invasion of Poland by the German and Soviet armies

invasion of Poland by the German and Soviet armies

Knowledge about the invasion of Poland by the German and Soviet armies in 1939 is significant in enabling a reader to understand the occurrences mentioned by Spiegelman in his book The Maus. Poland was invaded in 1939 by Germany and the Soviet after Germany secretly let the Soviet sign a treaty of sharing the state with them in the non-aggression pact. Adolf Hitler was taking advantage of the instability in Europe, as the country had left membership of Czechoslovak state, in violation of the Munich agreement. There was tension as France and Britain responded to the misbehaviour by guaranteeing the sovereignty of Poland. However, the Soviet wanted to take power over Poland alone, but Hitler managed to make them sign an agreement of giving Germany control over the west. In 1939. Germany invaded Poland after stage a fake attack to drive propaganda of an attack. The Soviet invaded the eastern part of the country after 16 days to avoid losing control to Germany. The polish people who fell under the Germany rule were highly prosecuted as the maltreatment of the Jews in Germany was extended to Poland. The experiences reported by Spiegelman regarding his father Vladek are accurate coverage of the treatment the Germans accorded the Polish Jews.

During the Germany invasion, Germany extended is a religious attack on the Jews in Poland, as the policy was taking place in Germany. The Jews had been unlucky in Europe as they had been discriminated for many years, especially by Christians who felt that it was time to replace their old religion. For many years, they were forced to convert into Christians, if they could not practice in many careers, as they were considered uncompetitive. Even when they converted, they remained unaccepted in the Christian faith, as their bloodline betrayed them. The system was not only in Germany but in Poland too, and Hitler took advantage of it, as the doctrine was common with the society. The discrimination of the Jews is addressed by Spiegelman when he explains that the Jews were commonly reported by strangers and their neighbours, who handed them over to the Nazis. The traitors were Polish Christians and nationals, who felt that the Nazi system allowed them to get rid of the Jewish community they had hated for very many years.

While the local stigmatization of the Jews is addressed, there were a few citizens who had compassion on the Jews. According to Spiegelman, Vladek and his Anja had been housed by a Christian family who accepted the Jews to avoid being taken to a concentration camp. However, in his attempt to flee the country, a local reported handed him to the Nazis and was arrested. Therefore, the hatred of the Jews was personal among many Europeans but there were many who did not support it at a personal level.

Another practice of the German Nazis during the invasion of Poland was to take property from the Poles they considered a threat to them before killing them, and from the Jews too. Denial of property ownership rights denied the affected citizens power to fight for their rights and to oppose the German rule. When powerless, they could become reliant on the colonizers, and could be killed with ease. According to Spiegelman, he was evacuated from his property and never got back to it again. The experience was common to the majority of the Jews who had to leave their houses and were carried to camps to work. The new environment was also supposed to bring death to them fast.

The suffering of the Jews during the Nazi era is still widely known. The Jews were kept in conditions of lack, especially of food, so that they could die of hunger in the concentration camps. At the time, the concentration camps they were put in in Poland were sic, including Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka. The institutions were more of death camps than concentration camps, as people there were put together to be killed slowly while appearing like they were being contained. The dire experiences of the incarcerated people is identified in the Maus, when Spiegelman reports that his father obtained ways to receive better treatment by working for a tinsmith as an English tutor and later a shoe maker. Like Vladek, the Jews who had needed skills in the society were allowed to live a better life in the camps, as their masters required the skills. They were assured of a longer life and better living conditions than their counterparts who were mistreated extensively.

Unlike Vladek, Anja experienced the life of unskilled Jews in the camp. The prisoners were subjected to hard labor which was unpaid, were offered little food and there lacked medication in the camps to heal their diseases. When Spiegelman described her as having become very weak and thin, readers who understand the invasion of Poland by the Germans understand that she must have lost weight and been in poor health due to the torture experienced in the camps. Not only were the Jews beaten and overworked, but they lived in very congested positions in their halls. Watching their fellow Jews being killed, especially using gas, or watching them die of lack of food must have been very torturous for the incarcerated people. They were reminded of their poor fate every day which would be a poor death, after living a very distressful life. The observation and thoughts caused much psychological trauma and could not live in peace.

Another fact readers understand from knowledge of the invasion of Poland is that families were separated when the Jews were captured. Children were put in places away from their parents, spouses were separated, and the old parents who needed care were killed early. Not only did the experiences torment the parents who worried about the well-being of their children every day,. But the children lived a life characterized by suffering and feeling rejected. Such children lost ties with their families and lived a very vulnerable life. The extent of the desperation of the state is captured by Spiegelman when he explains that Vladek’s son, who was named Richieu, died alongside his aunt Tosha, who was in a ghetto that looked better off than where Vladek and his wife were. Unfortunately, when Tosha realized that the family was headed for Auschwitz because their ghetto was being closed, she poisoned Richieu, her two children and herself, as she knew the family was to be killed in the gas chambers in Auschwitz. Clearly, Tosha’s actions were not exceptional, as there must have been very many people committing suicide at the time in the fear of dying in more pain than they were experiencing. The gassing that Tosha avoids highlights the many people that were gassed to death upon arrival in concentration camps. The death was so high that the crematories always experienced an overflow of bodies, as people were also killed by methods such as being shot, and beaten to death.

The Jews in ghettos and incarceration camps lived an uncertain lives, as they were being transferred and moved often. According to Spiegelman, his father Vladek and the wife moved many times before they lost knowledge of where each of them was. First, Vladek is put in a labor camp for months after the war broke out in 1939. Later, he and his family were sent to different ghettos in the country before being taken to different concentration camps, from which they were also moved. The movement ensured that the prisoners did not come together against the German power, as they were capable of revolting and overthrowing their control. The movement also led to loss of contacts of people who knew one another to prevent liaising and knowledge of progress in different places.

Generally, understanding the invasion of Poland by the Germans in 1936 gives a reader a deep understanding of the Maus by Art Spiegelman as one is able to relate the occurrences mentioned to the events in Poland at the time. The experiences of Vladek are therefore understood to be common to the Jews of the time, and one understands them up to the time they were freed at the end of World War II. Generally, the novel exposes the suffering of the Polish people under the Nazi rule and the rough journey to the freedom of the subjects.