Comparison Of Maus And The Book Thief

It has been 70 years since the end of World War II and there have been many books and movies written about the Holocaust. It is important that we learn from these sources so that we are not condemned to repeat our pasts. Art Spiegelman, author and narrator of the graphic novel Maus, wrote a biography about his father’s experiences during World War II. While The Book Thief is a movie about a young German girl being brainwashed by Nazi propaganda and her experiences during the war as well. While comparing the two stories it becomes apparent how differently the war affected the Jews compared to the Germans
The movie, The Book Thief, was about a young German girl named Liesel. Her mother was a communist and was forced to give her and her little brother away to save their lives. Sadly, during the trip to their new home her brother passed away. Despite the immense sadness that filled her heart Liesel still moved in with her new parents. She went to school not knowing how to read …show more content…
In the beginning of the book Art arrives at his father, Vladek’s, house in 1978 to write a book about his life. Valdek begins to tell his story. Vladek was a holocaust survivor along with his wife, and Art’s mother, Anja. Artie and Vladek grew distant after his mother, Anja committed suicide. Valdek later remarried to Mala, also a survivor. Vladek's health is on a downward spiral and Artie wanted to write down Vladek's story about surviving the Holocaust before it's too late. In 1944 Vladek and Anja were in hiding and tried to flee from Poland to Hungary, they were betrayed at the border and sent to Auschwitz and were forced to separate.They both ended up surviving the tragedy and found each other once they were released. Also an important factor of the novel is that the characters are described as animals, for example the Germans were cats and the Jews were