Sheila A. López

English 112B

December 5, 2007

Prof. Mary Warner

Holocaust Literature:

The Stories of Those Who Survived

and Those Who Died

Holocaust literature, in and of itself, has become an entire genre. It holds a place among the great eras and works in literature that has ceased to be obscured. Although we may never know what it is was like to live during the Holocaust, we know what is written about it. In “On Writing and Reading Holocaust Literature,” Lawrence L. Langer makes a point on the literature of Holocaust: “If the Holocaust has ceased to seem an event and become instead a theme for prose narrative, fiction, or verse, this is not to diminish its importance, but to alter the route by which we approach it.”[1] That approach toward a devastating part of history can be indefinite in a classroom setting. That is, young adults can have such difficulty grasping the language of a distant and dreadful past that creating a vision of the Holocaust becomes unclear or vague.

I chose Maus by Art Spiegelman to introduce to young adults as the central piece of a Holocaust literature unit. As a graphic novel, Maus presents not just words but illustrations and symbols that most students can come to appreciate. In a modern sense, Maus—and any other graphic novel—reaches the visual learners that children have become since the coming of video games, the internet, and digital cameras and cell phones. Information is delivered through these mediums, and thus makes the graphic novel one step easier for students to enjoy or appreciate the value of traditional prose.[2] As a comic, Maus has demonstrated that it too can handle complex subjects like the Holocaust as well as its prose and poetry counterparts. And to further the validity of its use in the classroom and its literary status, Maus has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for its unique approach toward the tale of Spiegelman’s parent’s survival in Auschwitz.

Maus is like the alternative to The Diary of a Young Girl, which is traditionally taught in middle schools and high schools as the central piece for Holocaust literature. I want to give students variety when it comes to reading, and I know that once they start reading Maus, students will not be able to put the book down until the very last page.

Launching the Unit

Before reading and discussing Maus, use these activities with the students as pre-reading and anticipatory activities.

1) Have student read the “Jim Crow” laws and the Nuremberg laws. In groups of three, have students discuss and jot down the similarities of each set of laws. In what ways are these laws alike? What do you think are the reasons these laws were created and enforced?

Ø Jim Crow Laws: http://www.nps.gov/archive/malu/documents/jim_crow_laws.htm

Ø Nuremberg Laws: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/nurmlaw1.html http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/nurmlaw2.html http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/nurmlaw3.html http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/nurmlaw4.html

2) Read one or both of the poems aloud. These poems are written by Holocaust survivors. They are translated into English from the original German, so it might be useful to provide the original German text for students who are familiar with the language.

Ø Celan, Paul. Selected Poems and Prose of Paul Celan. Trans. John Felstiner New York: W.W. Norton, 2001. ISBN 039304999X

Ø Sachs, Nelly. O, the Chimneys: Selected Poems, Including the Verse Play, Eli. Trans. Michael Hamburger, et al. New York: FSG, 1967. ISBN 0374676518

“Deathfuge” by Paul Celan

Black milk of daybreak we drink it at evening

we drink it at midday and morning we drink it at night

we drink and we drink

we shovel a grave in the air where you won’t lie too cramped

A man lives in the house he plays with his vipers he writes

he writes when it grows dark to Deutschland your golden hair

Margareta

he writes it and steps out of doors and the stars are all sparkling he

whistles his hounds to stay close

he whistles his Jews into rows has them shovel a grave in the ground

he commands us play up for the dance

Black milk of daybreak we drink you at night

we drink you at morning and midday we drink you at evening

we drink and we drink

A man lives in the house he plays with his vipers he writes

he writes when it grows dark to Deutschland your golden hair

Margareta

Your ashen hair Shulamith we shovel a grave in the air

where you won’t lie too cramped

He shouts dig this earth deeper you lot there you others sing up and play

he grabs for the rod in his belt he swings it his eyes are so blue

stick your spades deeper you lot there you others play on for the dancing

Black milk of daybreak we drink you at night

we drink you at midday and morning we drink you at evening

we drink and we drink

a man lies in the house your goldenes Haar Margareta

your aschenes Haar Shulamith he plays with his vipers

He shouts play death more sweetly this Death is a master from

Deutschland

he shouts scrape your strings darker you’ll rise up as smoke to the sky

you’ll then have a grave in the clouds where you won’t lie too cramped

Black milk of daybreak we drink you at night

we rink you at midday Death is a master aus Deutschland

we drink you at evening and morning we drink and we drink

this Death is ein Meister aus Deutschland his eye it is blue

he shoots you with shot made of lead shoots you level and true

a man lives in the house your goldenes Haar Margarete

he looses his hounds on us grants us a grave in the air

he plays with his vipers and daydreams der Tod ist ein Meister aus

Deutschland

dein goldenes Haar Margarete

dein aschenes Haar Sulamith

3) After reading the poem, lead a class discussion. Some possible questions may include: What is “Black milk”? Who is “a man”? Notice the repetition and lack of punctuation. Why are some words not translated into English?

“O the chimneys” by Nelly Sachs

And though after my skin worms destroy this

body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.—JOB, 19:26

O the chimneys

On the ingeniously devised habitations of death

When Israel’s body drifted as smoke

Through the air—

Was welcomed by a star, a chimney sweep,

A star that turned black

Or was it a ray of sun?

O the chimneys!

Freedomway for Jeremiah and Job’s dust—

Who devised you and laid stone upon stone

The road for refugees of smoke?

O the habitations of death,

Invitingly appointed

For the host who used to be a guest—

O you fingers

Laying the threshold

Like knife between life and death—

O you chimneys,

O you fingers

And Israel’s body as smoke through the air!

4) After reading the poem, lead a class discussion of the tone, imagery, and symbols. What does the proverb mean? Why do you think it’s included at the beginning of this poem? In what way is Sachs’ poem similar to Celan’s poem?

5) The teacher introduces the book to the class and talks about the graphic novel genre. Examples of other graphic novels and comic books may be shown (this list is provided in Extending the Unit section at the end of this unit plan). Students are asked to draw on their experiences with comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels to develop characteristics of each; these may be displayed in a graphic organizer or in table form. The teacher gives some background information on Maus and its author. Students are asked about their knowledge of the Holocaust. Students may be asked to complete a journal prompt on what they know about the Holocaust and what they want to learn, or how they think comics can be used to treat a serious topic.

Ø http://www.buckslib.org/OneBook/Maus/unit1.htm

Maus Activities

Maus is a quick and engaging read. Students can read volumes one and two in a matter of days. Depending on what time permits, do some or all of these activities while students read both volumes. Some of these can be adjusted to a single volume, chapter, or section of Maus. The teacher determines the amount of time needed for this unit plan based on the student’s abilities and grade levels.

1) Looking at Book Covers

Book covers often serve as significant aids both to encourage students to read and to help prepare them to read. This strategy is designed as a pre-reading activity to help students examine book jackets systematically. This is an activity that teachers may find useful in helping students make initial contact with their reading. The following questions provide a framework for the students’ examination:

-What did you notice first about the book cover?

-Look at the cover illustration. What does it imply about the plot and characters of the

book?

-What is written on the front cover besides the title and the author’s name? is there

anything about the lettering that makes an impression on you?

-Does the cover make you want to read the book? Why or why not?

As a post-reading activity, have students compare their initial reactions with the insights they have gained from reading the book. How accurate is the presentation of the cover?

Ø Brown, Jean E., Elaine C. Stephens. Teaching Young Adult Literature: Sharing the Connections. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1995. 169. ISBN: 0534199380.

2) Single-entry Literature/Composition

Have students select a poignant passage from the book they have read. Have them copy the passage verbatim, including all bibliographic information. Then have them create three to five possible prompts that can be responded to without their having read the book.

Ø Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the Classics. Vol. 1. Ed. Joan F. Kaywell. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, 1993. 24. ISBN: 0926842234.

3) A Dictionary of Terms

Have each student select a minimum of five vocabulary words from Maus. Students are to find others who have identified the same word and derive a common definition for a class vocabulary book. Definitions must be paraphrased.

Ø Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the Classics. Vol. 1. Ed. Joan F. Kaywell. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, 1993. 29. ISBN: 0926842234.

4) Visualizing

Students may be asked to complete worksheets that allow them to visualize key elements of the book:

• Character maps (see an example at http://home.att.net/~teaching/litcircl/charmap.pdf)
• Table showing parallels between the public events of the Holocaust and the private life of the Spiegelmans
• Table or graphic organizer showing examples (with page references and/or quotes) of the themes of irony, intergenerational conflict, depression and suicide, guilt, dominance, racism, etc. Templates of graphic organizers may be found at http://www.eduplace.com/ graphicorganizer/ and at http://www.graphic.org/goindex.html, or the students can use Inspiration or Kidspiration software if available.
• Graphic organizer with the animal figures used in the books, the racial/national groups they represent, and why Spiegelman might have chosen each animal to represent that racial/national group.

Ø http://www.buckslib.org/OneBook/Maus/unit1.htm

Here’s a sample list that students can create regarding the use of animal personification and racial/national groups they present:

1. mice - Jews: pestilence, breed rapidly with large amounts of offspring, live silently among people, hard to get rid of.
2. cats - Germans: hunt mice, protect the home from pestilence.
3. pigs - Poles: Jews don’t eat pork and consider the pig a dirty animal; for the prodigal son, having to take a job living with pigs was for him the ultimate disgrace.
4. fish - British: the British have been long renowned for their navy.
5. dogs - Americans: “man’s best friend”; the liberators.
6. frogs - French: double meaning – frogs are slippery, slimy (Dreyfus Affair); frogs can change into princes (Art’s wife, a Frenchman, converted to Judaism).
7. reindeer - Scandinavians: from the north.

Ø http://www.mandelproject.us/Wadley.htm

5) Assessment

The following questions are used to assess the student’s understanding of Maus. After reading both novels, have students respond to a question of their choice in a formal or informal essay.

1. Art Spiegleman settled upon a very simplistic drawing style to tell his story. How would this story have changed if executed in a more "realistic" style?

2. Is the overriding metaphor of Maus (Jews/mice, Germans/cats, etc.) pulled off successfully? Why mice? Site at least two places where the metaphor's use is called to attention.

3. Like any comic, it's important to be able to tell all the characters apart. With the characters rendered so simplistically, how does Spiegleman differentiate them from one another (especially mice from mice and cats from cats)? Is it important for him to always differentiate his characters?

4. How has Art Spiegleman's life been affected/shaped by his father's experience during WW II? Give specific examples.

5. How much of Vladek's survival was dependent upon luck or fate? How much depended upon his wits and skills? Do you think Art Spiegleman believes in fate?

6. Is Art (the character) sympathetic to his father? Is Art (the author) more or less sympathetic? What character do you, as the reader, sympathize with most?

7. Maus is perhaps the only graphic novel of our time that is read by those who both read comics and by those who do not. No graphic novel has come close in terms of sales and critical acclaim. Why is Maus such an anomaly?

Ø Questions taken from: http://www.teachingcomics.org/studyguide/maus.php

Extending the Unit

The following activities and books are intended to extend the holocaust literature unit on Art Spiegelman’s Maus.

1) Have students engage in book talk activities. Each day a student presents a book which they read separately to the class. Students are to make handouts for the class that’ll contain a book synopsis, background on the author, other works written by that author, and pictures. These presentations are helpful in introducing students to a myriad of books which weren’t assigned as class readings.

2) Like Anne in A Diary of a Young Girl, have students write a week’s worth of diary entries for one of the characters in each book. Or, have students start their own diaries about life at home, making sure they draw on details about the people and rooms that surrounds the students’ daily lives.

Ø Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the Classics. Vol. 1. Ed. Joan F. Kaywell. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, 1993. 32. ISBN: 0926842234.

3) Have students create a mini-graphic novel for a scene, section, or short chapter in the book which they are reading. These “graphic novels” should follow the same format as Maus. If time permits, students can research comic format in order to learn about the techniques and vocabulary necessary to better understand and discuss the comic artist's work. Most public libraries and secondary school libraries will have resources on comic art and the history of comics. At the very least, a knowledge of words like "panel," "frame," "gutter," "balloon," and "bleed," will give students a common vocabulary. A wealth of information on comic art can be found at the web site of the National Association of Comics Art Educators (http://teachingcomics.org ). At this site, "The Creation of a Page Tutorial and Guide" by Tom Hart is a good introduction to the process of creating comic panels.

4) There’s a myriad of Holocaust literature that young adults can read to expand their own curiosity and interests. The following books are just a few that can be used to deepen students’ understanding on Holocaust Literature. These can be read in literature circles as a complement to Maus. Each novel explores different setting, survivors, or possible themes on the Holocaust. Some of these books come straight from my bookshelf, so I’ve included descriptions from the back of the books. Otherwise, I’ve gathered synopses from other resources.

These books feature children and teenagers living during the harrowing and troubled times of the Holocaust.

• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank; Anne Frank’s extraordinary diary, written in the Amsterdam attic where she and her family hid form the Nazis for tow years, has become a world classic and a timeless testament to the human spirit…Here she is first and foremost a teenage girl—stubbornly honest, touchingly vulnerable, in love with life. She imparts her deeply secret world of soul-searching and hungering for affection, rebellious clashes with her mother, romance and newly discovered sexuality, and wry, candid observations of her companions. Facing hunger, fear of discovery and death, and the petty frustrations of such confined quarters, Anne writes with adult wisdom and views beyond her years. Her story is that of every teenager, lived out in conditions few teenagers have ever known.

• Night by Elie Wiesel; Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. Night is the Terrifying record of Elie Wiesel’s memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting to absolute evil of man.

• The Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Green; Patty, an abused girl, befriends an escaped German prisoner of war. In spite of what her parents and others say about the Germans, Patty gets to know Anton and falls in love with his gentle spirit. [Adolescent Literature As A Complement To The Classics]

• Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli; He is called many things since no one really knows his name. he is a Gypsy living in Warsaw, Poland, during the early Hitler years, still young enough to think that he will be safe because he isn’t a Jew. He’s frist called simply “Stopthief” since that is what he has heard many times during this smuggling incidents. Later, Uri, one of the boys who befriends “Stopthief” and takes him into the lifestyle of other young boys who are living by smuggling, creates a story of Misha Pilsudski, and that becomes “Stopthief’s” new identity. The novel is a courageous story of Misha’s attempts to feed and save orphans, especially Janina, amid the ghetto life of Warsaw. [Adolescents in the Search for Meaning]

• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry; The evacuation of Jews from Nazi-held Denmark is one of the great untold stories of World War II. On September 29, 1943, word got out in Denmark that Jews were to be detained and then sent to the death camps. Within hours the Danish resistance, population and police arranged a small flotilla to herd 7,000 Jews to Sweden. Lois Lowry fictionalizes a true-story account to bring this courageous tale to life. She brings the experience to life through the eyes of 10-year-old Annemarie Johannesen, whose family harbors her best friend, Ellen Rosen, on the eve of the round-up and helps smuggles Ellen's family out of the country. Number the Stars won the 1990 Newbery Medal. [http://www.amazon.com]

• I Never Saw Another Butterfly by Hana Volavkova; This nonfiction book is a collection of drawings and poems that were done by children who grew up in the Terezin Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia between 1942-1944. The terror, the pleas for rescue, and the reflections of beliefs and values of these children who lived during World War II are vividly captured. [Adolescent Literature As A Complement To The Classics]

The books that follow are intended for mature high school students and adults.

• A Scrap of Time and Other Stories by Ida Fink; A Scrap of Time is a haunting collection of stories about lie in Poland during World War II. These shattering stories describe the lives of ordinary people as they are compelled to do the unimaginable: a couple who must decide what to do with their five-year-old daughter as the Gestapo come to march them out of town; a wife whose safety depends on her acquiescence in her husband’s love affair; a girl who must pay a grim price for an Aryan identity card.

• Auschwitz and After by Charlotte Deblo; Working for the French Resistance, Delbo was arrested by the Nazis in 1942, imprisoned, and later sent to Auschwitz and Ravensbruck. A talented writer, she sought to preserve a record of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis. This volume contains a trilogy: "None of Us Will Return" (written in 1946 but not published until 1965), "Useless Knowledge," and "The Measure of Our Days," originally published in 1970. Her writing is haunting, gracefully combining vignettes of poetry and poetic prose and enveloping the reader in an emotional whirlwind. There is a deceptive simplicity inherent in her understated but exceedingly powerful imagery. Lamont's translation is unusually sensitive and fluid, while Lawrence Langer's penetrating introductory essay provides both background material and a deserved tribute to the author. [http://www.amazon.com]

• Badenheim 1939 by Aharon Appelfeld; It is the spring of 1939. In months Europe will be Hitler’s, and Badenheim, a resort town vaguely in the orbit of Vienna, is preparing for its annual summer season. Soon the vacationers arrive, as they always have, a sample of Jewish middleclass life. The story unfolds as a matter-of-factly as a Chekhov play, its characters so deeply held by their defensive trivia that they manage to misconstrue every signal of their fate, until these signals take on the lineaments of disaster.

• Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi; In 1943, Primo Levi, a twenty-five-year-old chemist and “Italian citizen of Jewish race,” was arrested by Italian fascists and deported from his native Turin to Auschwitz. Survival in Auschwitz is Levi’s classic account of his ten months in the German death camp, a harrowing story of systematic cruelty and miraculous endurance. Remarkable for its simplicity, restraint, compassion, and even wit, Survival in Auschwitz remains a lasting testament to the indestructibility of the human spirit.

• Life with a Star by Jiri Weil; In Nazi-occupied Prague, Jews live as outcasts, awaiting the dreaded summons to the concentration camps. Identified with the Star of David, they cannot use a streetcar or buy meat; their property and their jobs have been taken away. A timid, sickly bank clerk named Roubicek records how these humiliating measures and the proximity of death affect him and those around him. As he observes others meekly submitting to the deportation orders, he gradually resolves to rebel and goes into hiding with the help of a sympathetic Czech. Narrated in simple, matter-of-fact style, this affecting novel--based on the author's own experiences and first published in 1949--is a powerful testimony to the Holocaust.

The following books are an extension to the graphic novel genre. Neither is on Holocaust literature. All, however, should be considered if the teacher plans to expand the use of graphic novels in his/her classroom. The synopses are taken from Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels by James Bucky Carter.

• JSA: The Golden Age: A Different Look at a Different Era by James Robinson; In an alternate post-WWII reality, everybody in the United States is in love with patriot and hero Mr. America. He is later revealed to be an archvillain who has recently transferred Hitler’s brain into the most powerful being to walk the Earth! Several 1940s-era superheroes must come to the rescue in this science fiction dystopia just begging to be studied alongside other dystopias such as The Giver, Eva, and 1984. It is recommended for high school students.

• The Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman; Amazing fantasy and allegory emerge from the mists of Gaiman’s dream world, with allusions to mythology and fine literature, such as Shakespeare, deftly integrated throughout. Metaphysical mayhem, suspense, angst, and high fantasy are rarely combined so well. The series is recommended for high school students.

• Safe Area Gorazde and Palestine by Joe Sacco; Both of these graphic novels explore the author’s time in hot spot regions of the world and are innovative journalistic accounts of regional and political conflicts. They are recommended for high school students.

Works Cited

Appelfeld, Aharon. Badenheim 1939. Boston: David R. Godine, 1980. ISBN: 0879237996.

Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the Classics. Vol. 1. Ed. Joan F. Kaywell. Norwood,

MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, 1993. ISBN: 0926842234.

Art from the Ashes: A Holocaust Anthology. Ed. Lawrence L. Langer. New York: Oxford UP,

1995.

Brown, Jean E., Elaine C. Stephens. Teaching Young Adult Literature: Sharing the Connections.

Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1995. ISBN: 0534199380.

Carter, James Bucky. Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels. Urbana, Illinois:

NCTE, 2007. ISBN: 9780814103920.

Celan, Paul. Selected Poems and Prose of Paul Celan. Trans. John Felstiner New York: W.W.

Norton, 2001. ISBN 039304999X.

“Comics in the Classroom.” 5 April 2005. National Association of Comic Arts Educators. 28

November 2007. <http://www.teachingcomics.org/curriculum/chronicle.php>.

Deblo, Charlotte. Auschwitz and After. Trans. Rosetta Lamont. New Have: Yale, UP, 1995.

ISBN: 0300070578.

Fink, Ida. A Scrap of Time and Other Stories. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern UP, 1983.

ISBN: 0810112590.

Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl. Ed. Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler. New York:

Bantam Books, 1991. ISBN: 0553577123.

Greene, Bette. The Summer of My German Soldier. Puffin Modern Classics, 2006. ISBN:

0142406511.

“Introduction to the Graphic Novel Maus.” Museum Fellowship Lesson Plan. 28 November

2007. <http://www.mandelproject.us/Wadley.htm>.

“Jim Crow Laws.” 5 January 1998. Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site. 28 November

2007. http://www.nps.gov/archive/malu/documents/jim_crow_laws.htm.

Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. Laurel Leaf, 1998. ISBN: 0440227534.

“Nuremberg Laws.” 2007. Jewish Virtual Library. 28 November 2007.

<http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/nurmlaw1.html,

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/nurmlaw2.html, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/nurmlaw3.html , http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/nurmlaw4.html,>.

Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz. New York: Touchstone, 1996. ISBN: 0684826801.

Sachs, Nelly. O, the Chimneys: Selected Poems, Including the Verse Play, Eli. Trans. Michael

Hamburger, et al. New York: FSG, 1967. ISBN 0374676518

Spiegelman, Art. Maus. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986. ISBN: 0679748407.

Spinelli, Jerry. Milkweed. Laurel Leaf, 2006. ISBN: 0439676959

“Teaching Resources for Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A Survivor’s Tale.” 2005. Bucks County Free

Library. 28 November 2007. <http://www.buckslib.org/OneBook/Maus/unit1.htm>.

Volavkova, Hana. I Never Saw Another Butterfly. Schocken, 1994. ISBN: 0805210156.

Weil, Jiri. Life with a Star. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern UP, 1998. ISBN: 0810116855.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Hill and Wang, 1958. ISBN: 0374500010.

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[1] Art from the Ashes: A Holocaust Anthology. Ed. Lawrence L. Langer. New York: Oxford UP, 1995.

[2] Carter, James Bucky. Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels. Urbana, Illinois: NCTE, 2007.