Bunkers in Maus

I have always been interested in learning about the Holocaust. I briefly learned about it in my high school history classes. We always just learned the general history of it. I find it much more interesting to learn about the details and peoples actually experiences in history. I feel that this always makes learning about history much easier and in some cases more personable. I enjoyed reading Maus because of the story line and because of the unique style of writing. Having the book set up as a comic made it an easy read. I especially liked the illustrations. One part of the book that caught my attention was when Spiegelman was describing the bunkers that Jews hid in when the Gestapo were looking for them. The reason I decided to write about this topic is because no matter where or from what source I learn about the holocaust the idea of Jews having to hide comes up. There were a few parts about this scene in the book that caught my attention.

First off it wasn't uncommon that Jews had to hide in unsanitary places that were usually small areas with little to no light. Similar to the bunker in the book which was in a cellar and unfortunately had worms crawling around. I think it is amazing how the will to survive can make a person do virtually anything. Many families broke up in order to save at least the lives of their children. One topic from the United Jewish Federation is about children during the holocaust. Many children were hidden, sent to boarding school or sent to orphanages. Many had to change their names, change their religion and never speak of their past or their families. They knew that doing this would save their lives. Some children like the well known Anne Frank were able to go into hiding with their families. One might think that she was lucky but even with her family they were cut off from the world for years. I could never imagine being taken from my family at such a young age and told never to speak of them. If I were like one of these children I would be considered lucky. I would at least be alive. Of course many of these children who were able to be alive every day had to worry that their family would not come back alive.

Another part of this scene that made a point was Gestapo and their search dogs. I can't believe how the Gestapo, humans who looks like anybody one would see on the road could have such a drive to find the Jews. It doesn't make sense to me how any sane mind could see the logic in what they were doing. The only person that could see that this is okay is a person who is brainwashed. I believe that many of the Gestapo who were out to find and kill Jews were brainwashed. To me, that could be the only reasonably explanation as to how somebody could act this inhumanly. In an article about Nazi brainwashing Peggy Larson states, "...the Nazi party used to mold the German youth through popular youth organizations, special activities, propaganda, and appeals to support their fatherland." The power of brainwashing is incredible but to brainwash people to do such harm doesn't make sense to me. In their eyes what they were doing was the right thing and I still don't understand how one can believe that.

http://www.ujf.net/page.aspx?ID=148359

http://www.rickross.com/reference/brainwashing/brainwashing49.html