Vladek Spiegelman

Vladek Spiegelman (on the left), as depicted on the cover of Maus

Vladek Spiegelman (October 11, 1906-August 18, 1982) is the subject of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus, written and illustrated by his son, Art Spiegelman. A Polish Jew—n.b. that Vladek is a Czech spelling, the proper Polish spelling being Władek—he worked as a salesman before being drafted into the Polish Army at the outbreak of World War II. Both he and his wife were imprisoned by the Germans during the Holocaust. They were released from the Nazi concentration camps in 1944.

At the beginning of World War II, Vladek had a wife, Anja Spiegelman (née Zylberberg) and a son, Richieu. They sent Richieu to the Zawiercie ghetto to live with Anja's older sister Tosha (Polish: Tosia), her husband Wolfe and their daughter Bibi. Wolfe and Tosha also took in Lonia, another niece of Anja. When the ghetto was being evacuated, Tosha poisoned herself and the three children she harbored. Wolfe was later shot. After they got out of Auschwitz, Vladek and Anja searched orphaneges everywhere to see if the rumors about Richeu being poisoned were true. The never found Richeu so they came to the conclusion that he was poisoned. Vladek and Anja fled their ghetto but were betrayed by some smugglers and delivered into the hands of the Gestapo.

Imprisoned by the Germans again — after yet another long series of events — he ultimately ended up in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. His wife Anja was held in Auschwitz II (Birkenau); Vladek was in the smaller, regular Auschwitz where he worked on and off (teaching English, working in the tin shop and repairing shoes). He was finally released from the concentration camp after around 10 months. He had spent about two months in quarantine, three in the tin shop, two in the shoe shop, did "black work" (hard labor, moving stones) for about two months and worked again as a tin-man for roughly two more months. Vladek was able to survive through his ability to do a variety of jobs and his knowledge of several languages (English, German, Polish, Yiddish). He was also able to bribe guards and other figures, and had his share of good luck. ALso, during his time there, he was able to keep in touch with Anja through the help of another inmate of Anja's, Mancie. She would leave letters from one to the other under rocks and such and kept them in contact. After he got out of Auschwitz, Vladek searched for Mancie to reward her but was unsuccesful.

As the Russians closed in, Auschwitz was evacuated and Vladek was moved to Gross-Rosen near Breslau in what was then Germany. He eventually ended up in Sweden, not being able to get a visa for travel to the United States yet. He told his son Art that he became quite successful there as a salesman: "Really I was sorry to go [leave Sweden]" when his American visa finally arrived. Art Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden.

Anja and Vladek were reunited in Sosnowiec, Poland, where they used to live before the war. Anja had been actively searching for her husband via the local Jewish Community Center. Eventually the Spiegelmans were able to move to New York City (specifically, the Rego Park section of Queens, which has always been a strongly Jewish neighborhood and housed a sizable contingent of Holocaust survivors.

Having survived Auschwitz, Anja committed suicide in 1968. After her death, Vladek became immensely depressed and destroyed her diaries and other papers of hers — which annoyed Art as he tried to compile information on the Holocaust for his comic, Maus, calling Vladek a murderer. Spiegelman later married another Holocaust survivor named Mala. His son portrayed their relationship as difficult, characterised by arguments over money, with Mala eventually leaving him.

Spiegelman and his son Art had a troubled relationship. Art disliked his father's racism and stingy, miserly mood towards money and items (he kept things he need not need; reused objects; only replaced essentials; did handiwork himself), as well as his treatment of his wives and his frequent need of Art's help later in his life. Art was at one point worried in that his father would display the usual miserly Jew stereotype in his comic, Maus.

Vladek died aged 75; he had diabetes and had had bouts of typhus during the war.

In Maus, he is represented as an anthropomorphic mouse, in keeping with the scheme of the novel, wherein Jews are depicted as mice; Nazis, as cats; Poles, as pigs; and Americans as dogs.