Philosophy and Ethics

There are so many ethical issues raised by Maus; after all, it is the story of one of the great evils of modern times. One meta-issue is that of journalistic ethics. Though Vladek is enthusiastic about the idea of Art telling his story, he tries to censor portions he feels are personally embarrassing. We see Spiegelman promising discretion, but then he seems to disregard his promise. The portrait drawn of Vladek is frequently unflattering. Journalists and historians are often constrained by their subjects since there is a conflict between what people perceive as their right to privacy and the public’s right to know.

World War II and the Holocaust exposed other larger moral questions. A government and military bureaucracy had moved to systematically exterminate a minority with officials at each step following criminal orders. After the war, the existentialist philosophical movement gained many adherents. Existentialists held that each individual was responsible for his or her own actions independent of the surrounding society. The following decades saw authority continuously challenged.

Also, many individuals were caught in terrible situations where one person might have to be sacrificed to save a group (a family with a crying baby hiding behind a wall is one famous example). What should people do in situations such as these? Clearly simple rules or ordinary interpretations of moral laws cannot adequately address these dilemmas.

Having experienced such dramatic situations made survivors wonder why they remained alive when others had not. There was neither rhyme nor reason to who lived or died. It was often difficult for people to feel worthy of the life that had been spared.

Unfortunately, the institutions that we hope would serve as a barrier against such actions were often ineffectual or complicit. Even though individual clergy often took heroic positions, the leaders of many churches feared offending Hitler or his constituencies and did not speak out against his anti-Semitic program. Universities and law courts were eventually intimidated or corrupted.

Finally, scientists who worked on the atom bomb, on both sides, had to ask themselves what their war research had unleashed. Now the complete destruction of the earth was possible with the push of a button.

Evelyn Burg