The Holocaust Through the Eyes of a Maus (Art Spiegelman)

What can a comic book artist tell us about the Holocaust? Upon Reflection host Marcia Alvar speaks with Art Spiegelman, Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the graphic novels "Maus: A Survivor's Tale" and "Maus II." In this 1991 video from the University of Washington, Speigelman ruminates about his own parents' survival in the Holocaust and how he developed a better sense of their generation through story depiction. The tiny pictures of Maus use anthropomorphic characters to relate the war between German and Jew or "cat and mouse."

[@rondanew9916]

This will be part of my own library for my grandchildren May they never forget. May they have the knowledge of history.

[@ComicBoomTube]

This was a fantastic interview. I have read Maus a number of times over the years but I appreciate it more hearing Spiegelman’s insights.

[@KishorTwist]

Really respectable graphic novel, amazing! I'm sure he was asked for the rights to make a movie out of it several times ever since it was released. I remember his answer on why it wasn't in movie so far _"I don't want to"._

[@butwait]

yeah, he LITERALLY explains that in the first book.

[@elpink5424]

@@butwait He actually says that in the second book

[@notan_alien881]

This whole time he wasn’t even a real mouse

[@padorupadoru8039]

what a disappointment

[@loganpatriquin9443]

bruh momento of the year :(

[@hobsinator7465]

wait, he isnt Jewish????

[@BSLN]

@@hobsinator7465 he is, what the OP was saying was that he wasn’t an actual mouse. It was a joke

[@lucaserojas]

Shocking isnt it

[@TaraHower]

Gosh I love how they speak. The back and forth is beautiful. We don’t do this anymore times change very quickly

[@essaywhu]

Television was way better in the past. You should check out clips of Dick Cavett and some of his interviews.

[@ellenklemm1380]

This interview is especially poignant in 2022 with the banning of Maus by a TN school board. It’s especially chilling to listen to min. 23-27.

[@Matthew-ve7uv]

Ripe for fascism

[@robd1329]

Im listening to the Maus audible on youtube because of the media. I never heard of this book before...its very powerful to hear. This whole banning backfired!

[@vincentdiange6553]

I couldn't agree with you more. Did you happen to see his interview on CNN recently. He is a cool guy.

[@ellenklemm1380]

@@vincentdiange6553 I saw one interview but it wasn’t recent.

[@jacksy3693]

"Ripe for fascism" "A bigger, worse Holocaust"

[@InnaVitamina777]

What a great interview. Ordering book as we speak. Very thoughtful and candid conversation. My family was also part of the War, on the Russian side.. Didn't make it.. Books like this are very important to preserve the uncomfortable reality of history so it never repeats itself

[@leiwolf27]

My family was part of the German side. My Grandmother grew up in Nazi Germany, her and her sisters was forced to go to the female version of the Hitler youth. My great uncles was in the army and I believe one of them ended up on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall.

[@TheErren]

The book was very well put together, it shows a lot of time and stress went into it and it was interesting see someone else’s family dynamic. The history part was very well shown. He really showed emotion in this book and it gives a taste of what some people went through, what his parents went through. I enjoyed his art its self greatly. He did lovely with this book(s) and with the story(s) that he was telling to us about his and his families life(s).

[@TheBINIBALL]

One of the most moving pieces of literature I have ever read

[@virginiawolf6431]

@@TheBINIBALL So you shouldn't have read a lot of books.

[@TheBINIBALL]

@@virginiawolf6431 So my experience with this particular graphic novel somehow shows that I have not read a lot of books? Quite logical. Please let me know if I misunderstood your comment.

[@virginiawolf6431]

No you did not misunderstand my comment. Do you know d'où provient le graphisme de la couverture de Maus?

[@TheBINIBALL]

@@virginiawolf6431 I'm sorry I do not speak French. I believe Mr. Spiegelman did the art and the story if I am not mistaken.

[@shawnstephens7642]

Great comments at 2:40, 5:10, 8:50, 12:25, 16:25

[@gustavomartinez3001]

thanks :)

[@coldclaws2479]

hello to my english class

[@jacksonavalos6298]

I have a question that I’m hoping you can answer ...how did the characters respond the their oppressors?

[@patcomerford6260]

On a pilgrimage to Auschwitz I discovered it to be the most evil place on Earth. But, I also discovered it to be the most sacred place on Earth! This understanding/insight about 'Place' helped me to embrace the dual essence of Humanity!

[@leiwolf27]

What got me was the shoes. I mean it one thing to hear the numbers but it really hit home for me to see all those shoes. I had tears in my eyes

[@tukitoria01]

I wonder if those nazis were actually human. It seems to me they were completely possesed.

[@Derek_The_Magnificent_Bastard]

Fucking excellent book. It really made an impression on me.

[@jamesonjacobs6449]

my parents grew up in the Canadian boarding schools. they had a kind of stoic property about them. meaning like they were separate but there. I guess my dad went through some things and witnessed things. my mom would mention vaguely some of the things they went though but not much was revealed.

[@leedublin320]

Amazing interview... haunting memories that need to be explored by all. Incredibly insightful and heartfelt. I hope this teaches empathy and understanding.

[@williamgwillam3908]

First read this as a 10 year old and it really made an impression.

[@suzannecovich3665]

MAUS, a brilliant book that opens a door for school students to learn of the horrific world of the Nazi Holocaust and its aftermath, its immediate impact on Jewish victims and later, is just that. A door. A door that can be quickly closed. Too often students will read it, discuss it, write essays about it and then, leave it, put it aside and see it as a thing of the past, as they give thanks for 'democratic' worlds within which they live. Perhaps, just perhaps if they were to view and analyse the 1935 Nazi propoganda documentary Triumph of the Will, especially paying attention to the 'unspoken', the lighting, camera angles, focus on buildings, repetitive shots of triumpant faces of all ages, the military and sound effects that all attest to Nazi ideology, the idea of the German people being supreme, they would realise that the echoes of that past is alive and well in any nation that sees themselves as being above all others. Add to that Hitler's Children, the 5 part documentaries that reveal how Hitler and his 'team' trained German children to adopt his ugly ideology, they might come to understand how easily a totalitarian regime can swing a nation into being loyal subjects whose lives and minds have been conditioned to carry out the will of a maniac! Closer to the bone, they might even stop to think about the 'Hitler' mentality that is evident in the schoolyard, individuals and gangs that discriminate and violate anyone who is seen to be 'different' to the 'norm'. A close analysis of Triumph of the Will just might add substance to all that classroom focus on analysing film that supposedly enables them to realise the extent to which they are also shaped to think and feel in order to fit dominant ideologies.

[@nohram.bernal7449]

"The sea of losses..." Mr. Spiegelman, thank you for sharing your story with such bravery and honesty. It would be an honor to hide you in our attic, barn, wherever, as needed.

[@JeffHersch]

i could listen to him speak all day

[@tukitoria01]

Powerful book. Brave author,amazing human being.

[@milascave2]

He is right. If he had depicted his father as a saint, he would have distorted the truth. That which does not kill you DOES NOT always make you stronger, comforting as that idea might be to those who are suffering. Trauma damages people. The trauma lasts for life, and is passed on to the next generation. Suffering at that level does not ennoble people and does NOT have a silver lining. Nothing good comes out of it.

[@alexcarter8807]

I think the absolute utter world of this guy, and Maus + Maus II are good to read and re-read. This is the guy behind "Wacky Packages" in the 1970s and let me tell you, in the 70s laughs were few and far between, and "Wacky Packages" were one of the few bright spots.

[@AshenRean]

This is a certified UWTV classic

[@sian2337]

Early nineties... The stylish is so weird

[@enjoythelyrics7523]

MS.DONOYAN, LOVED YOUR CLASS! Honestly enjoyed reading all 3 of your books that you assigned! :)

[@josebraga9660]

Maus was one fo the best books I ever read.

[@rondanew9916]

It's a shame his mother's journals were burnt

[@sandal_thong8631]

I wish he'd been able to get more of her story 2nd hand through her friends she told her story to and other survivors.

[@rondanew9916]

@@sandal_thong8631 Right 👍

[@sandal_thong8631]

@@rondanew9916 I just learned today, that Meta-Maus has stories by Anja's friends of her.

[@rondanew9916]

@@sandal_thong8631 Oh Please tell me More.

[@sandal_thong8631]

@@rondanew9916 I don't know much; I haven't bought it. It's like the making of Maus with DVD, including recordings of his father that were depicted in Maus, and unused scenes like his father asking how much he paid for the tape recorder.

[@peeeez]

Great answers. Very interesting.

[@CHRB-nn6qp]

Maus is honestly one of the greatest books ever written. Even if you don't like history or graphic novels, you should read it. The events portrayed should not be forgotten by anyone

[@anara5570]

2023! ❤️ This book stays strong, now, more than ever.

[@romanianenjoyer69]

Yes

[@robqrs]

Over the top powerful and tragic. Spiegelman is a treasure.

[@lobox138]

he's an OG furry! This man has my respect I read Maus in high-school and now 13 years later I just picked it up from my book store!

[@fabricatedreality8218]

p.s. Art, you are brilliant

[@goncaloserras8907]

Loved the book!

[@EvergreenWolf]

After reading this book I wonder what animal would Mexicans be since I am a Mexican I think it would either be a jaguar or a squirrel.

[@pytko3]

Or a desert hare.

[@navelpicker]

Desert fox.

[@kassyyar97]

Ooouh how about we are coyotes? Or eagles?

[@comically1776]

We would be classified as beans

[@tjtheentertainer9376]

Maybe and ocelot?

[@virginiawolf6431]

fabulous hunt between German and Jew or "cat and mouse."

[@annepascoe3029]

This book has been banned in Tennessee

[@sandal_thong8631]

Apologists in comments of related videos say, "No it wasn't banned, they just changed the curricula, which is their right as school board members." Of course they didn't replace it with another book, and their arguments to ban it were feeble with all educators in favor of keeping it, so it clearly was an attempt to undermine Holocaust studies in 8th grade. Maybe next month they will try to shut down the next lesson: Japanese-American Internment Camps.

[@JeffHersch]

"I'd rather go to Paris" haha

[@PlanetenPaultje]

And now MAUS is back on the world map, thanks to the McMinn County (TN) School Board banning it from its curriculum.

[@jessicafournerat3804]

Richeaus death was especially tragic as although all of the millions of Jewish people who were murdered by the Nazis in the holocaust were innocent over a million of the innocent Jewish people who were murdered were young children including Richeu. This makes the Nazis especially horrible as not only did they attempt to murder Jewish people even though they were innocent but they were so anti Semitic that they were even willing to murder innocent Jewish children and what makes them especially messed up is that many of the Nazis behind the holocaust like Hans Frank, Rudolph Hoss, Hermann Goering, Henrich Himmler, Reinhard Hyederich and Adolf Eichman had children and Himmler and Goering loved their children while at the same time they were ordering and implementing the murder of millions of innocent people including children just because they were Jewish even though they did nothing wrong. Unfortunately only Niklas Frank Hans Frank's son and Ricardo Eichman Eichmans youngest son recognized their parents role in the holocaust and spoke out against their fathers role in the holocaust while Edda Goering, Gudrun Himmler, Klaus, Deiter, and Horst Eichman, Rudolph Hoss's children along with Reinhard Hyederichs children continued to support their parents and denied their parents role in the holocaust.

[@dplj4428]

Gangsters and demigods start off as children, grow up, have kids and all the while murdering and tearing up the world.

[@virginiawolf6431]

Who was the true kapos?

[@gninja92]

26:00 And then The Donald arose.

[@awayforthewin1325]

Cant wait for ICE to be depicted as bald eagles in 50 years

[@PlanetC64]

WE CAN NOT BAN THIS BOOK

[@nathanlongwell6568]

whats up ms newcombs english

[@maddiemacnab4019]

yuhhh

[@nysq]

America is such a ahistorical country. Very true!

[@PiroKUSS]

Very false.*

[@yleetv]

25:26

[@QwertyCaesar]

Everything there onwards, so prophetic.

[@Kevin-dw3ph]

can yall add subtitles?????? my mans speaking in tongue.. like fam do i look like harry potter

[@halcyongirl]

LMFAOO RIGHT

[@elpink5424]

Speaking in tongues??? I could understand him perfectly; I agree they should add them for the hearing impaired and those who are still learning English, however, to imply he was speaking in an unclear manner is sort of insulting considering how eloquently he presented his thoughts

[@vj9055]

Its like animal farm!! The highclass were represented by the horse

[@jamesonjacobs6449]

fuck the interviewer looks like a man with a nice womans voice. the 80s lol

[@roshneedesai]

she kinda sounds and looks like Scarlett Johanssen

[@hairypolack]

didnt she sing for Eurythmics?

[@lelostimulus9995]

Maus should be banned because it's weird and sucks.