Maus

My experience with reading Maus by Art Spiegelman was honestly really uncomfortable as it should be. It's a hard one to sit through and I found myself taking breaks when it got too intense. It's a biography about the author's parent's, Valdek and Anja, holocaust experience and the aftermath. The time jumps between past and present and and is sometimes non chronological. The present takes place after Art's mother had committed suicide and Valdek remarriage with Mala, another holocaust survivor, he is constantly discussing Valdek's life and recording them to use in the comic. He showed the strained relationship between Art and his father and depicts him as he was. He's cheap, confrontational, short-temperted, stubborn, and ironically racist despite all that happened to him. Art had even described him as being a "stereotypical jew" to Mala. He doesn't paint his family as being perfect. It's exactly how it was in real life.
The background of "Maus" and the political environment that it was created in had always fascinated me so much. It was the first comic to win a pulitzer prize and gained wide recognition, and while it wasn't the first comic to have a heavy subject, it did allow other comics to be recognized in a higher regard. During the time of it's release there was a rise of Holocaust Denial. 
It's absolutely insane that there would be people who would deny such a tragedy that took the lives of over 6 million people and irreparably damaged so many more ever existed, however that was exactly was was happening during the 80's. I believe Maus and books and other medias like it shows the viewer what the nazis did and combated anti-semitism and ignorance. It opened discussions and reminded the masses that, yes the Holocaust really happened, and people suffered and die, and the scars still remains. The massive success of Maus brought up the topic of the Holocaust and it's still popular today. I remembered going through the book fair's order catalogue back in middle school and Maus would always be at the best seller's list toping books like Twilight and Ergon. It's still attracting new readers and keeping the discussion fresh. But now I feel like it is more important than ever. With the rise of Nazi-ideals, antisemitism, and the new wave of holocaust deniers it's more vital than ever to raise awareness and remind the world of the danger that nazi ideology can lead to.