History & Memory – Essay – Fiftieth Gate and Maus

Resource Description

Intro: “A Journey Through Memory” and “My Father Bleeds History” are the sub-titles of the texts explored in this essay, for the book The Fiftieth Gate (1997) by Mark Baker and the graphic novel Maus (1986) by Art Spiegelman respectively, and both speak to the texts’ exploration of the significance of personal memory in relation to history. Through investigating their families’ Holocaust memories, Baker and Spiegelman grant the audience a deeper understanding of the human experience of the Holocaust, and in this challenge the need for an ultimate truth.