History Repeats Itself: “Maus, A Survivor’s Tale”
The devastating violence and destruction in Gaza and Rafah continue to tear at my heart. My heart is with the Palestinian people. My heart is with the Jewish people. My heart is with those being harmed in the Congo and Sudan. My heart is with every human facing pain today — I can’t emphasize that enough. I’m protective of the oppressed. I’m protective of the defenseless.
Just as humans are not meant to sustain such violence and devastation, you and I are also not meant to have violent content being throttled at our brains 24/7. You try to stay informed and you succumb to the reality of absolute powerlessness.
I wanted to share my essay from my literature course my last semester of undergrad exploring Art Spiegelman’s “Maus, A Survivor’s Tale,” which is about Art’s father telling him the story of him and his wife hiding for safety from the Nazis in plain sight during World War II. There is a common theme that persists today of cultural pain that leaves all of us wounded.
I wish we could find a word that properly encompasses the pain of children, helpers, and humans from all sides being harmed. “Heart wrenching” is not enough. We see these children being harmed and we see our own children. We see the loved ones of our friends and neighbors being held captive and we feel powerless.
I see humanity as a whole. There is a lot of strength in holding all of these truths and condemning the harm, while commiserating in our shared pain to hold conversations and look out for each other.
Some of us fight back to be punished and some of us remain quiet, eerily similar to the allies I write about in my essay exploring “Maus, A Survivor’s Tale”.
Don’t we know by now that history repeats itself?
History Repeats Itself: “Maus, A Survivor’s Tale”
The detriment of the goodness of human nature is that it is dependent on the time period in which a social issue is taking place and the gravity of the repercussions that could occur by one going against the grain to do the right thing. Art Spiegelman paints a stark image of the hardships of Jewish people and their allies during the Holocaust. In fact, Spiegelman captures his family’s suffering in the format of a black-and-white comic with artistic choices that lend to a deeper, cruel meaning to what it was like to be Jewish at this time. The Jewish characters are depicted as mice, but it is apparent that in order to fit in with the rest of the community, the couple affix pig masks to their faces to blend in. This artistic choice could be a commentary on the title of the chapter, chapter six of “Maus, A Survivor’s Tale” titled “Mouse Trap,” in which the cats (the Germans) are trying to trap the mice (the Jews). The pigs (the Poles) are the ones perhaps trying to fit in to stay out of the chase. There is an allusion to perhaps how the police are historically called “pigs” and how police brutality harms the most innocent. The author may have depicted the Poles as pigs due to his own biases against them. Or it could have been unintentional. When we see one story of people rightfully working towards liberation, we may see another group taken aim at in the desperate clawing towards freedom.
During World War II, Hitler was rising in Nazi Germany and Jewish people were being sent to death to concentration camps as Hitler wanted to exterminate all Jewish people. This terrifying extremism is reminiscent of Black history as Black people were historically enslaved, tortured, and murdered by white people solely because of the color of their skin. Discrimination in extremism like this involves violence and unjustness. In chapter six of “Maus,” Art’s father tells him the story of how he and his wife stayed alive during such a dangerous time. The tale starts with Vladek exclaiming to Anja, “…We’ve got to get off the streets before dawn!” (6371). From this point on, the couple struggles to find safety amidst the violence towards Jewish people.
In “Maus,” Mrs. Kawka, depicted as a pig, is the first to keep the couple safe from Nazi extremists and offers her barn for them to stay in. Mrs. Kawka appears to be an ally; however, she proves to be part of the problem as she scolds, “But remember – if you’re found there, I don’t know you! You must say that the barn door was open and that you just sneaked in” (6374). While Mrs. Kawka provides some semblance of safety for the Spiegelman’s, her support is private as she refuses to make it known publicly that she is against Hitler. While it is understandable people were practicing self-preservation, it’s unsettling that Jewish people were still very much on their own. We see history repeating itself with various groups of people today. There may be some differences, but discrimination is one in the same. There are historically known allies from that time, such as a Nazi officer who hid a group of Jewish people in his basement during the bloodshed. People like him convey more of a dedication to practicing human goodness — even in the face of evil. The repercussion here is imminent death for being an ally, so while we see some community members playing both sides, they are also trying to stay alive themselves. There is a question here: is staying alive only a priority if minorities are being wrongly executed? Can we do the hard work discretely only if we are alive? Perhaps the Jewish allies are only trying to stay alive in order to do the next best thing to help Jewish people – or perhaps they are simply too terrified or not educated enough to know what to do. This war was during a time period when we did not have technology as we do today – we could not secretly communicate to one another through phones to keep Jewish people safe. We had to rely on word of mouth or secret signals like a piece of art signaling someone is still alive during this destruction, like told in the book “Between Shades of Gray”. All oppressions are linked.
In public, the Spiegelman’s witnessed members of the community overtly proclaiming, “Heil Hitler” (6375) and even young children trying to trick Jewish people into the mousetrap by yelling out in public, “Help! Mommy! A Jew!” (6384). Mrs. Motonowa is another community member, a Pole, who offers to house the couple for safety until she fears the Gestapo are onto her and promptly exiles them to the streets at night, “I don’t know but you must get out now!” (6378). They must leave abruptly and Anja is completely distraught. They walk for hours trying to blend in until they finally sought refuge in a dingy construction site before finally returning to Mrs. Kawka’s barn. Mrs. Kawka discovers them shivering outside and cares for them well before sending them on their way to ideally a safer hiding space. Mrs. Motonowa then welcomes the couple back in and seems apologetic as the Gestapo never came to her house that night. The conversation presents similarly to an abusive relationship where the Spiegelman’s were unkindly sent away without notice, only to be welcomed back. The relationship between these allies and Jewish people is much like a yo-yo toy – and more prominently seen as a game of Mouse Trap. The meaning of viewing such a serious topic in a similar vein as a children’s toy and game is that they are such a basic part of our upbringings that it could be to say this type of discrimination can happen to anyone. The dual meaning is that discrimination is taught and it can be instilled at young ages – hence the children yelling out that there is a Jew to force a Jewish person to incriminate themselves by running away. The yo-yo-like pushing away only to invite back is being manipulated by the extremist culture of executing Jewish people. It would be understandable if the Spiegelman’s were indignant towards their supposed allies during this time because it was so touch-and-go. Still, instead, they show deep gratitude for the help, even having to be housed in the barn with a cow or in a basement with rats scurrying around their feet. The goodness of human nature is truly at the grip of societal grievances and the fear of risking one’s life in order to do the right thing. It is said that if you have not been hit by stones being thrown at a marginalized person, you are not standing close enough to them yet.
I wanted to share this essay as a lesson to all of us that even in the bleak face of history repeating itself, we must still find ways to come together to support one another. Art history in particular is a powerful source of conveying thoughts and experiences from a particular point in time. We can choose to learn from our history, even when others refuse to and turn the other way. We cannot discard the art and writing that tells the truth. No one has the perfect answer to end the bloodshed or bring people back from the grief and devastation. Us empaths and highly sensitive people must do our best to care for ourselves in such unnerving times. We must all do good by our communities and support these historically excluded identities to ignite peace. Collective grief is a lingering sorrow, yet we still push forward in hopes for a better tomorrow.
