This series of posts was inspired by the Popsmart Instagram series Films for Fighting Fascism by Professor Shannon Mancus. She’s much smarter than I am and has more degrees than I do but I bet I’ve read more comics than her.
Maus is a Masterclass in Narrative Storytelling
Maus by Art Spiegelman is a personal narrative about Art’s father Vladek who survived the Holocaust. It’s also a deep personal reflection about Art’s relationship with his father. It’s a story that does not flinch; it does not compromise, and although it is obviously fictionalized, it tells the truth in a way most historical accounts can’t. And it gives us a powerful tool for fighting fascism. At the end of this article, I’ll give you five words capable of kneecapping some of the worst tendencies in authoritarian regimes.
But first, let’s talk about the most obvious differentiator of this narrative from any others. Art Spiegelman’s brilliant stylistic choices. In the story Jewish people are depicted as mice, Nazis and other Germans are depicted as cats. There are a few other animal metaphors and choices in the art but the cat and mouse dynamic is the most significant. On the surface this seems simple. Nazis are predators and Jewish people are the prey. But this is also a personal connection to Vladek, the main character. For several years he plays a cat-and-mouse game of life and death with the Germans. Vladek is sometimes able to hide or blend in because, despite the nonsense of what Nazis think, it is not obvious on the surface if someone is Jewish or not. And he has certain resources and connections that help him to survive. Yet, even though we know his survival occurred, the story shows how random it was as far as who did and did not live to tell their own stories. His survival is one of allocating resources, relying on his strength, understanding when to bargain with someone, and sheer luck. There is not one thing in particular we can point to that lets us understand why Vladek survived while so many others did not. Early in the narrative it is easy to say he survived because he had more wealth and resources than others. But as everyone is stripped of their power, first slowly, then shockingly rapidly, access to those original resources matter less and less.
As the story unfolds, and things become worse in Poland and other places Vladek is in, we see occasions where there are Germans who are not Jewish caught up, executed and mixed in with the mice. There is even a point where Art changes the drawing of one person from a mouse to a cat in the camps. Vladek is not sure but he believes this could have been a German who was not Jewish. This again goes to show how ridiculous the Nazi ideas of racial superiority were. And the narrative doesn’t back down from showing terrible things people forced into the ghettos and camps did to one another. Nor does it back down when the narrative shifts to the present and we see certain prejudices that Vladek himself has.
The creator of this comic book did not have to choose to draw everyone as animals. And in fact, there are times when he shows people wearing an animal mask rather than being simply a mouse, cat, pig or any other animal. No medium other than comics could have pulled this off so well. Yet the drawings are largely simple. When the art does make a visual statement, when it goes into graphic detail, those panels pack an undeniable punch. It does not matter that we are looking at cats, mice, pigs, and dogs. We know these are humans. Add to that the fact that the first tool of fascists is to dehumanize any group they don’t align with until no one is human and the structural significance of the metaphor clicks into place. It’s an absolutely brilliant artistic choice that no one but an independent comic book creator would dare to make.
It helped that Spiegelman was already an independent undergound comic book creator before he started making this. It helped him to think outside of the box that we find in dry historical records. For whatever reason, this choice works so perfectly and the story is told so well that Maus won the Pulitzer Prize. It’s even become an educational tool teachers often use to convey the real horrors of what humans are capable of.
Visual choices are not the only thing that make this work a masterclass. If you read Maus, there is one word that describes it better than any other. Honest. The title of part one, My Father Bleeds History is about as honest as you can get. Vladek tells his story in vivid detail and the story jumps to life on every page. We do see Vladek bleed in the flashbacks to what was happening leading up to and during the Nazi takeover of Germany and Poland and we see him pour out his history to his son. We can even see some of the psychological trauma that likely lingered in Vladek because of his experiences.
At the same time, Art has a complicated relationship with his father. We see this from the narrator’s perspective and even see panels where Art struggles with his own decisions about this project. It adds a layer of honesty to what was already a gripping story. Through Art’s eyes we can wonder if some of the traits Vladek has are because of his trauma or just because of who he is. There is no obvious answer to this question, nor should there be. People, even people who have experienced the worst of humanity, are complicated. There is one point in the narrative where Art reflects on his older brother who died years before he was born. He implies he has a sibling rivalry with a photograph. This is such a complicated dynamic through no fault of Vladek’s or Art’s yet it is a significant reminder of the lives that have been lost. Trauma is passed on generationally in these situations, leaving victims not only in the past but also in the present. This is why narratives like this are so incredibly important to share.
Another way to tell this story has significant meaning is by how often it has been banned. Fascists hate true things. They also hate historical context. And they hate art.
Some people might argue that fascists have their own forms of art. There were Nazi films, books, literature, etc. This was propaganda and while it has the veneer of art, it is not true art. Much in the same way we can look at an AI generated image and understand it is not true art, if you look at the posters, flyers, films and other types of media forced on the public by the Nazis, it is clearly hollow and has no true artistic vision behind it.
Maus is honest art. And that terrifies fascists. For that reason alone, you should read it.
Fascists Are Trying to Suppress Art and History Right Now
Whether you want to call the Trump administration fascists, authoritarians, oligarchs, kleptocrats or something else is irrelevant. They are enacting authoritarian policies that align far too well with the Nazi regime right now. They have spent years dehumanizing immigrants, black people, gay people, trans people, and anyone else who doesn’t fit their ideal of perfection. Just like in Nazi Germany, this government now is telling the populace there is someone to blame for your troubles. It’s not your fault, it’s not the system’s fault that you are struggling, look over at this out group who we can all blame. Why do they do this? So that when they start censoring history, when they build concentration camps, when they kill humans, you will not think of that group as people. No. To you they are mice, rats, or whatever label they want to give them other than a person. This is the goal of fascists. And there is concrete evidence they are doing this now as you are reading this article.
There are already examples of exhibits in the Smithsonian being removed by the Trump administration. They want you to believe that anything they deem “woke” is bad. This is such a catch-all term that it has resulted in the removal of references to the aircraft the Enola Gay from Pentagon documents. This aircraft is one of two that dropped atomic bombs on Japan. It may be one of the most insane removals of history ever recorded. Yet the fascist regime claims they are only targeting “woke, DEI” policies. What does this have in common with Maus? The Nazis also used overly broad terms like “jew businesses and ideas” to justify committing violence against anyone they wanted to target. They are intentionally non-specific about what it means to be “woke” or “DEI.” And as people in Nazi occupied territories eventually came to realize, if you end up dehumanizing out groups long enough, you end up in one of the out groups that gets targeted.
No one wanted to believe the things they were hearing in Poland in 1939. Some people thought it would be best to work with the Germans to help round up Jewish people. Many of those people who did the rounding up also found themselves in the camps by the end. Often in the narrative of Maus Art asks Vladek what happened to certain people who helped the Nazis. Not every time but several times, Vladek says they also died in the camps. Some of the people who helped Jewish people were also killed. And there were others who did bad things yet survived. There were Holocaust deniers during the Holocaust because they didn’t want to believe humans could be so cruel. There are Holocaust deniers now because they don’t want you to know the truth behind history. They are terrified you will learn from it.
What the fascists of today want you to believe is that the Holocaust was not the way Spiegelman depicted it. To them, this is over, settled history, and we should move on. That’s because they want you to forget that Hitler at the start was seen as an over-the-top weird politician with odd ideas who they could ignore. They want you to forget that he then gathered a collection of other weird people with weird ideas and using a system that was broken, they set themselves up for power. This is exactly how we ended up with the current administration in America.. No matter what you think of people like Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and R.F.K. Jr., I doubt you would describe them as “normal.” And before you accuse me of overstating the facts, or exaggerating the horrors of this administration, let me remind you, we have concentration camps in America right now.
I’m not claiming this as an expert on concentration camps. Heather Cox Richardson, a noted American historian, has explained that these are, in fact, concentration camps. She has a fascinating historical record on her Substack titled Letters From an American and she consistently puts things into perspective on her YouTube channel. She has consistently explained not only the horrors of what is happening now but reminded us that a concentration camp is a place where you concentrate a large number of people. The immigration detention centers in this country qualify for the term. If that was not bad enough, the people in those concentration camps are being mistreated, undernourished, beaten, sexually assaulted, and sometimes outright killed. The administration wants you to think of those people in those facilities as non-humans. That way you will not be upset when a sitting U.S. Senator is pepper sprayed in his face as he goes to support the people protesting there. These are the same fascist tactics the Nazis used. And you can understand the parallels if you read historical narratives like Maus.
This is why Maus itself has been banned so often. And the reasoning given for trying to suppress such a narrative is beyond ridiculous. The book has been banned for having ‘explicit’ language. It has the words goddamn and bitch in it. For those on the right who are always going on about how much they hate censorship, it makes no sense to ban Maus based on the language. Our own president has used much more explicit words while giving public speeches. Another ground on which this is challenged is for nudity. There is one picture of Art Spiegelman’s mother in a bathtub after she committed suicide in which if you look very, very closely, you can see her breasts. In my opinion, only someone weirdly obsessed with genitalia is even trying to look at that. The final ground on which this book has been challenged is somewhat more valid but it requires nuance and context. This is deep subject matter and the themes in the book are obviously very dark. I think there is a discussion to be had about at what age it is appropriate to allow children to read this narrative. But as always when it comes to this question, there is one simple answer. It depends on the child. Some kids in middle school can handle these types of stories while others cannot. But certainly by high school children can understand this narrative. And it can help them to understand their own world. Fascists can’t stand educated children.
While I think it’s wholly unjustified to ban Maus, I don’t want you to worry about Art Spiegelman. He’s an extremely successful creator and banning his book tends to lead to more sales for him. What does concern me is other artists who are being banned that we are less aware of. I’m not going to tell you to go out and buy Maus right now (although I will provide a link if you want to). What I do think you should do is go check at your local library, your school library, or your local book store and find out if it has been banned there. If so, start a petition to request it be returned to the shelves. If we can prove that we can bring back books that have been banned, those lesser-known creators will have more room to express their narratives.
Now, let’s talk about the five words I have for you to use to fight fascism.
Write It Down. Create Art.
Vladek Spiegelman did not want to tell his story. Thankfully, Art Spiegelman did. He did it masterfully too. Vladek’s wife Anja wrote a series of diaries about her life. Unfortunately, Vladek, at some point, threw them out after her death. In the panels of Maus you can see how troubling this is to Art. It was an entirely different perspective on these events that he could not access. While Vladek’s story is essential historical reading, who knows how powerful those diaries could have become in the hands of someone like Art? We’ll never know.
I don’t think Vladek would have described himself as special, nor would he have described his wife Anja as special, except that they loved one another. Yet this narrative about a normal person living through the most horrific events imaginable imprints an indelible record on the collective conscious.
Right now there are children who have been housed in concentration camps in America. Some of them are going to grow up with stories to tell. They are going to explain to their children what happened to them. Right now there are people who are protesting these injustices in the streets. Already we know some of them will not be able to tell their own stories as their lives were cut short. Right now there are people being fed meals filled with worms in detention centers in America. These are not things that have happened in the past, these are things happening at this moment. We have YouTube, TikTok, cell phone videos, news reports, and articles explaining what is happening. We have political pundits trying to spin these events as normal. We have other pundits pointing out the true horrors. These are important things to have. But we also need people to write it down. We need people to make art. We need you to tell your story. We need you to make your art. I don’t care if you’re just an average, everyday, normal person. Ruth Ben-Giat, another noted historian, in her book Strongmen, mentions that simple, everyday acts of defiance can contribute to the toppling of an authoritarian regime. This can include personal stories. And it includes art.
If you know someone who has been taken by ICE or who has been fired by the administration because of their “anti-woke” policies, write it down. Make art out of it. Even if you don’t it can help to just record how you are feeling about things today. Eventually someone may read it and it might make a huge impact on the collective conscious like Maus did.
I’ll admit I have tried to keep a personal journal for years. I almost always end up abandoning it. Your art does not have to be a personal narrative. We still need your art. Not AI generated art, but personal, human art that can reach us. Even if it’s simply a romantic fantasy, we still need it. We need musicians, artists, and every type of creator to continue to make art. And if you’ve never tried it, now is the time.
For me, this series of blog posts is my version of writing it down. While I am no artist and I am not good at creating visual art, I do know comics. I read them all the time and I have done so since I can remember. I can see what is happening today and see how it relates to what I have read in said comics. I don’t know if anything I write will ever make an impact to anyone. But I feel the need to share it either way. And I want you to do the same. Whatever that looks like to you, I want to see it. And someone else is going to want to see it as well.
If you have an anti-authoritarian streak in you, write it down. Make art. The fascists hate it when you do. And to me that is more than enough reason to do it.
Where to Find Maus
Please check your local library or book store to see if they have a copy. It’s not easy to find digital copies but the book is in print everywhere. The best version to read is called The Complete Maus and it contains Maus I and Maus II which were printed as separate books.
In case you can’t find it, I do have a link to it from the Internet Archives here. But, like I said, please check your closest library first.
Next Time
My next post in this series will be on Captain America.
