An Essay on Maus

Maus is the story of a husband and wife, Vladek and Anja Spiegelman, who survived the Holocaust. Vladek and Anja were Polish Jews who lived in Bielsko when Germany first invaded Poland in 1939. As the war progressed, things became worse for the Spiegelmans and their families. When the war ended, Vladek and Anja had lost nearly all of the members of their immediate families, but they had survived. While Vladek's survival was due mostly to his intelligence and resourcefulness, Anja's survival was due mostly to both her relationship with Vladek and the help he arranged for her.

Vladek played an active role in his survival. Though his resourcefulness was the most essential factor in his survival, his intelligence also played a role. Vladek could speak English, Polish, German, and Yiddish. His multi-lingual capabilities contributed to his survival in several instances. First, after Vladek and Anja were captured for trying to escape to Hungary, Vladek helped a Polish man write letters to his family. The letters had to be in German, and the man did not know how to speak German. The man, in return, shared his food packages with Vladek (158).

Later, in Auschwitz, Vladek got on good terms with his block supervisor by teaching him how to speak English in Polish. This saved him from being sent to the gas chambers on more than one occasion and earned him both food and a uniform that fit. The block supervisor also helped Vladek to get a job working in a tin shop (191-196).

Finally, he was able to speak to the French guy in Dachau who was desperate for someone to talk to. The Frenchman was so happy to have company that he shared his food packages with Vladek (253).

Though Vladek's intelligence played a role in his survival, his resourcefulness was the major factor that kept him alive throughout the war. You begin to see Vladek's resourcefulness when he is called to war after Germany first invaded Poland. He sent Anja and Richieu to Sosnowiec and told Anja to take her "knick-knacks and doll collection.... When things went worse later she was able to sell such things" (40).