Maus By Art Spiegelman Beginnings - PowerPoint Presentation

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Maus

By

Art SpiegelmanSlide2

Beginnings

Following WWI

, Germany

was left in insurmountable debt, for which there was no way to pay

This poverty left many Germans afraid and looking for a savior

The Nazi Party promised retribution and a return of power and dignity to Germans

By 1933 the Nazis had a strong foothold in German politics and it was not long before Germany had a new Chancellor – Adolph HitlerSlide3

Adolf Hitler

Hitler was chosen as leader of the Nazi Party because of his speaking illocution and his ability to connect with people

Although the exact cause is not know, Hitler ran an extremely anti-Jewish government. He believed in the existence of a super-raceSlide4

WWII

WWII began on 9-1-1939 when Germany invaded Poland

This invasion led to declarations of war by both Britain and France

Germany would find allies with or conquer nearly 30 countries before the end of the war, including France, Italy, Japan and RussiaSlide5

WWII

In terms of casualties, WWII is undoubtedly the bloodiest war to ever be fought with an unprecedented 70 MILLION casualties, both military and civilian

It is generally thought that Hitler would have succeeded if he had not turned on Russian in 1943/44, which led to the loss of his greatest ally and his ultimate defeat in 1945.

Hitler committed suicide during the battle for BerlinSlide6

The HolocaustSlide7

Hitler’s Final Solution

As part of his campaign, Hitler called together a group of intellectuals to decide what to do about the “problem” of Jew and other uncleans, who they blamed for Germany’s misfortunes following WWI

The result of the conference, the Wannsee Conference, was the decision to eliminate all persons of Jewish ancestrySlide8

The Plan

Jewish people were put through a series of disgraces before meeting their fate

The first part of the Solution stripped Jews of their ability to own businesses and mingle in non-Jewish society

Soon after this, Jews were moved into cramped sections of town, called ghettos, where they often had 7-8 people in small rooms. They lost all of their possessions and lived in horrible conditionsSlide9

Liquidation of the Ghettos

By the end of 1940, Concentration Camps were ready for operation.

Unbeknownst to most of the world, millions of Jews were shipped from the Ghettos to these camps in trains, where many died of starvation, dehydration, suffocation, and disease – I’m just talking about the trainsSlide10
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The Camps

Upon arrival at the camps, most children, older people, and the sick were immediately sent for execution

The Nazis kept healthy people for work detail where they were often worked to death

The inmates, consisting of Jews, Communists, Homosexuals, Political Enemies, Catholics, and Blacks, had to survive on around 500 calories per day and were taken for execution when too weak for work.Slide12

Some Numbers

Around 7 Million Jews were executed

Nearly 4 Million of others were executed

At Auschwitz alone around 1.1 million were executedSlide13

Execution

Nazis are infamous for their types of execution

Many prisoners were led into showers, scores at a time, with the promise of a shower, only to be gassed

Towards the end of the War, many were killed by being forced to run from camp to camp (50 miles sometimes) in the middle of winter. If one stopped running, he/she was shot on sightSlide14

Executions con’t

It is reported that at the very end, some Nazis locked the prisoners in buildings and let them burn alive

Others had a group dig huge graves to throw recently shot prisoners into, the diggers were the last to be shot and buried

The vast majority were gassed and burned, as mentioned