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I should preface this response by stating that all of this is my opinion and is a hundred percent up for debate. Everyone relates to the characters in different ways and this is how I felt about Speigleman’s graphic memoir. Maus.Art Speigleman’s choice to use comic form has been criticized for its lack of detail and rawness which other media is better able to provide. As noted in Hilary Chute’s 2006 article “The Shadow of Time Past,” “This frame [of “Prisoner” by Speigleman], smaller than 2 inches by 2 inches, depicts Anya’s dead body in the bathtub, a heap of anonymous bodies heaped high under a brick wall painted with a swastika ; Anya reading to Artie as a child, Anya slitting her wrist…” (Chute). Such a description is very graphic and not singular in the novel, with depictions of suicide, Auschwitz, crematoria, gas chambers and public executions by hanging. Ultimately, the story of Maus is about the author's relationship with the Holocaust through his parents. Thus, it is not up to the reader whether it is fitting for the situation but it is Speigleman’s way of expressing his story and making a transcript of his father’s experiences. Flashing between Artie’s learning of the story and the story itself would be much less clear in a normal memoir than the panels and clear visual distinctions.

The second point it comes up with is how the reader is able to interpret it. The relatively simple metaphor of animals is simple enough yet complex enough for both elementary students and literary scholars. Its narrative and message of humanity can be easily learned and understood. Of course to some people it is too simple, but Speigleman’s many years of research, his personal connection, and his own interpretation all concur that it is a serious work intended for grave matters. Are the 1200 pages of War and Peace pleasing to all, no, of course not. Do many people read it, do many not? It is a personal recounting of the Holocaust represented with art, it is not supposed to be comfortable. For example, Page 28 of Maus II portrays Mendlebaum, a friend of Vladek at Auschwitz, in a misfitting, belittling, and painful outfit and the page ends with the ominous words, “But here God didn’t come. We were all on our own,” (Speigleman 28).

Last year I was part of Ms. Freeman’s and Ms. Ramadan’s Israel-Palestine conflict course where we had the option to read Joe Sacco’s Palestine, a graphic novel about his experiences in the occupied West Bank. This deals with a society struggling from mass imprisonment, discrimination, brutality and Sacco first became famous for his “comic journalism” on the breakup of Yugoslavia and resulting conflict particularly in Bosnia. He also made an expandable panel on the “Great War” or WWI and trench warfare. Now Sacco and Speigleman are jointly working on a graphic novel “Gaza” in response to the current situation over the past year and a half. Thus, this art form has been used to express difficult topics, despite its limitations compared to more realistic or to more worded accounts.

The book Maus in itself is a good example of how trauma transcends generations and events, simply because Art Spiegelman chose to write this book in the first place. Despite — and perhaps because of — his strained relationship with his father, Art immortalizes Vladek’s story as a way to work through his own internal experience as the son of a Holocaust survivor, on top of sharing his father’s story with the world. With any immense trauma such as the Holocaust, the echoes of its first-hand affects live on through generations. This is evident in Maus, not only with the way Vladek raises his son, but in the way Art interacts with the world as a result of his second-hand trauma. Even though he didn’t experience the horrors or true loss of the Holocaust, Art struggles with a sense of belonging, as he feels trapped in the shadows of his brother’s death and the suicide of his mother. Undoubtedly, the psychological consequence of living through the Holocaust throws a wrench in Art and Vladek’s relationship, and for much of Maus Art appears to have little sympathy for his father’s past. In many ways, Art’s inability to connect with his father is as much a result of Vladek’s pain as it is his choices as a parent. Having gone through such a traumatic experience and being largely unwilling to discuss it, Vladek creates a barrier between himself and his son and makes it hard for Art to truly know or understand who he is. The idea of postmemory, in which descendants inherit non-physical traits linked with deep emotional tolls of their parents, helps explain Art’s own experience as the child of a survivor. “Postmemory reflects the level of identification with the original recipients of trauma and is often characterized by the feeling of displacement, living in temporal and spatial exile, estrangement and the experience of a lack and absence which frequently leads to an identity crisis” (Stanislav, 2013). Vladek’s obsessive frugality and anxious habits, a direct result of his experience in the Holocaust, frustrate Art and weaken their relationship, despite the fact that they were born out of immense suffering that Art knows his father went through. Today, generational trauma remains prevalent, from countless families affected by the Holocaust, slavery, and war. In Maus, Art personifies the feelings of guilt and alienation that often emerge from such ancestry. As with many people who experience generational trauma, Art is burdened with a history that is not his own but still has a significant impact on his own identity and self perception. It’s important to understand and confront these impacts, as failing to do so only deepens the gap in understanding between father and son in Art and Vladek’s relationship. Although processing and working through trauma is difficult, Art Spiegelman’s creation of Maus is itself a way of understanding this trauma, and shows how open communication and storytelling can surpass the discrepancy between generations who have gone through drastically different experiences. Diving into the history of one’s trauma can often lead to self discovery and a deeper understanding of the flaws in a relationship. For example, in Maus, Art feels isolated from his father, and Vladek struggles to connect with his son because of how much the Holocaust shaped his distrust of others.

Generational trauma impacts the relationship between parents and children of Holocaust survivors. According to the experience given in Maus, it makes it very hard for the two parties to connect. Many things are lacking between them making it much harder for them to relate to each other. One cannot fully explain the trauma he went through and the other doesn’t know what he went through so he doesn’t understand and thinks that the actions taken are foolish or just strange overall. For instance, Vladek’s desperate desire to keep food such as the Special K cereal and the almost physical pain that it caused him to even think about throwing out was related to the lack of food and necessities he had in Auschwitz. But being unable to communicate that to his son, when Vladek goes and bargains with the store owner Artie just thinks that his father’s being over the top and he simply views him as an embarrassment. Vladek and Artie’s relationship is extremely strained and it is through this book that Spiegelman truly comes to understand what his father went through. But unfortunately, many families do not have an opportunity like this. The weight of the trauma experienced by direct ancestors as well as communities plays a huge role in the lives of young people today. Many survivors may not want to talk about their experience, maybe because of trauma or because they don’t want to be perceived as weak, but that comes with abandoning the culture that they were raised in as well. In Vladek and Artie’s case, from what was shown in Maus, Artie didn’t grow up in his father’s culture, he became “Americanized”. And this is not the fault of the parents but simply the effect of the Holocaust. It doesn’t help that many survivors didn’t have any family members left behind so there really wasn’t anyone else for their children to connect with. It would be very hard to move beyond generational trauma because trauma isn’t erasable. One cannot just simply forget about all the heartache and immorality that they’ve experienced. That trauma manifests itself in different ways and manages to travel down from generation to generation shaping the way that they live their lives. It would be better to live with it, acknowledge it, find a way to manage it than to think of a way to get rid of it entirely because that is simply not possible. In Intergenerational transmission of trauma in Spiegelman's Maus by Stanislav he mentions that “throughout the whole work, Art’s depression arises from his feelings of incompetence, which only intensifies his feeling of guilt. He is convinced that he is nothing more than an imperfect surrogate of his brother Richieu who was killed during the war” (Stanislav 231). One important aspect of generational trauma in Vladek and Artie's relationship is the loss of Artie’s older brother Richieu whom he never got to meet. Parents obviously would not be able to let go of the death of their child even more so in the circumstances that Richieu died (being poisoned to death in order to avoid being sent to a camp). However, to Artie it seemed like they worshipped his older brother and wished that he was more like him leading him to be jealous of his brother’s ghost because his parents were not able to sit down and work through that trauma with him.

In Maus, I believe that Spigleman ‘s use of the cartoon medium is a great way to tell the story, but my opinion and others' opinions shouldn't matter. The absolute scale and technique that these horrors were carried out in are unspeakable, and to have a survivor account is amazing in itself. The courage that Vladek had to share his story, and for Artie to report it, is so extremely valiant, and I definitely cannot imagine the amount of generational trauma they faced, and yet they still pursued to tell this amazing story.

However, I do believe that the medium definitely conveyed the story’;s emotional weight very well ,and it illustrates the divide in a way I have never seen. Through the mice, cats and pigs representing the poles jews and Nazis, it opens the eyes of the reader to the clear divide between the groups, which definitely cannot be conveyed by a normal book. For example, when Art Spiegelman draws his father, Vladek, as a frail, aging mouse, the images emphasize his suffering in a way words alone cannot. The use of animals to represent different groups makes complex themes like racism and survival easier to understand. The mix of dialogue and visuals helps readers feel the fear, loss, and pain of the Holocaust more deeply than plain text. Also, the writing style was very interesting, because it was all black and white, which shows the despair experienced by the jews. Also, such a complex issue like the holocaust is so simple in the story of just the basic elements: mice and cats, two species who fight against each other, with the cats mainly being the predators: and during the holocaust, the Nazis were their apex predators of the jews.

Also, the way the story is told accurately is supported by the medium, in regards to the intertwining of the settings between the family home in the present and the vivid experiences of Vladek in the past during the holocaust. This is because the setting is so vivid and the reader can pick up on the changes to the setting so quickly as the changes are visual. However, I do think that the use of animals kind of departs the reader fro a little of the reality of the story inherently, as it can make the book seem more childish and fictional than a real story from the outside, but overall the medium is a great representation of how this terrible story can make so many people aware of it who are disconnected from the holocaust.

On the other hand, my opinion and everyone else's shouldn’t matter. We are all grateful that someone so brave has even come forward and told their story, as there are so few survivors and are becoming fewer by the day, so each one is infinitely valuable. Also, antisemitism didn’t begin or end with the holocaust, and so these stories are still extremely valuable for the awareness around antisemitism especially with the profound european shift to more conservative fascist and nationalist regimes, as well as conflict in the middle east.

Although Art Spiegelman has continuously faced heavy criticism for his decision to use the comic form for his graphic novel, Maus, which recounts his father’s experience surviving the Holocaust and delves into the complex relationship between the two, I found this decision to be incredibly effective in conveying the emotional and historical weight of the Holocaust. Often, we associate comic books with superhero stories for little kids; jam packed in those small little panels is all the action, the dialogue, the bad guys vs. the good guys, the “POW!”s, the vibrant colors, and so much more. So naturally, it comes as a surprise to many when they discover that this story centered around the Holocaust and its lasting impact on Spiegelman’s family was written as a comic book. While it strays away from the typical light-hearted and “fun” comic approach, the simplicity and symbolism throughout the work makes the comic form extremely powerful. The novel is depicted in black and white panels, completely void of color throughout the entire thing. I think that this enhances the story and allows the reader to just focus on the story itself. There aren’t any other distracting elements, and the reader is forced to fully digest the story that’s presented. I also feel as though there is no room for imagination for the reader - Spiegelman is in full control of how the camps or major events are illustrated, restricting the freedom of the reader to come to their own conclusions about how the Holocaust unfolded. I believe that this is necessary because this keeps the story true to Spiegelman and his father’s lived experiences. The comic form also allows the reader to get some sense of the seemingly unreal reality felt during the Holocaust, as expressed by Paul Buhle in The Shadow of Past Time, who claimed Maus is “the most compelling of any [Holocaust] depiction, perhaps because only the caricatured quality of comic art is equal to the seeming unreality of an experience beyond all reason (5).” Spiegelman’s use of different animals, or caricatures, to differentiate all the races serves as a simple, yet powerful, tool as well. Jewish people are depicted as mice, Germans as cats, Poles as pigs, and so on and so forth. These distinctions allow for a clear outline of the power dynamics that were at play during the Holocaust. Jews were extremely vulnerable, like mice, at the hands of Nazi Germans (cats), and they often wore pig masks in hopes of hiding their true identity so that they could survive their predators. The readers are easily able to see the hierarchy that existed and the huge role that ethnicity played in determining who was prey and who was not. The movement and integration of the past and present within the comic contributed to the historical weight conveyed as the reader witnesses how Vladek’s past shapes both of their “present.” The reader can recognize the trauma from the Holocaust that weighs Vladek down even decades later, as well as the guilt that Artie sometimes feels burdened with. With all things considered, in my opinion, Spiegelman’s use of the comic form served as a brilliant way to depict a “Holocaust story,” as the simplistic, symbolic, and fluid nature of the novel help readers grasp at least a fragment of the emotional and historical weight of the Holocaust.

While it is quite obvious that the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman is a memoir created to tell both the life stories and struggles of Art and Vladek Speiglman upon taking a closer look at the relationship dynamic between Art and Vladek, his father, it is also apparent that it is a story of generational trauma and how this has affected Art. Throughout this graphic novel Spiegelman reveals details of both his childhood and adult life that would suggest that he felt a constant pressure to live up to his parents expectations as well as satisfy the expectations of other community members, including family friends.

One such example would include the death or suicide of Art’s mother. Due to the significant trauma that Anja experienced during the war, she fell into a depressive state which ultimately claimed her life. During this extremely hard time not only was Art expected to take care of his father but he was also criticized for the insufficient relationship that others believed he had with his mother. Art was not able to take any time to himself to process the event but rather was required to try to support his father. He also describes the situation by saying that “the guilt was overwhelming” (Spiegelman 102). Even while he was grieving his mother, due to pressure from family and friends, he feels like he has let her down and is the reason for her death.

Another example would be the constant rivalry that Art believed he was in with his older brother Richieu who had passed away during the Holocaust. The idea that he would be unable to carry out his parents’ hopes for him haunted Art. His constant fear of disapproval and disappointment combined with the feeling that he could not compete with his brother’s image caused much self doubt in Art. This would also cause him to feel guilty about the life choices that he made and significantly affect his relationship with his parents, decreasing the connection that he felt with them.

Understanding the generational trauma that is passed down to Art is a critical part of also understanding the tension within his relationship with his father. While it easy to dislike Art because of the frustration that he has with his father, their relationship is not so black and white as simply being frustrated or not understanding with one another. While Vladek’s experiences are very traumatizing, Art also has trauma of his own and it seems as if through the course of collecting information for Maus he has not been able to unpack or comprehend this trauma. Art talks about being young and having nightmares about SS men kidnapping him or fatal chemicals coming out of his shower head instead of water so it is clear that Art was also affected by the Holocaust however not to the same extent as his parents. In the article “Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma in Spiegelman’s Maus” the author, Stanislav Kolář, states that “he [Art] undergoes what LaCapra calls ‘empathic unsettlement’.” This term highlights that Art was able to empathize with his father Vladek to an extent however he was also acutely aware of how drastically different him and his father’s life experiences were, making him more reluctant in a way to become closer with his father.

I believe that ultimately it is better to acknowledge the generational trauma that Art has experienced and live with this rather than move beyond it. It is important both to acknowledge how this traumatic experience has affected his parents but also how his parents trauma has passed down to him and affected his life. Additionally this acknowledgement would serve as a way to preserve his family's history and struggles, not allowing them to be forgotten.

Generational trauma affects the children of Holocaust survivors, mostly through the disconnect between parent and child. Holocaust survivors experienced unimaginable horrors, and their grief often isn’t fully understood by their children, especially if they did not go through it themselves. This creates a rift between generations, which can be seen in Art Spiegelman’s Maus through the tense and disagreement-filled relationship between Artie and his father, Vladek. The weight of this trauma continues to affect younger generations today, especially as antisemitism rises, fueled by misinformation and hate groups. It is important to acknowledge and remember the Holocaust not only for Jewish people but for all of humanity, to ensure that such atrocities are never repeated.

One major way generational trauma manifests is through strained parent-child relationships. Holocaust survivors, like Vladek in Maus, often struggle to express their emotions in ways that their children can understand. They may carry deep pain, fear, and even distrust of the world, which affects how they raise their children. Art Spiegelman’s relationship with his father is a clear example of this. Vladek, having survived one of history’s greatest tragedies, expects his son to understand his experiences. However, Artie, who grew up in a very different world, finds it difficult to relate to his father’s suffering. This leads to tension, miscommunication, and frustration between them.

The struggle of Holocaust survivors and their children is absolutely unique. However, many people who experience war and trauma pass down their pain to the next generation, even if they do not intend to. A similar situation happened with soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War. Many veterans returned home with severe emotional scars and found it difficult to reintegrate into society. Like Holocaust survivors, they had witnessed extreme violence and lost their trust in humanity. Their children, much like the children of Holocaust survivors, often could not fully grasp the depth of their parents’ suffering. As a result, their relationships became strained, filled with unspoken pain and misunderstanding.

In the article Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma in Spiegelman’s Maus, Kolar explains how Artie’s relationship with his father is shaped by this generational gap. Kolar states, “Spiegelman’s book mirrors Art’s fraught, very complicated relationship with his father, and, although his autobiographical character shows a certain resistance to his identification with Vladek’s experience, and sometimes even appears to lack empathy towards his suffering, there is no doubt that this trauma is grafted onto his psyche.” This highlights how Artie struggles to connect with his father’s experiences, yet he is still affected by them. Even though he did not live through the Holocaust, the trauma continues to shape his life.

The lasting impact of the Holocaust is not just seen in family relationships but also in the ongoing rise of antisemitism. Hate groups and conspiracy theories, especially those spread online, continue to deny the Holocaust or minimize its impact. This misinformation is dangerous because it disrespects the millions of people who suffered and died, and it encourages further discrimination against Jewish people. If history is forgotten or denied, society risks repeating its darkest moments. This is why it is necessary to not only remember the Holocaust but to actively educate others about it.

Generational trauma is difficult to overcome, but it is possible to acknowledge it and use it as a tool for learning and change. In the case of the Holocaust, forgetting is not an option. The scale of suffering and loss was too great, and the lessons from it are too important. Holocaust survivors and their descendants must continue to share their stories so that future generations understand the reality of what happened. This is not only a responsibility for Jewish people but for all of humanity. Recognizing past atrocities helps prevent similar horrors from happening again.

The experiences of Holocaust survivors and their children show how trauma can be passed down through generations, affecting family relationships and personal identities. The same can be seen in the experiences of Vietnam War veterans and their families. In both cases, children struggle to connect with parents who have endured life-altering pain. Art Spiegelman’s Maus provides a powerful example of this, showing how Artie and Vladek’s relationship is shaped by the Holocaust. By studying these stories, we can better understand the effects of generational trauma and the importance of remembering history. Only through acknowledgment and education can we hope to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

Spiegelman’s use of his comic form is very effective in conveying the emotional and historical weight of the Holocaust. The ability to be able to tell the story through a comic shows how powerful Spiegelman’s tools are to be able to keep the same deep meaning of the comic, and not erase or justify anything in the story. The graphic novel format allows for the reader to be able to tell and understand between words and images. In Maus, the story of Vladek talks and recounts his Holocaust experiences, which is intertwined with the present-day story of Spiegelman’s relationship with his father. Spiegelman achieves the back and forth between the past and present, as he alternates between two timelines through his different character depictions and differing his art styles and layout. The past, as he depicted Vladek’s life in Auschwitz and earlier is drawn in a detailed and realistic style, but the present-day scenes of Spiegelam as he interacts with his father which are seen in a more cartoonish style, which helps the reader go through the layers to understand the emotional separation between the trauma of the past. Therefore, the graphic novel format allows for a deeper emotional feeling and understanding than the text could give to the reader and provide. In Maus the characters are depicted as animals, Jews are seen as mice, Germans are seen as cats, which allows for the reader to immediately understand the hierarchy which is in the story depicted through animals, and for another additional layer of trauma understood which might not of been understand simply through text, but with the pictures and the hierarchy depicted as well. People who typically argue that comics are not a good medium for and lack the seriousness needed to discuss the Holocaust believe that it is simply just games and that comics can’t be used to show the seriousness of the Holocaust, but in reality it can, as it reaches a wide audience including younger and older generationions, who may not particularly connect with the problem. The graphic novel style allows for Spiegelam to show the generational gap between him and his father as it shows the tension between the graphic novel’s portrayal of the events which occurred in the Holocaust and the true reality of the memories and what happened in Vladek’s life and it is hard to fully comprehended this trauma especially not being in it full term.the guilt in which Vladek feels as a survivor shows how deeply hurt he was, and these scars are something that are deeply in him, not easily came off. In Maus II, the alternating between past and present is a helpful way as the Holocaust's narrative is shown through Vladek’s recounting of his experiences during World War II, but the present day interacts between Artie and Vladek show what is going on in their relationship, and the graphic novel allows for a smooth movement between both of these realities by using visual cues. Spiegelam’s use of animals to show different nationalities shows the distance which is between the narrator and the historical trauma, even though Spiegelam was not a direct witness to the events, however as depicted through animals helps to see the distance between trauma and memory. However, the only moment in Maus where characters are depicted as humans are in the comic insert “ Prisoner of the Hell Plant” where Spiegelam talks about the trauma of his mothers suicide, which contrasts with the Holocaust narrative which shows the severeness and intensity of his own trauma (Stanislav, 2013).

Originally posted by Kvara77goat on February 10, 2025 21:34

Although the Holocaust, along with World War II, concluded almost 80 years ago, the lasting repercussions are still felt to this day in Jewish families and communities. Art Spiegelman’s graphic novels Maus and Maus II, published five years apart, cover Art’s father Vladek’s experience during the Holocaust, as well as before and after it. Additionally, the complex narration weaves in pieces of Art’s life in the present day, and runs the narrative of the then-current interviewing of his father while also telling of the horrors of the Holocaust. Through this side by side storytelling, readers are able to understand how the experiences of Vladek during the Holocaust and his treatment in the camps correlates to his flaws in the present day, even though the two timelines occurred forty years apart.

The most obvious example of generational trauma in Maus is the fact that Spiegelman’s mother committed suicide in his teenage years. For all Holocaust survivors, it is incredible to survive and persevere through the camps. For many, the thoughts of their family kept them alive, and this was certainly true in the case of Vladek and Anja. when the miracle of them surviving and meeting again did happen–yes, it was a miracle– the two still felt uncomfortable. They could no longer live in their town, their entire family had died, and there was no one to look out for them– to make things even worse, their son, Richieu, whom they had left as an infant, was dead. For this reason, we see why the Holocaust and Nazi torture of Jewish people did not end in 1945– instead, it continues to this day. Art describes his last interaction with his mother in a raw, emotional, and heartbreaking way.

Anja, having lost her entire family to Nazi terror, made a life with her husband in the states but she still does not feel comfortable and feels as though her family does not love her. Her last interaction with Artie was when she came into his room late at night, saying, “Artie… you… still… love… me… don’t you?” Artie, tired, responds by “turn[ing] away, resentful of the way she tightened the umbilical cord: ‘Sure, ma!’ This scene is truly heartbreaking as it shows how his mother desperately wanted love and care from her family, but was not able to get it and this prompted her suicide. However, we can obviously not just attribute this to the family’s lack of compassion. Art constantly felt as though his parents were shaming him, not necessarily for who he was but who he was not, as their late baby Richieu was a “perfect child” in their eyes. It is incredibly difficult to lose a young child, and thus, again, we cannot blame Vladek and Anja for their neglect and harshness towards Artie at times. The only group we can clearly “blame” in this situation is the Nazis, and this is a perfect illustration of what generational trauma means and how it can affect people and even take lives years and generations after the event itself.

In writing Maus, Art is finally able to come to terms with his lack of empathy and fully understand the consequences of the Holocaust by fully understanding what his family went through. Stanislav Kolar notes that “in revisiting this trauma while writing the comic book, Art’s sense of guilt is only aggravated further, because he is aware of the fact that he has failed to meet his parents’ expectations and has become a source of disappointment for them. What is more, he becomes aware of the lack of empathy he demonstrated towards his mother, and he feels that his failure to understand her contributed to her sense of loneliness”. This is a truly heartbreaking end to the story of his mother, and overall I think this represents the generational trauma that many Holocaust survivors and their families had to experience, and still experience to this day.

This post highlights how Art Spiegelman depicts generational trauma and the impact that it not only had on him and his family, but an overall sense of how the Jewish community felt. The most compelling part of this post is the idea that the Holocaust impact on families isn’t restricted to just that era, but that the impact has affected the generations afterwards and still has an impact even today. It also connects toward a greater setting of trauma that lingers long after wars end to the personal tragedies within Art Spiegelman's family his mother's suicide and his father's emotional scars. This connects to the lingering trauma that is evident within Spiegelman’s family, as his mother committed suicide and the emotional scars that his father clearly has. This is interesting because it shifts the debate from merely historical horrors of the Holocaust to a conversation about the way it destroyed so many lives that never even experienced the Holocaust.

I also believe that this post conveys some of themes touched on in various writings about generational trauma, particularly in literature or psychology. The concept that trauma passes on from person to person, even affect the children or grandchildren even if though they didn’t experience the event first hand, corresponds to outside studies that show traumatic event can have potential detrimental effects that can alter family systems for decades.

Originally posted by Kvara77goat on February 10, 2025 21:34

Although the Holocaust, along with World War II, concluded almost 80 years ago, the lasting repercussions are still felt to this day in Jewish families and communities. Art Spiegelman’s graphic novels Maus and Maus II, published five years apart, cover Art’s father Vladek’s experience during the Holocaust, as well as before and after it. Additionally, the complex narration weaves in pieces of Art’s life in the present day, and runs the narrative of the then-current interviewing of his father while also telling of the horrors of the Holocaust. Through this side by side storytelling, readers are able to understand how the experiences of Vladek during the Holocaust and his treatment in the camps correlates to his flaws in the present day, even though the two timelines occurred forty years apart.

The most obvious example of generational trauma in Maus is the fact that Spiegelman’s mother committed suicide in his teenage years. For all Holocaust survivors, it is incredible to survive and persevere through the camps. For many, the thoughts of their family kept them alive, and this was certainly true in the case of Vladek and Anja. when the miracle of them surviving and meeting again did happen–yes, it was a miracle– the two still felt uncomfortable. They could no longer live in their town, their entire family had died, and there was no one to look out for them– to make things even worse, their son, Richieu, whom they had left as an infant, was dead. For this reason, we see why the Holocaust and Nazi torture of Jewish people did not end in 1945– instead, it continues to this day. Art describes his last interaction with his mother in a raw, emotional, and heartbreaking way.

Anja, having lost her entire family to Nazi terror, made a life with her husband in the states but she still does not feel comfortable and feels as though her family does not love her. Her last interaction with Artie was when she came into his room late at night, saying, “Artie… you… still… love… me… don’t you?” Artie, tired, responds by “turn[ing] away, resentful of the way she tightened the umbilical cord: ‘Sure, ma!’ This scene is truly heartbreaking as it shows how his mother desperately wanted love and care from her family, but was not able to get it and this prompted her suicide. However, we can obviously not just attribute this to the family’s lack of compassion. Art constantly felt as though his parents were shaming him, not necessarily for who he was but who he was not, as their late baby Richieu was a “perfect child” in their eyes. It is incredibly difficult to lose a young child, and thus, again, we cannot blame Vladek and Anja for their neglect and harshness towards Artie at times. The only group we can clearly “blame” in this situation is the Nazis, and this is a perfect illustration of what generational trauma means and how it can affect people and even take lives years and generations after the event itself.

In writing Maus, Art is finally able to come to terms with his lack of empathy and fully understand the consequences of the Holocaust by fully understanding what his family went through. Stanislav Kolar notes that “in revisiting this trauma while writing the comic book, Art’s sense of guilt is only aggravated further, because he is aware of the fact that he has failed to meet his parents’ expectations and has become a source of disappointment for them. What is more, he becomes aware of the lack of empathy he demonstrated towards his mother, and he feels that his failure to understand her contributed to her sense of loneliness”. This is a truly heartbreaking end to the story of his mother, and overall I think this represents the generational trauma that many Holocaust survivors and their families had to experience, and still experience to this day.

This post highlights how Art Spiegelman depicts generational trauma and the impact that it not only had on him and his family, but an overall sense of how the Jewish community felt. The most compelling part of this post is the idea that the Holocaust impact on families isn’t restricted to just that era, but that the impact has affected the generations afterwards and still has an impact even today. It also connects toward a greater setting of trauma that lingers long after wars end to the personal tragedies within Art Spiegelman's family his mother's suicide and his father's emotional scars. This connects to the lingering trauma that is evident within Spiegelman’s family, as his mother committed suicide and the emotional scars that his father clearly has. This is interesting because it shifts the debate from merely historical horrors of the Holocaust to a conversation about the way it destroyed so many lives that never even experienced the Holocaust.

I also believe that this post conveys some of themes touched on in various writings about generational trauma, particularly in literature or psychology. The concept that trauma passes on from person to person, even affect the children or grandchildren even if though they didn’t experience the event first hand, corresponds to outside studies that show traumatic event can have potential detrimental effects that can alter family systems for decades.

Originally posted by bostonlatin1635 on February 11, 2025 20:44

In Maus, I believe that Spigleman ‘s use of the cartoon medium is a great way to tell the story, but my opinion and others' opinions shouldn't matter. The absolute scale and technique that these horrors were carried out in are unspeakable, and to have a survivor account is amazing in itself. The courage that Vladek had to share his story, and for Artie to report it, is so extremely valiant, and I definitely cannot imagine the amount of generational trauma they faced, and yet they still pursued to tell this amazing story.

However, I do believe that the medium definitely conveyed the story’;s emotional weight very well ,and it illustrates the divide in a way I have never seen. Through the mice, cats and pigs representing the poles jews and Nazis, it opens the eyes of the reader to the clear divide between the groups, which definitely cannot be conveyed by a normal book. For example, when Art Spiegelman draws his father, Vladek, as a frail, aging mouse, the images emphasize his suffering in a way words alone cannot. The use of animals to represent different groups makes complex themes like racism and survival easier to understand. The mix of dialogue and visuals helps readers feel the fear, loss, and pain of the Holocaust more deeply than plain text. Also, the writing style was very interesting, because it was all black and white, which shows the despair experienced by the jews. Also, such a complex issue like the holocaust is so simple in the story of just the basic elements: mice and cats, two species who fight against each other, with the cats mainly being the predators: and during the holocaust, the Nazis were their apex predators of the jews.

Also, the way the story is told accurately is supported by the medium, in regards to the intertwining of the settings between the family home in the present and the vivid experiences of Vladek in the past during the holocaust. This is because the setting is so vivid and the reader can pick up on the changes to the setting so quickly as the changes are visual. However, I do think that the use of animals kind of departs the reader fro a little of the reality of the story inherently, as it can make the book seem more childish and fictional than a real story from the outside, but overall the medium is a great representation of how this terrible story can make so many people aware of it who are disconnected from the holocaust.

On the other hand, my opinion and everyone else's shouldn’t matter. We are all grateful that someone so brave has even come forward and told their story, as there are so few survivors and are becoming fewer by the day, so each one is infinitely valuable. Also, antisemitism didn’t begin or end with the holocaust, and so these stories are still extremely valuable for the awareness around antisemitism especially with the profound european shift to more conservative fascist and nationalist regimes, as well as conflict in the middle east.

During a class discussion on the last chapters of Maus, a question asks, ‘Are you satisfied with the ending of Maus? Does it matter if you, the reader, are satisfied?’ and my peer bostonlatin1639 answers that prompt perfectly. We both agree on the idea that the response to this question should not be a yes or no, because the trauma faced and emotional work that Art Speigelman must have put into this comic would simply be too much for it to be viewed and rated by its readers. Anyone who believes that the ending should've been different in order to have that ‘perfect ending’ or ‘perfect wrap-up’ hasn’t fully recognized the meaning of this book. Especially after the chapter when Maus breaks out the Vladek and Artie narrative to express how emotionally distressing it was for Art Speigelman, as the author, to make this book. Stating that interviewers had been constantly begging him to turn it into a movie or other choices in order to gain more profit, that is purely exploiting Speigelman for his work. It was comforting to see that my peer has acknowledged the struggles and praises Speigelman and his father for their bravery in speaking up about something worse than tragic. My peer then continues to applaud for Speigelmans great work in details and the importance of the medium cartoon format. This learn to question had me a little confused at first, as I had thought there was barely any significance of the comic form for Maus, until I realized that it ‘carries emotional weight’. From the creative expression of using animals for each group - Jews, Nazis, poles, and so on, to showing the deep damage that was put upon the survivors of the concentration camps.

Originally posted by make_art_not_war on February 11, 2025 21:52

While it is quite obvious that the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman is a memoir created to tell both the life stories and struggles of Art and Vladek Speiglman upon taking a closer look at the relationship dynamic between Art and Vladek, his father, it is also apparent that it is a story of generational trauma and how this has affected Art. Throughout this graphic novel Spiegelman reveals details of both his childhood and adult life that would suggest that he felt a constant pressure to live up to his parents expectations as well as satisfy the expectations of other community members, including family friends.

One such example would include the death or suicide of Art’s mother. Due to the significant trauma that Anja experienced during the war, she fell into a depressive state which ultimately claimed her life. During this extremely hard time not only was Art expected to take care of his father but he was also criticized for the insufficient relationship that others believed he had with his mother. Art was not able to take any time to himself to process the event but rather was required to try to support his father. He also describes the situation by saying that “the guilt was overwhelming” (Spiegelman 102). Even while he was grieving his mother, due to pressure from family and friends, he feels like he has let her down and is the reason for her death.

Another example would be the constant rivalry that Art believed he was in with his older brother Richieu who had passed away during the Holocaust. The idea that he would be unable to carry out his parents’ hopes for him haunted Art. His constant fear of disapproval and disappointment combined with the feeling that he could not compete with his brother’s image caused much self doubt in Art. This would also cause him to feel guilty about the life choices that he made and significantly affect his relationship with his parents, decreasing the connection that he felt with them.

Understanding the generational trauma that is passed down to Art is a critical part of also understanding the tension within his relationship with his father. While it easy to dislike Art because of the frustration that he has with his father, their relationship is not so black and white as simply being frustrated or not understanding with one another. While Vladek’s experiences are very traumatizing, Art also has trauma of his own and it seems as if through the course of collecting information for Maus he has not been able to unpack or comprehend this trauma. Art talks about being young and having nightmares about SS men kidnapping him or fatal chemicals coming out of his shower head instead of water so it is clear that Art was also affected by the Holocaust however not to the same extent as his parents. In the article “Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma in Spiegelman’s Maus” the author, Stanislav Kolář, states that “he [Art] undergoes what LaCapra calls ‘empathic unsettlement’.” This term highlights that Art was able to empathize with his father Vladek to an extent however he was also acutely aware of how drastically different him and his father’s life experiences were, making him more reluctant in a way to become closer with his father.

I believe that ultimately it is better to acknowledge the generational trauma that Art has experienced and live with this rather than move beyond it. It is important both to acknowledge how this traumatic experience has affected his parents but also how his parents trauma has passed down to him and affected his life. Additionally this acknowledgement would serve as a way to preserve his family's history and struggles, not allowing them to be forgotten.

I really liked the organization of this post and how it gave thoughtful attention to the many aspects of generational trauma that Spiegelman discusses in the graphic novel. Something that really spoke to me and that I touched on as well is that the relationship between Art and his father is not black and white-- it's anything but. We cannot blame either of them for their seemingly harsh and unfair actions, since they each have been through a lot and are looking at the world through a very different lens than we readers are.

Additionally, I agree with the fact that we must acknowledge our trauma and past events rather than try to move past them blindly. As we saw today with Jack Trompetter's visit, he truly only felt comfortable opening up about his experiences during the Holocaust over 40 years later. An environment, particularly during the time Vladek and Anja lived in and Art grew up, where speaking about the Holocaust was discouraged is an incredibly toxic environment for those who still carried the burdens from the Holocaust (which was almost every survivor, to some degree).

So, I agree almost completely with this person's viewpoint and analysis of the impact of generational trauma throughout the text and in real-world relationships outside of it. This student touched on many interesting points, but one thing I would have liked to see be discussed slightly more is the role of his dead brother, Richieu, since I believe that is such a critical part of Art's father's trauma, Art's mother's death, and his feeling of incompetency.

Generational trauma impacts children of Holocaust survivors just as much as the survivors themselves. This can be seen especially in Spiegelman, his form of trauma is transmitted from the emotional and psychological scars that his father sustained within the Holocaust. The events of Maus describe this perfectly, with Vladek’s story in itself impacting Spiegelman immensely. Art becomes frustrated with his inability to connect or relate to his father and his experiences, causing pain to himself and his family.

The trauma experienced by Vladek leads to him developing a form of PTSD, affecting his relationship with his son in the process. Art is unable to really understand what his father goes through, and acts rather insensitive throughout the story. I think this is clearly a product of his father being a Holocaust survivor, as Art’s struggle to understand his father’s trauma exemplifies the notion that children of survivors face complex burdens and guilt that are passed down from their parents. In Maus II Spiegelman conveys how he almost feels guilty for not having experienced the Holocaust for himself. In a way, Art’s younger brother who passed away (Richieu) actually symbolizes this exact guilt he feels, wondering how he would have been if he had been there to experience the Holocaust. As Kolar Stanislav says in Intergenerational transmission of trauma in Spiegelman’s Maus, “Art’s story confirms the assertion that generations which have never been exposed to a traumatic event can ‘inherit’ the trauma of their ancestors and that the most common channel of this intergenerational and transgenerational transmission is through the family.” This collective history of trauma becomes not only a part of the identity of the individual, but also the community itself. The survivors, in the case of the Holocaust, become a part of the cultural memory.

One of the main questions in Maus is if it is possible to move on from such trauma, I think it is answered with no. It isn’t possible to move beyond the trauma that his dad experienced for Art, he has an inability to fully escape it and it causes him to instead seek acknowledgement rather than resolution. I believe that the Holocaust was such an event that it is impossible to really move on from it, to fully understand Vladek and his trauma is almost impossible to Art. This is why he has such discourse and almost hatred for himself due to not experiencing the Holocaust. It is odd in a way that Art would have wanted to experience such a traumatic event, but it would give him a reason to connect with his father.

The graphic novel Maus does not only portray Vladek Spiegelman’s Holocaust story; it is also the story of Art Spiegelman growing up as the son of a Holocaust survivor. Art’s complicated and tense relationship with his father is undoubtedly impacted by the traumatic experiences Vladek went through, which influenced both his own identity as well as the identity of his family. While creating the graphic novel, Art listened to his father’s retelling of the horrific events he experienced during the Holocaust, serving as a “secondary witness,” according to Kolář Stanislov’s “Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma in Spiegelman's Maus.” Through this process, he gained “postmemory,” or memories separated by generations through deep personal connections (Stanislov). This concept of postmemory is highlighted in Art’s description of his brother, Richieu. For instance, Art never met his older brother, who passed away during the Holocaust; however, Richieu held a prominent position in Art’s life. His family considered Richieu the ideal child, and Art felt he could never live up to him or his sacrifice. In this way, Richieu represents the past as well as Art’s survivor’s guilt, as the generational trauma, or memories passed down to Art from his parents, impact his sense of self and identity throughout his life. Furthermore, Art demonstrates this postmemory in his comic, “Prisoner on the Hell Planet: A Case History” (Spiegelman 100, Panel 1). In these panels, Art portrays his character in the striped prisoner uniform that his father and other prisoners wore while imprisoned in concentration camps. As he retells the story of his mother’s tragic passing and its impact on his relationship with his father, he depicts himself as a prisoner of his family’s trauma. As a result, just as the Holocaust continued to affect the lives of Vladek and Anja later in life, their experiences also shaped their son in the modern day. In addition, Vladek lost his home and was unable to return even after the war had ended (Spiegelman 131, Panel 7). This loss of his home added another layer of trauma even after the war’s end as Vladek was made to feel like a permanent outsider, paralleling the tension between him and his son regarding housing later in the novel. Many people, including one of the Gelber sons whom Vladek knew, were killed upon returning to their homes (Spiegelman 132). Thus, Vladek’s concept of home was dramatically altered, possibly preventing him from ever feeling safe and changing his family’s identity as a whole. In these ways, the impacts of the Holocaust are ongoing and transform the lives of young people in the modern day.

As merely a reader and not a survivor, I cannot say if it is possible to ever move beyond generational trauma. The graphic novel Maus, however, does demonstrate how postmemory and generational trauma shape the identities of survivors and their descendants. It may be impossible to move beyond it as it becomes a part of survivors and guides the way they live their lives. Conversely, in creating the novel, Art may be demonstrating his acknowledgement of his family’s generational trauma and his attempt to make sense of it and live with it. Thus, he conveys to the reader that despite whether or not it is possible to move beyond the events of the past, we must not forget history in order to prevent repeating it.

Originally posted by riversky127 on February 11, 2025 19:14

The book Maus in itself is a good example of how trauma transcends generations and events, simply because Art Spiegelman chose to write this book in the first place. Despite — and perhaps because of — his strained relationship with his father, Art immortalizes Vladek’s story as a way to work through his own internal experience as the son of a Holocaust survivor, on top of sharing his father’s story with the world. With any immense trauma such as the Holocaust, the echoes of its first-hand affects live on through generations. This is evident in Maus, not only with the way Vladek raises his son, but in the way Art interacts with the world as a result of his second-hand trauma. Even though he didn’t experience the horrors or true loss of the Holocaust, Art struggles with a sense of belonging, as he feels trapped in the shadows of his brother’s death and the suicide of his mother. Undoubtedly, the psychological consequence of living through the Holocaust throws a wrench in Art and Vladek’s relationship, and for much of Maus Art appears to have little sympathy for his father’s past. In many ways, Art’s inability to connect with his father is as much a result of Vladek’s pain as it is his choices as a parent. Having gone through such a traumatic experience and being largely unwilling to discuss it, Vladek creates a barrier between himself and his son and makes it hard for Art to truly know or understand who he is. The idea of postmemory, in which descendants inherit non-physical traits linked with deep emotional tolls of their parents, helps explain Art’s own experience as the child of a survivor. “Postmemory reflects the level of identification with the original recipients of trauma and is often characterized by the feeling of displacement, living in temporal and spatial exile, estrangement and the experience of a lack and absence which frequently leads to an identity crisis” (Stanislav, 2013). Vladek’s obsessive frugality and anxious habits, a direct result of his experience in the Holocaust, frustrate Art and weaken their relationship, despite the fact that they were born out of immense suffering that Art knows his father went through. Today, generational trauma remains prevalent, from countless families affected by the Holocaust, slavery, and war. In Maus, Art personifies the feelings of guilt and alienation that often emerge from such ancestry. As with many people who experience generational trauma, Art is burdened with a history that is not his own but still has a significant impact on his own identity and self perception. It’s important to understand and confront these impacts, as failing to do so only deepens the gap in understanding between father and son in Art and Vladek’s relationship. Although processing and working through trauma is difficult, Art Spiegelman’s creation of Maus is itself a way of understanding this trauma, and shows how open communication and storytelling can surpass the discrepancy between generations who have gone through drastically different experiences. Diving into the history of one’s trauma can often lead to self discovery and a deeper understanding of the flaws in a relationship. For example, in Maus, Art feels isolated from his father, and Vladek struggles to connect with his son because of how much the Holocaust shaped his distrust of others.

I liked that you not only connected generational trauma with Art and Vladeks relationship but also the Holocaust in general, placing a strain on their relationship. Do you think Art’s minimal sympathy for his father is justified, knowing how Vladek and Art interact with each other? I like that you connected post-memory to generational trauma, a view I haven’t seen before. I think that it is a good way to explain more about exactly how trauma can descend on children. I agree that Art utilizes Maus to not only share his father's story but to also deal with and come to terms with his own internal issues. It is a brave thing to be vulnerable, especially to the world as Art has done. I think that the book serves not only as a way for Art to understand himself, but to help other people critically think about their lives and their relationships. I also agree that Vladek has instilled distrust in his family due to the Holocaust because it is not only seen with Artie at times but also with Mala. How do you think a family could come to terms with their trauma and stop it from spreading to future generations? Do you think there is any way to not necessarily move past a survivor's experience, but prevent it from affecting relationships? Overall, I agree with all your points made, and think you did a good job explaining the cause and effect of not only the Holocaust, but the way people come out of it.