Comic book writer and artist Art Spiegelman chronicles his father, Vladek, and mother, Anja's, efforts to stay alive as Polish Jews during WWII, in The Complete Maus. Beginning in the 1930's Maus traces the courtship of his parents, the surrender of Poland to Nazis Germany, and his parents struggle to stay hidden as the Nazis begin gathering up Jews for their "Final Solution". Vladek manages to keep himself and Anja hidden until 1944, when they are caught and sent to Auschwitz. They both survived the Concentration Camps, were later reunited and eventually moved to the United States. Spiegelman's stark black and white drawings use animals to protray various religious and ethinic groups. The Jews are drawn as mice and the Nazis as cats. The most compelling part of this story is Vladek's resourcefulness in finding people to help him and his family stay hidden, and his ability to earn money on the black market. Maus goes back and forth between the late 1970's and the 1930's and 1940's as Art asks his father to recount his life. Maus was awarded the 1992 Pulitzer Prize Special Award.
Additional Resources-
United States Holocaust Museum
The Anne Frank House Museum
Hatewatch-Southern Poverty Law Center
~T. Saarinen, Youth Services, Sumner and Bonney Lake Branches.
