother out. Vladek managed to get Mandelbaum some necessities like a spoon, belt, and proper fitting shoes. Anja was helped in the camps as well. Mancie and a few other women would help and protect Anja. And Vladek helped Anja when he could. He would send bread and letters for Anja with Mancie. The Jews helped each other to survive.
The victims of the Holocaust lose sight of who they are during this time and begin to live their life by playing a part they believe they were because of their race. Loman discussed the irony behind the cat-and-mouse metaphor that Spiegelman uses in his graphic novel in his article titled “’Well Intended Liberal Slop’: Allegories of Race in Spiegelman’s Maus”. In his article he states,
The Holocaust took a great toll on many lives in one way or another, one in particular being Vladek
In Art Spiegelman’s Maus, the audience is led through a very emotional story of a Holocaust survivor’s life and the present day consequences that the event has placed on his relationship with the author, who is his son, and his wife. Throughout this novel, the audience constantly is reminded of how horrific the Holocaust was to the Jewish people. Nevertheless, the novel finds very effective ways to insert forms of humor in the inner story and outer story of Maus. Although the Holocaust has a heart wrenching effect on the novel as a whole, the effective use of humor allows for the story to become slightly less severe and a more tolerable read.
The movie “Schindler’s list” is a compelling, real-life depiction of the events that occurred during the 1940’s. It illustrates the persecution and horrific killings of the Jewish people. It also exemplifies the hope and will of the Jewish people, which undoubtedly is a factor in the survival of their race. The most important factor however is because of the willingness of one man, Oskar Schindler, to stand out and make a difference.
Granted luck did play a part in the novel, the major factors that kept Vladek alive were his resourcefulness and quick-thinking. Specifically, his ability to save items for the times to come. When Vladek was in an overcrowded cattle train, he used the thin, tattered blanket they had given him earlier, and “climbed to somebody’s shoulder and hooked it strong” above the other prisoners in the cattle car (Spiegelman, 245). This allowed Vladek the opportunity to “rest and breat...
Using lines and basic shapes to emphasize shading and detail and then teamed with such a complex theme, Art’s story and graphics join together in a complimentary marriage. With the nearly childlike drawings and the intense mature storyline, there is a message that this is being written by the child telling the story of the parent. The story emphasizes his father’s inability to grow and repair from his past but even without the words you can almost see that Art has never truly be able to move past his the trauma of growing up with his parents. Using his frustrations and the need to explore the history of his father’s idiosyncrasies, Art creates a poignant story not only about the tragedy of the holocaust, but of the realities of being a child growing up with survivor parents.
In Maus I and Maus II, Art Spiegelman describes two interwoven “survivor” stories: how Vladek “survived” the Holocaust and how Art “survived” Vladek. At the beginning of Maus II, Chapter 2, readers learn that Art literally survived Vladek who “died of congestive heart failure on August 18, 1982” (II.41.1). Vladek’s passing leaves Art with no first-hand account of Vladek’s Holocaust “survivor” story. Thus, especially evident on page 69 of Maus II, Vladek’s death complicates the story by amplifying Art’s convoluted emotions regarding his father and forcing Art to imagine more of the story. Art Spiegelman showcases his struggle to talk about the Holocaust, which encompasses a variety of competing narratives: Vladek’s Holocaust story and Art’s
The pain inflected on the world as a result of the Holocaust continues to be used a reminder of one of humanity’s weakest moments in history. There were a record number of deaths and tragic losses that occurred during World War II. However despite all the damage there were also many heroic survivors of those miserable days. People who used their witty minds and unexpected luck, managed to escape and avoid the fatal pool of death. These survivors know from a personal level, the ways of the Holocaust, and have made it their obligation to share their stories with the rest worlds.