Liars and Bullies

Throughout the years of the Holocaust, the Nazis portrayed Hitler's Germany as a powerful and pure empire. They spread images conveying the Nazis as a righteous force and depicted the Jews as dirty and ugly, giving them abnormal features and sneering faces. In his comic Maus, Art Spiegelman uses the chapter title pages to undermine the antisemitic images the Nazis used as propaganda. 

The image on the left is Nazi propaganda, and the drawing on the right is Spiegelman's header for chapter three of volume one. Spiegelman extends his metaphor by having two cats completely cornering the mouse, or the Jew. Guns aimed, they look down at the trapped mouse through white, almost demonic slit eyes. The shadows over their faces not only reveal a deep evil, but a lack of clarity or sound-mindedness. Spiegelman is using this image to mock the delusional depiction on the left. The top corner of the Nazi image reads "For freedom and life", and Spiegelman plainly titles his chapter "Prisoner of War". His use of simple and factual language shows that his depiction is closer to reality. The Nazis are not so blunt, and they used words with a heavy positive connotation to portray themselves as heroes. Maus, despite being an allegory only representing humans, shows the harsh reality much more accurately. 

On the left, we see two soldiers that look drastically different from those in Spiegelman's interpretation. These soldiers have their heads looking up at the horizon, at a brighter and stronger future. You cannot see the ends of their guns, and this hides the violence and the real death from the public's eyes. Their faces convey their pride and determination; we see that they want to take on the duty of helping their country. 

Comparing the two images side by side, it may seem as though Spiegelman's is darker and more exaggerated. Upon closer examination, we can see past the two healthy and strong soldiers to the animals that the Nazis really were. Spiegelman reveals the true cowardice of the Germans by showing two of them cornering one disadvantaged Jew. He takes these soldiers and strips them of their power, revealing that they are nothing more than sneaky, cat-like bullies.