The Holocaust (1933-1945)• The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored

persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

• Holocaust is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire.”• The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that

Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.

• In 1933, the Jewish population of Europe stood at over nine million. Most European Jews lived in countries that Nazi Germany would occupy or influence during World War II.

Prisoner Tattoos of Auschwitz Complex• Prisoners of the Auschwitz

concentration camp complex were tattooed with their identification numbers.

• Reduced human lives to numbers.

Maus I—My Father Bleeds HistoryOverviewTitle: Maus I—My Father Bleeds

HistoryAuthor: Art SpiegelmanPublished: 1973 through 1991Category: Nonfiction

Graphic NovelMemoirBiographyHistorical

Art Spiegelman

Art Spiegelman Born in 1948 in Stockholm, Sweden, Art Spiegelman is a naturalized U.S. citizen. While growing up, Spiegelman lived with his parents in Rego Park in the Queens section of New York City. From 1966 to 1989 he worked for Topps Chewing Gum, Inc. illustrating trading cards and stickers including the Garbage Pail Kids series. He has written many comix (underground comics), worked as a New Yorker staff artist and writer, and been a lecturer and teacher at various times in his career. His work has been the subject of special museum and gallery exhibits both in the U.S. and abroad. Maus earned him a Pulitzer Prize.

CharactersArt(ie Spiegelman):

Author/Narrator & son of Vladek Spiegelman

Vladek Spiegelman:

Father of Art & Survivor of the Holocaust

Anja Spiegelman:

1st wife of Vladek Spiegelman, mother of Art and Richieu.

Mala Spiegelman:

2nd wife of Vladek Spiegelman, survivor of the Holocaust.

Francoise Mouly:

Wife of Art. Although she is French. Art also draws her as a mouse because she converted to Judaism.

Maus I—My Father Bleeds HistorySummaryMaus is a story within a story: Art Spiegelman, the son of two survivors of the Holocaust, tells how he interviewed his father, Vladek, about his Holocaust experience, and it tells the story of the father's persecution and survival. It is written in a graphic novel format, with various types of animals representing the various nationalities and religions (however, Jews are mice, no matter what nationality they are).

• Visual metaphor — any visual symbol or picture that is used to represent something else. They are often used in political cartoons.

Maus I—My Father Bleeds HistoryGeneral CharactersMaus I• The Jews are represented by mice. • The Germans are represented by cats. • The Americans are represented by dogs. • The Poles are represented by pigs.

List characteristics of a…Hitler called them ‘vermin’.

Small and insignificant.

They saved their food.

They hid

List characteristics of a…Hitler called them ‘pigs’. followers

Lazy, indifferent brutal, strong

List characteristics of a…

Cats kill and hunt down mice

List characteristics of a…Loyal / rescuers

Dogs chase cats

Look at the picturesWhy do you think Spiegelman used animals for symbols rather than drawing humans?