The Role Of Anti-Semitism In Art Spiegelman's Maus
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In Hannah Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism, the external conflict for the Jewish people is the Nazi regime spreading ideologies of anti-Semitism to non-totalitarian groups that are subject to their indoctrination (Arendt 1962:342). In Art Spiegelman’s Maus, the external conflict described by Vladek’s story is the rise of anti-Semitism in Poland as the Poles gradually accept Nazi doctrines on the Jewish people, who were vulnerable to mistreatment. When a government or powerful group unleashes terror upon people under its reign, it is internal conflict. In the Origins of Totalitarianism, “this was the case in Nazi Germany when full terror was directed against Jews” (Arendt 1962:6). The Jewish people in Maus demonstrated this internal conflict…show more content… Anti-Semitism became so central to Nazi propaganda that “anti-Semitism was no longer a question of opinions about people different from the majority, or a concern of national politics, but the intimate concern of every individual in his personal existence” (Arendt 1962:356). It became a curse for Nazi supporters to have a Jewish ancestor as if it was a poison. With this extreme portrayal of the Jewish race, the next step for the Nazis’ pursuit of world domination was to convince their supporters that it was essential to take down the Jewish people. Hitler brought about the change from propaganda to terror by announcing to his supporters, “‘the nations that have been the first to see through the Jew and have been the first to fight him are going to take his place in the domination of the world’” (Arendt 1962:360). In Maus, the Nazis’ first step to terrorizing the Jewish people was to inhibit their ability to work in or own stores. When Vladek came back home from the war, he asked his father-in-law about the status of his textile factory. The father-in-law responded, “Don’t you know? All Jewish businesses have been taken over by Aryan managers” (Spiegelman 2011:78). The Nazis’ control over the Jews’ ability to work was an extension to limiting the public image of the Jews. With Jewish stores now being…show more content… Even after successfully destroying the Jews’ public image, the Nazis continued the terror against Jews. Despite the success of the terror, “the real horror is that it reigns over a subdued population. Where the rule of terror is brought to perfection, as in concentration camps” (Arendt 1962: 344). The Jews feared the Nazi concentration camps to the point that taking one’s own life and others was a better option. After hearing that the Nazis were cleaning out Zawiercie and taking any survivors to Auschwitz, Tosha grabbed all her children and Richieu. While preparing the poison, Tosho cried, “I won’t go to their gas chambers!...And my children won’t go to their gas chambers”(Spiegelman 2011:111). Tosha would rather kill herself and her children than let the Nazis take them to a concentration camp. This clearly illustrates the terror that the concentration camps were to the Jews. The fear of Auschwitz is impossible to imagine to an individual that did not experience it. While meeting with his therapist, Artie remarked that he was having trouble imagining Auschwitz for his graphic novel. The therapist conveys the fear that the Jews felt the whole time at Auschwitz by yelling, “BOO!” and scaring Artie for a moment. He explained that Auschwitz, “felt a little like that. But ALWAYS! From the moment you got to the gate until the very end”