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Vladek Holocaust Quotes

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"It was crying and praying. So long we survived. And now we waited only that they shoot, because we had not else to do" (267). This quote from the end of the novel ironically describes what the Jewish people had to endure after the concentration camps. Vladek Spieglman develops two personalities in Maus I and II—before and after the concentration camps. Though Vladek certainly did survive the holocaust, old Vladek did not. Vladek’s post-holocaust life was haunted by the horrors he witnessed while being in the concentration camps; he went from a young, handsome resourceful man to a miserable, old man who does nothing but complain. In the opening, Vladek was very reluctant about discussing his past with even his own son. This hesitation came …show more content…

Here, Vladek and Anja were segregated from one another as well as from their son Richelou. While in Auschwitz, Vladek learned to take extreme measures as he had a passion to live. Vladek learned to save and eat his food in small portions, “and one time each day they gave us a small bread, crunchy like glass….We got one little brick of this which had to last a whole day”. In this quote, Vladek showed that he used his food as a means of surviving—he would eat his food in small portions and use the rest to his advantage for bribing. At the camp, Vladek worked numerous jobs varying from being an English tutor, tinsmith to being a shoe maker. Vladek’s drive to survive for his wife Anja is what kept him going; after his stable job as a tinsmith, he began thinking of ways to find information on his wife Anja’s well-being. This drive to find Anja, his loving life, in a sense gave his purpose to keep living through the horrendous conditions. When Vladek, his wife Anja along with all the other Jewish people were released from the concentration camps, they still did not feel safe. The Holocaust did not end for the camp survivors when they were liberated; the pain of the trauma they endured would haunt them throughout the rest of their lives. The horror the Jewish people had to live through in the concentration camps is the cause of personality …show more content…

Vladek’s relationship with Mala, his new wife, was never like his relationship with Anja. It is apparent that the Holocaust affected his new life and relationships with his family. Vladek’s son Art and wife Mala avoided coming in contact with him because of his obsessive compulsiveness. Vladek constant complaints and criticism’s droves Mala away, he is evidently incapable of loving someone as he did his wife because of his Holocaust experiences and negative side effects. Post-Holocaust Vladek is stingy about money, he does things like leave the stove on all day in his cabin so he doesn’t have to waste matches to light the pilot, he returns a bag of open and partially eaten groceries and gets upset about two salt jars being open at the same time. Without a doubt it is evident the holocaust is responsible for the severe personality shift Vladek had undergone. Although Vladek does not notice the huge personality shift but he does recognize the little things—he admits his compulsiveness when he states that he is reluctant to waste anything. “I cannot forget…ever since Hitler I don’t like to throw out even a crumb” (78). Vladek has come to both appreciate and be obnoxiously nit-picky about the smallest things. Vladek’s relationship with his son Art is fairly complex as Art feels his father compares him to his dead brother, Richelou. Art does not enjoy spending time with his father

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414 Words | 2 Pages

Another factor is that Vladkek’s meaningful relationships were affected by the Holocaust is that Vladkek knows that there is no such thing as friends. He doesn’t have a strong and meaningful relationship with Artie because he never had a stable relationship with him. Int the flashback on the beginning of the book Vladkek say “Friends? There’s no such thing as Friends”,This means that Vladkek will never have meaningful relationships because he doesn’t believe in friends which is the most important factor of creating meaningful

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446 Words | 2 Pages

There are several traits that helped Vladek survive once he enters the concentration camps. Some traits that help him survive once he enters the concentration camp is selfishness, his concern about wealth, and him being sneaky and clever. Vladek’s self-serving character helps him survive camp. An example of his selfish nature is when, he wants to get Art a new coat. “I have for you a warmer one.

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819 Words | 4 Pages

The Holocaust was a terrible event that left few Jewish survivors. In the graphic novel “The Complete Maus”, (Maus I and Maus II), Art Spiegelman writes about his father’s personal experiences of surviving the Holocaust, while also showing Vladek and his problems in the 1970s-80s. The Holocaust stories consist of hiding in many bunkers and hiding spots, working in labor camps while starving, and using connections and bribes to survive just one more day. Vladek was fortunate to survive the Holocaust with his wife, who committed suicide later, and a few of his relatives. Close to 98% of Polish Jews were killed (Wikipedia), but Vladek managed to survive Auschwitz and other life-threatening situations.

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317 Words | 2 Pages

The bond between a father and a son is perhaps a thing of beauty. It is sometimes what bonds them together to survive horrible occasions, such as the Holocaust that Elie Wiesel and his father went through. Throughout the march to the Birkenau concentration camps, some sons and fathers took advantage of their father's’ old age and used it to steal or betray them. This displays how dehumanization plays a role in breaking apart a family bond that was instilled in their hearts on their first days of humanity.

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1043 Words | 5 Pages

In the concentration camp was all about survival. As the information gathers after finishing the book called Night, the theme for the book is, survival, it is survival because Jews were being killed, there were dangerous marches, and Jews didn’t get much food or medical care. The first reason

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1124 Words | 5 Pages

As a young man during WW2, Vladek proves that he is a quick thinker with ethical ideas. During the Holocaust, it was a tough time for everyone, especially the Jews. Vladek had to move from place to place just to keep himself and his family safe. This was very difficult because the Polish and Gestapos were everywhere. Vladek had ideas that were enough to save his life and keep him safe.

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737 Words | 3 Pages

Vladek was a real person who survived the Holocaust, a terrible war in that many people died. Vladek survived by pretending to be a Pole soldier who escaped the camps(pg.64). He then told the conductor if he could hide him and take him home. He got lucky the conductor helped him, but he still used his knowledge to pretend to be a Pole. Vladek also survived by making bunkers for him and his family to hide in (pg.110).

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315 Words | 2 Pages

All throughout Night, we see the recurring theme of preservation of self above others. We see this often throughout Night because the prisoners’ basic rights were being taken from them and when that happens, our instincts kick in and cause us only to think of ourselves. This is true survival mode, which means nothing but you and your survival matters. The prisoners at the concentration camp were deprived of a life, their name, and even food most of the time.

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798 Words | 4 Pages

To start, Vladek’s choices can teach us that what is on the inside is more important than what is on the outside. In the graphic novel Maus, by Art Spiegelman, the text states, “‘Mom wasn’t that attractive, huh?’ ‘Not so like Lucia.. But if you talked a little to her, you started loving her more and more’” (Spiegelman 18).

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906 Words | 4 Pages

Art wasn't alive during the events of the Holocaust in contrast to Elie Wiesel, Art had to interview his father to write Maus. Vladek and the other Jewish people went to a big hall while they shouted at them to get undressed and to leave their valuables, Vladek shares, “They took from us our papers, our clothes, and our hair” (Spiegelman 25). In relation to Night, Vladek in the scene is getting his identity basically getting taken from him, and felt fear and cold all at the same time. In the next scene, S.S. officers chose Jewish to put to work, while the weak were put aside to be taken away forever. Vladek on the other hand was very lucky because he knew how to speak English and for that he was put aside by a Block supervisor that wanted to learn English, he told Vladek to follow him where Vladek then witnesses something he hadn't seen in a long time, “Here I saw rolls!

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1031 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout Maus, Vladek is telling his son Artie about how he survived the Holocaust. He explained to Artie that before the war, life was good for him and his family. He tells him everything about his experience during the war as well, from the relationship he had with his family and Anja, to his friendships with both gentiles and Jews, to things he might of found or kept throughout the war. However now, a few decades after the war, Vladek’s lifestyle has changed drastically from during the war, and even from before the war. Vladek’s friendships, relationships, and everyday life has changed due to the Holocaust and WWII.

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986 Words | 4 Pages

The first way that his connections would help him because when some Jewish officials came to register some of the war prisoners so that they could be free, Vladek would tell the officials that Orbach was a friend that he knew that lived in Lublin. In the novel in page 62 to the top panels of page 63, it would start showing that he would get freed to local Jews and thanks to his connection with Orbach, this would later help him be with Anja and Richieu back in Sosnowiec. This demonstrates that his luck with being freed and knowing a local Jew that would later led him to be with his family again after being imprisoned by war. Another example of his connections making up his luck is his encounter with a Nazi soldier that was going to kill him but when the officer found out that he was a relative of Illustrious Spiegelman, he would let him go. In the novel in page 118 in the bottom panels, a Nazi officer would say, “Give me your ID papers or i 'm gonna blow your brains out.”

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1125 Words | 5 Pages

He is still hung up on many of the things that he had to deal with during the war. One of these things was that he always had to save his food. In Auschwitz, he was only given a little bit of food and although, “Most gobbled it right away, but I always saved a half for later” (II, 49). This shows that back then he was sparing with his food. Seemingly small items are incredibly important to Vladek like his pills

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1196 Words | 5 Pages

Despite the brave front that Vladek has put in the years following the war, his story remains to be a tale of suffering, agony, and death. The story of Vladek’s survival during the Holocaust is the central aspect of the novel,

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649 Words | 3 Pages

Art Spiegelman offers a very unique point of view in his two narratives, Maus I and Maus II. In these two books, Spiegelman takes us through the life of his father Vladek and his journey during World War II in Europe. Spiegleman also confronts how post-memory has effected him through the years, even when he was growing up. These two books reflect perfectly on a survivors story using symbolism and analogy.

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