Maus: A Survivor's Tale Power Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Page Number). Page numbers refer to The Complete Maus.

Quote #7

“She was taken with everybody else who was going to be deported to four apartment houses that were emptied to make a sort of prison….They put thousands of people there … it was so crowded that some of them actually suffocated … no food … no toilets. It was terrible.” (I.4.94)

This is just one of the many descriptions of the horrible conditions Jews had to suffer when they were incarcerated.

Quote #8

“We walked in the direction of Sosnowiec – but where to go?” (I.5.127)

The Nazis had so effectively infiltrated all aspects of life in Sosnowiec that Vladek and Anja had nowhere to go, even though they had escaped being shipped off to Auschwitz.

Quote #9

 “They marched us through the city of Bielsko. We passed by the factory what once I owned … We passed the market where always we bought to eat, and passed even the street where we used to live, and we came ‘til the prison, and there they put us.” (I.6.157)

This is a particularly tragic scene where Vladek reflects on the radical changes his life went through,