As a member of the "Survivors" artifact group, I had the opportunity to look at several first-hand accounts of Holocaust experiences. What stuck out to me in particular was the abundance and intensity of family ties, which seemed to be a motif throughout the various accounts I examined. This interview, which was conducted with Holocaust survivor Inge Auerbacher, is a perfect exemplar of strong family ties during the Holocaust. Since Maus is also centered around a Holocaust survivor (Vladek), it makes sense that a strong family theme exists in the book as well. A perfect example of the "family above all else" concept can be found on page 81.
First, the artifact needs to be broken down and analyzed. Correena, the interviewer, asks Auerbacher a question that is a quintessential mainstay in just about every Holocaust survivor interview: "what was your greatest fear?" Keeping in mind that Auerbacher was only seven years old during her experience, she indicates that her greatest fear was being "separated from my parents." Let's contextualize this: Auerbacher is living in an environment where she probably sees shootings of people she knows -- children and adults alike -- on a daily basis. She lives around Nazi guards who are unpredictable, spontaneous, and often literally kill people as an entertaining game. She lives with the uncertainty of whether she'll emerge alive. But her biggest fear wasn't any of that; it was simply being separated from her parents. An innocent seven year old like Inge probably had the assumption that as long as she was with her parents, all of the other horrors would be less significant; in fact, she may have even felt that being with her parents makes her a bit more invincible. After all, for a seven year old, if you don't have your parents, really, what else do you have?
A similar dedication to family connection is demonstrated in Maus, in two very distinct ways. Near the top of the page, Vladek is shown having a conversation with Ilzecki. An important quote comes from Ilzecki when he says, "We can't know what's going to happen to us -- but we must keep our children safe." If this sentence was shown to a focus group of 100 Holocaust survivors, I would be willing to bet that at least 95 of them would agree that this notion of putting children first sums up their Holocaust mentality. The first part of the quote indicates that Ilzecki fully realizes the severe risk that him and Vladek have this far into the Holocaust; the possibility of them dying is very, very real at this point. But Ilzecki humbly acknowledges that his child, the next generation, is what really matters; they are the ones that really must survive. For that reason, Ilzecki explains his intention to send his child off to a Polish friend. This is his own son we're talking about. But in a situation as grave as the Holocaust, Ilzecki faces the sad reality of "doing what you have to do."
The bottom portion of the page represents a fundamentally different view towards family ties. When Vladek describes the idea of sending Richieu along with Ilzecki's son to Ilzecki's Polish friend, Anja explodes with passionate anger: "What? Have you gone crazy?" It is possible that Anja sees the jeopardy her life is in at this point, and she likely recognizes the same danger for Richieu as well. But instead of Vladek's approach, which demonstrates a more rational view, Anja's natural maternal instinct to stay with her child, no matter what, is clearly the driving force behind her perspective. How could Vladek even think of giving Richieu up to "complete strangers," Anja asks, as if the thought is absurd and ridiculous. Unfortunately, we learn at the end of the page the Richieu indeed did end up separated from his parents.
The connection between the interview with Inge Auerbacher and the page from Maus is significant. In both, a passionately strong dedication to family is clearly demonstrated. Probably the strongest "sentence-to-sentence" link can be made between Auerbacher's articulating her biggest fear, which was being separated from her parents, and Anja's "I'll never give up my baby. Never!" explosion. The strong parent/child connection is shown, and represents something that survivors of the Holocaust probably held above all else. Although it may not look it, Vladek's suggestion to send Richieu off to Ilzecki's Polish friend shows just how important Richieu's survival is, and really just how much he loves him. Auerbacher's desire to stay with her parents is essentially the reciprocal of Vladek and Anja's thoughts; the family connection is almost overwhelming, and is placed on a pedestal above all else. And although many families perished during the Holocaust, one could easily argue that the dedication to family ties and staying together likely contributed to the very survival of many families.
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