Maus: A Survivor's Tale Characters

Let’s throw an idea out there.Art isn’t a character.How can the author not be a character in a book that draws on his own life, you ask? We’re not suggesting that Art Spiegelman doesn’t exi...

“Mainly I remember arguing with him… and being told that I couldn’t do anything as well as he could,” Art tells his therapist. “No matter what I accomplish, it doesn’t seem like much co...

Art’s mother, Anja, survived the Holocaust, but committed suicide in May, 1968. While most of the story evolves in the interaction between Art and Vladek, Anja’s death is always part of their r...

Art never meets his brother Richieu, who was born before the war. In 1943, as conditions worsened in Europe, Anja’s sister Tosha took Richieu to stay with a relative in another Polish town. When...

Mala, also a Holocaust survivor, is Vladek’s second wife; she knew Vladek and Anja before the war. She and Vladek are constantly squabbling over money. As another Holocaust survivor, Mala, like P...

Pavel, also a Holocaust survivor, is Art’s therapist. Like Mala and other Holocaust survivors in the novel, Pavel provides an important counterweight to Vladek by showing how diverse the survival...

Françoise is Art’s wife. She has converted to Judaism in order to appease Vladek. In the story, Françoise serves as a kind of sounding board for Art’s ideas, questioning and challenging at ti...

Lucia Greenberg is Vladek’s girlfriend before he meets Anja. Her appearance in the text – and the way she flings herself on Vladek – contributes to an image of the young Vladek as an attracti...

Mr. Ilzecki is a player on the black market in Sosnowiec when the Germans occupy the town. He is able to get Vladek important identification papers and work permits so that Vladek can move more fre...

Mancie is a Jewish woman who leads groups of other Jewish women prisoners at Birkenau. She risks her life in order to relay messages between Vladek and Anja.

Mandelbaum is one of Vladek’s first friends at Auschwitz. He is not as resourceful as Vladek, and although Vladek helps him in whatever small way he can, Mandelbaum doesn’t survive.

Mrs. Motonowa is a Polish woman that Vladek meets as he works the black market in Sosnowiec. She hides Vladek and Anja in her farmhouse for a time. While Vladek does pay for her assistance, she doe...

Shivek is one of Vladek's friends from before the war. They both survive the concentration camps and travel together after they are freed by the Americans.

Mr. Spiegelman, Vladek's father, shows up with Fela, Vladek’s sister, at Dienst stadium. Although he is selected for the group not being sent to the concentration camps, he joins Fela and her chi...

Fela is Vladek’s sister. They reconnect when the Jews are ordered to convene at Dienst stadium. Fela must join the group being sent to the concentration camps because she has four young children....

Haskel is a cousin of Vladek’s who is able to schmooze his way into favor with the German soldiers occupying Sosnowiec. Through his influence, Vladek and Anja are able to escape deportation to Au...

Yidl is a Russian Jew who leads a tin workshop at Auschwitz. Yidl doesn’t like Vladek because he is a “capitalist” and Yidl is a communist. Yidl soon softens toward Vladek when Vladek is able...

The Zylberbergs, Anja’s parents, are very wealthy. They welcome Vladek into the family, and they even finance Vladek’s first factory. When Vladek’s factory is vandalized, they help him set up...

Tosha is Anja’s sister, and is the mother of two children. When it is clear that the remaining Jews in Sosnowiec are going to be deported to Auschwitz, Tosha leaves with her children and Richieu...