Blog Post 3: Maus

   Many times in history, the weak have been preyed on by the strong. Sometimes these events are a chase...a game of cat and mouse. And in those instances the weak put up a fight against their enemy, but most times the fight against the enemy is done in vain.

   In Nazi Germany the effort to create a pure Aryan race was indeed a game of cat and mouse, those who practiced Judaism are represented as mice while the predators (cats) symbolize the Nazis. In an effort to establish a culture where there was a "pure" Aryan race those of National Socialist German Workers' Party attempted to concentrate and later eliminate the Jews, along with others who were the bottom of the barrel, like the gypsies. 

   The foreground of the panel displays a pathway in the shape of a swastika. Included with this central image is a depiction of a barren wasteland. This image is symbolic of the ideology of anti-Semites. The drawing of the swastika has a physical contrast in colors (white outlined in black) which directly correlates to the contrast of the anti-Semitic ideas of the Nazis versus those of non followers. The image has a noticeable dominance over the whole panel as Nazis had over the Jews and shows the feeling of superiority over inferiority. In the background of the panel, images like mountains and factories are used. These images are symbolic of the obstacles that the Jews were faced with. The factories represent the gas chambers and ultimately signify certain death. There is a Jewish couple who begin to walk the swastika shaped pathway. They represent the Jewish people as a whole and their fight. All in all, the images in the foreground in conjunction with the images in the background create an overarching message of the struggles of the Jewish people during WWII. The panel demonstrates a tragic tone that illustrates relentless fights against the Nazis done in vain, and helplessness. Meanwhile the mood is one of a menacing nature. The central figure, the swastika path, is white but it is outlined in black, the white inside is symbolic of Nazi ideology while the black is the party's foundation. This meaning that the establishment of a "pure" Aryan race is founded and surrounded by racism and sullied truths. The irony in it all is that purity is taken with a positive connotation but this society is engulfed in an ugly atmosphere of lies and brainwashing. The path is one of many exits that all lead to an unscrupulous demise to say the least.