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“It would take many books, my life, and no one wants anyway to hear such stories.”
In this panel from Book I, Chapter 1, Artie has just asked Vladek to tell him his life story, but Vladek thinks no one would be interested. The panel shows Vladek’s arms resting on his stationary bike’s handlebars, and the tattoo of his prisoner number from Auschwitz is visible. Artie is in the background, framed by Vladek’s arms. The framing of this panel implies that Artie’s life has been framed by his father’s life story, including his time in Auschwitz. Vladek’s past literally boxes in Artie’s life in the present.
“What happened in 1944, after you left Srodula?"
"We sneaked toward Sosnowiec . . . It was still dark outside. We didn’t know where to hide ourselves.”
As Vladek returns to his story at the beginning of Book I, Chapter 6, he and Artie sit in the garden. In these three panels, Artie sits on the left of the page and Vladek on the right; neither of their panels has a frame. In the middle, a framed panel shows Anja and Vladek walking on the path to Sosnowiec. The path appears to be the same swastika-shaped path that appeared in Chapter 5. Throughout Maus, Spiegelman juxtaposes panels with and without black borders to signal shifts from Vladek’s story in the past to the frame story in the present. In this instance, he has placed the panel depicting the past in between Artie and Vladek. Though the two are in conversation in the present, the events of the past stand between and divide them.
“I cannot forget it . . . Ever since Hitler I don’t like to throw out even a crumb.”
Vladek says this in the scene that opens Book II, Chapter 3. The image shows Vladek giving an apologetic shrug. Artie is so frustrated his face is shaded and his eyebrows are drawn down in anger. In this moment, Vladek is cleaning out the groceries that Mala left in their vacation rental and trying to get Artie to take home a half-finished package of Special K and a slice of fruitcake. Vladek admits outright that his experiences with hunger and starvation during World War II are the reason he cannot throw food away and cannot stop pushing it on Artie. Artie’s anger at him is evidence of how Vladek’s past traumas continue to drive a wedge in their present relationship.
“And the four young girls what sneaked over the ammunitions for this, they hanged them near to my workshop. They were good friends of Anja, from Sosnowiec. They hanged a long, long time. Sigh.”
This quote from Book Two, Chapter 3, comes from Vladek’s story about the final days at Auschwitz, which he tells as he, Artie, and Francoise drive to the grocery store. The panel shows the feet of four concentration camp survivors dangling over a road through the woods. The words are in a speech bubble coming from a car driving along that road. In this panel, the past literally hangs over the present, merging the book’s two timelines. It suggests that the past is always there, haunting Vladek and thus also haunting Artie.
