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).
His ability to anticipate what items to conserve saved him on several other occasions as well. After leaving Auschwitz, Vladek saved the thin blanket they had given him, and he used it to hang above the other passengers in the train that they stuffed all of the prisoners into. This saved him from suffocating and also allowed him to reach snow off of the roof of the train. The snow kept him hydrated, and he was able to trade it with other passengers for sugar (245). On another occasion, Vladek saved the food that he was given by his French friend and traded it for a shirt. He then cleaned the shirt and wore it whenever it was time to eat and the German officers were performing lice checks (254).
Another aspect of Vladek’s resourcefulness was his ability to find work even when it seemed there was none. Before the war he worked in textiles, but he held many other very different jobs during the years of the war. After he was released as a prisoner of war, he traded cloths with Ilzecki (79). When that fell through, he started to trade gold, jewelry, and food (86-87). Also in Sosnowiec, he did some work in a German woodshop in order to get papers that said he worked (91). In Srodula, he worked in a shoe shop. In Auschwitz, he worked as both a tin man and a shoemaker (207, 221). And, after the war, he sold stockings in Sweeden (284-285).
The final aspect of Vladek’s resourcefulness that helped him to survive the war was his ability to initiate trade with others. After his family was caught hiding from the guards in Srodula, he bribed his cousin to help him and Anja escape (117). Later, he was able to buy a hiding spot for them when the Srodula ghetto was being cleaned out (125-126). After escaping from the ghetto in Srodula, he arranged a hiding spot for him and Anja with a helpful Polish woman (141-143).
In Auschwitz, Vladek traded with the Polish workers for food. He then used this food to bribe his boss at the tin shop to let him stay and work even though he was not actually a tin man (208). When the opportunity arose, he took the job as a shoemaker. Because he knew little about fixing shoes, he bribed a real shoemaker to show him how to fix shoes (221).
Both Anja’s and Vladek’s survival was based on the active role Vladek took in ensuring it. Vladek worked as a constant support system for Anja. When she became weak, he forced her to go on. He was by her side until they were sent to Auschwitz (160).
Anja did not do well on her own in Auschwitz. If it weren’t for Vladek arranging her friendship with Mancie, she may not have come out alive. Toward the end of the book, Art asks his father how Anja survived after they were moved out of Auschwitz. Vladek replies: “Manice-the Hungarian girl what I knew there in Auschwitz-she kept Anja close by her” (264).
Many sources claim that Holocaust survivors were simply lucky. In certain instances, the Spiegelmans did survive because they were lucky. However, Vladek’s resourcefulness and intelligence played a much larger role. Throughout the book, Art complains about how cheap his father is, but Vladek has a legitimate reason for being that way. It kept him alive through the Holocaust, so perhaps he simply felt that he should stick to what worked before.
