Number 13 - Maus - Art Spiegelman

 

Arguably one of the most important graphic novels ever written, this is Art Spiegelman's retelling of his father's experiences in Poland in the run up to and during World War II at the hands of the Nazis.

With the recent controversy when a Tennessee school board decided to ban the book, I decided it was time to dust down my copy and have a reread.

There are two stories running through this book, the tale of Vladek Spiegelman's early life, and how he survived till 1944 without landing in a concentration camp, and the More personal tale of Art's fractious relationship with his father.

The story of Vladek's time in Auschwitz is covered in volume 2 - which I've had to order. I'm not sure why I don't have a copy, but it wasn't the easiest thing to source at a reasonable price.  

The artwork is quite basic, and the mice are purposefully not easy to tell apart. After all, the dehumanisation of the Jews in nazi Germany is a central theme of the book. That, and the comparison with vermin, makes the  portrayal of the Jews as mice both horrific and ironic. The Poles are shown as pigs and Nazis as cats.

The juxta positioning of the two stories both serves to make the book feel more personal, and to accentuate the horror of the holocaust. It becomes easier to read without becoming a misery memoir even though the flashbacks to the 40's become more and more distressing with every loss that Vladek experiences.

I picked this book up when Art Spiegelman was giving a talk and signing copies at a local branch of Waterstones. It remains one of the  most interesting author events I've attended.

This story is a lesson from history that should never be ignored. Any time a group of people is demonised as something less than human, we should ask why, and what is it leading to. 

This book makes it clear that the holocaust didn't start with the gas chambers. They built up to that. They kept that part secret from the populous at large for as long as they could. 

There is only one type of person who would want to ban this book.  This book is a clear warning about that type of person.  It should be required reading for everyone.