Quote 22
“A hitch-hiker? And – oy – it’s a colored guy, a Shvartser! Push quick the gas! […] It’s not even to compare, the Shvartsers and the Jews!”
Vladek’s own experience with racism doesn’t, unfortunately, translate into racial tolerance.
Quote 23
“The Poles went in. They beat him and hanged him … For this he survived.” (II.5.122)
It wasn’t just the German Nazis who were racist. These unscrupulous Poles see in the Nazi persecution of the Jews an opportunity to get their hands on Jewish property, and they refuse to return the property once the Jews return.
Quote 24
“It would take many books, my life, and no one wants anyway to hear such stories.” (I.1.14)
Vladek is reluctant at first to participate in Art’s project, and as the rest of the book continues, a kind of rivalry develops between them over how to tell Vladek’s and Anja’s story.