Maus II- Chapters 3-5

The Russian army's front line was close, and afraid as they were, the Nazi's evacuated everyone from Auschwitz. They gave them each a small blanket, and a small amount of food, and they made them march. They marched for miles and miles, day and night, all they way to Germany. Those who walked too slow or who got tired, were shot and killed. They pushed them all into a train, and they had no idea of where they were going. The train stopped, however, they were not let out for days, and people began to die from starvation. Finally, the doors were opened and the soldiers told them to get rid of the dead. After they were cleared out, the living were put back into the train carts. They went to another camp, Dachau, where all Vladek's troubles had really began. There was lice everywhere, and if you had lice then you did not get any soup. Vladek had gotten an infection in his hand and he had the "privilege" or going to the infirmary. Here, he could have three meals a day, and a real bed. He met a Frenchman who was not a Jew, so the Nazi's would allow him to receive red cross packages. In these packages he would receive sardines, biscuits, and chocolate, and would share them with Vladek. This is what would save his life. After a few weeks, Vladek came down with Typhus and could not eat. He was sent to the infirmary, and finally his fever broke. Soon an announcement came that everyone strong enough to travel would be traded as war prisoners at the Swiss border. This time they were all put onto a passenger train, a real train to Switzerland. Anja had been sent to different camps, and had made it back to Sosnowiec faster than Vladek. The war had finally ended, and they were put back on the train to be met by Americans. Vladek and an old friend, Shivek, from before the war, stuck together and hid. They hid in a house until one day the Americans finally came. A few months later, they moved him, and was diagnosed with Diabetes. He made his way back to Anja, and the book finally finishes with him being buried next to her, and Artie's book finally being finished.

Maus II- Chapters 1&2

In Chapter 1, Artie and Francoise are visiting and staying with some cousins in Vermont, for summer vacation. They get a phone call that Vladek has had a heart attack, when really Mala has left him and taken all of his money. Artie and Francoise go to stay with for what they thought would be a couple days. However, Vladek assumed that it would be for the whole rest of the summer. He begins to talk about his experinece in the Holocaust and starts to tell the stories of staying in Auschwitz. He talks about how they stripped him of his clothes and put him into the showers. Luckily, they really were showers and not gas chambers. They gave him new clothes, that looked like prisoners clothing, and didn't care if they fit him or not. They also did the same with shoes, which were made from wood, and were very uncomfortable if they did not fit at all. He talks about his lucky chance of how he taught English to a Kapo, and in return, he received food and a safe place to stay and keep from being taken. In the end, he is the only one from his original group who did not die during that time.

In Chapter 2, Vladek dies of congestive heart failure on August 18, 1982. Artie and Francoise have a child, Nadja Mouly Spiegelman, on May 13, 1987. His time had been taken up by interviews and business propositions about his published books of the Holocaust, but he did not want to deal with any of them. He begins to feel guilty about proving his father wrong by being successful, and feels that everything he has accomplished is nothing compared to surviving Auschwitz. Artie finally gets the courage to listen to the rest of the tapes to the finish the book, and it leaves off with Vladek working as a tinsman. Anja was sent to Auschwitz II- Birkenaw. This camp was much bigger and was simply meant for death. From a woman named Mancie, Vladek finds that Anja is still alive, yet weak, and he begins to send her food and letters. Vladek soon becomes a shoemaker, and at the same time tries to move Anja into the new barracks, which are closer to him, by bribing the guards with cigarettes and vodka.

Maus Reading #2

These sections of the book show even more how tightly fixed Vladek is with his moeny when Artie shows him the new tape recorder he bought. Vladek continues on with his story of how all twelve of the family was living in one house. They each got coupons for certain amounts of food, which didn't give them much to live on. They could buy things illegally from the black market, but there was a huge risk of getting caught and taken by the Nazi's. Vladek's textile business had been taken over by Aryan managers...like the rest of the Jewish businesses. Vladek started going to people who owed him money when the textile business was runing, and earned some extra cash on the side. He then tried to find a way for safe hiding when Nazi's would search through businesses for Jews, by getting various jobs. The Germans came and took of their valuable. They sold most of them to earn extra cash. Vladek tried to put his son, Richieu, into hinding, however, he later died. All Jews were relocated to Stara Sosnonweic Quarter, where they lived in even smaller spaces. Jews who sold goods without coupons began to be hung and shown out in public on the street. After the hanging of two of Vladek's close friends, he got involved with gold and jewelery. Another notice came saying that all Jews, seventy years old and older, had to be transferred to Theresienstadt in Czechoslavakia. This was when the news about Auschwitz was finally let out, and everyone knew about the killings, and the gas chambers.