Danusha V. Goska

Stereotypes, Literature, and Holocaust History

This is Danusha Goska.

Art Spiegelman's "Maus" is a Pulitzer Prize winning, 1986 comic book that depicts Poles as pigs. It is often used to teach students about the Holocaust. Indiana University's History, English, and Folklore departments all use it. Maus's Polish pigs are Nazi collaborators. When Polish-Americans protested this, Spiegelman dismissed their "squealing." There were, of course, Polish collaborators. Sadly, there were also Jewish ones. In American media and educational institutions, though, Polish victimization is under-represented, and Polish collaboration is exaggerated. Thus, a subhuman scapegoat is created. Thus, racism becomes a tool in teaching the Holocaust. Maryann Wojciechowska, a Polish American educator and activist, wrote:

My Polish mother, a resister, was arrested by the Gestapo at age 18. She spent years in concentration camps, all the while joining resistance cells. At Ravensbruck, she and other Polish women were forcibly injected with caustic chemicals. This was a test of mass sterilization methods for the planned genocide of the Polish nation. My Polish father fought for three years and was then arrested and tortured in Auschwitz. My Polish uncles, all resisters, were arrested; one was executed and buried in a mass grave. One barely survived internment in Auschwitz and Dachau. My Polish grandmother survived Ravensbruck; my Polish grandfather was killed in Auschwitz. Which one of my Polish family members would you depict as a pig?

For Speak Your Mind, this has been Danusha Goska.

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