Maus: A Survivor's Tale Vladek Spiegelman Quotes

To the Nazis, the Jews weren’t just <em>like</em> vermin; they <em>were</em> vermin. A pesticide is used in the gas chambers.

Vladek’s own experience with racism doesn’t, unfortunately, translate into racial tolerance.

It wasn’t just the German Nazis who were racist. These unscrupulous Poles see in the Nazi persecution of the Jews an opportunity to get their hands on Jewish property, and they refuse to return the property once the Jews return.

Vladek is reluctant at first to participate in Art’s project, and as the rest of the book continues, a kind of rivalry develops between them over how to tell Vladek’s and Anja’s story.

This is, of course, a promise that Art breaks because we get all the “private things” in <em>Maus.</em> 

Vladek can only make sense of some of the events after the fact, with knowledge he gains after the events. The story is often interrupted by such remarks when Vladek talks about other characters; when he introduces a character, he often tells us quite soon after whether the character survived the camps or not.

It is a little extreme of Art to call Vladek a “murderer” for destroying his mother’s notebooks, but you can kind of see why. If memories are one crucial way for Holocaust survivors to preserve the lives of those who perished, Vladek has destroyed Anja’s memories, and thus she dies a second death.

Vladek provides important testimony here; as a tin worker, he was one of the workers who took apart the gas chambers and thus has an intimate knowledge of how the gas chambers worked.

Photographs provide another instance where the novel breaks with its animal metaphor. In this case, Spiegelman recreates the photographs using animal figures. But see Quote #10 below.

Spiegelman actually includes this photograph in the book. It’s grimly funny: to take a picture in a camp uniform as a <em>souvenir</em>? Where does he think he is, Disneyland? The photograph also brings up the question of realism again. We usually view photographs as the most realistic of mediums, but here we have a photograph that is clearly staged.

Art and Vladek seem to be competing all the time over the smallest of tasks. Here it’s counting pills.

The fact that Art only learns now the significance of the <em>parsha</em> he read at his bar mitzvah says something about Art’s lack of connection to his Jewish heritage.

A loaded statement, considering how Vladek’s Holocaust memories show the fragility of family relationships and friendships under pressure.

Art’s similarity to his mother in temperament suggests that he is continuing her work. We may have lost Anja’s diaries, but Art, like Anja, wants to write down and record the Holocaust.

With so many family members lost in the Holocaust, keeping a sense of continuity with one’s past is a struggle.

These are Vladek’s last words, which may suggest that Art has lost the battle of the photograph (see Quote #6). On the other hand, Art dedicates Book II to Richieu and his own children, and even provides a photograph of Richieu. So, what’s that about? See our “What’s Up With The Ending?” for a more extended discussion of these lines.

The fact that Vladek is saying this to an eleven-year-old who tripped on his skates says <em>something</em> about the gap in their life experiences.

The Nazis’ persecution of the Jews created impossible situations where people had to throw their morals aside just to survive. 

Haskel is one example of a Jewish character who isn’t just an innocent victim. Haskel only aids others when it enriches himself in some way, and he connives and schemes his way into the Germans’ favor.

Friendships and families are falling apart all around them, but Vladek and Anja are able to maintain their relationship and survive the war. Vladek is committed to saving Anja at great risk to himself; she helps him maintain a moral core.