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Vladek is Born
Vladek is born on October 11, 1906. -
Vladek meets Anja for the first time
After 3 to 4 years of being involved with Lucia, one of Vladek's cousins introduces him to Anja, a girl in her class. Anja is described as "incredibly clever, from a rich family... a very good girl" (1.15). After Vladek returned to Czestochowa, where he lived, she called him and they talked on the phone every day. Soon, she began witing him letters, and she sent him a photo which he framed and kept at his home. -
Vladek & Anja get married
At the end of 1936, Valdek moves out to Sosnowiec, and on February 14, 1937, Vladek and Anja get married. They move into one of Anja's father's two apartments. -
Richieu is born
After Anja was nearly arrested for translating commnist documnets, her father gives Vladek enough money to start up a textile factory, and by October 1937, "the factory was going, and it was born my first sone, Richieu" (1.30). -
Anja and Vladek go to the Sanitarium
After the birth of Richieu, Anja suffers from a severe case of post-partum depression, and Vladek goes with her to a sanitarium in Czechoslovakia. On the way there, they first see the spread of Nazism and anti-Semitism, but are safe from it in the sanitarium in Czechoslovakia. Anja recovers, and 3 months later they return to Poland. -
Vladek is drafted into the Polish army
After many riots and protests of the Jews in Bielsko, Vladek is drafted into the Polish army, and had to go right away. Anja and Richieu went with Anja's father, to Sosnowiec, and Vladek went to the frontier against Germany. -
Vladek is taken as a prisoner of war by the Nazis
After fighting for some time on the frontier, Vladek is taken prisoner by some German soldiers, who take him to "a place near Nuremburg" (1.51). -
Vladek Escapes his Labor Camps and is Reunited with his Family
One night in Vladek's labor camp, he has an extremely vivid dream that he will escape, on the day of Parshas Truma, which is a prayer that is read on a Saturday in February. On Parshas Truma, German officials come to the labor camp, and realease the prisoners, showing how Vladek's dream came true. Vladek is brought up to Lublin, sneaks back into Sosnowiec, and there is reunited with his family shortly after. Once back in Poland, he sees how the Nazi's anti-semitic policies there. -
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Anja and Vladek's family is taken to the camps
Starting with Anja's elderly grandparents, nearly all of Anja's and Vladek's family is taken to the concentration camps, including Vladek's father, sister, and her four children. Anja and Vladek send Richieu to live with Anja's sister, Tosha in Zawiercie. When Tosha is about to be taken to the camps she poisons herself and her children, Bibi and Lonia, along with Richieu. Later, Vladek is unable to help Anja's parents, Mr. Zylberberg and Matka, escape deportation to Auschwitz. -
Vladek and Anja are taken to the Camps.
After receiving a letter from their nephew, Abraham, saying that he was safe into Hungary, and that they should follow with the smugglers that he used as soon as possible. On a train on the way to Hungary, the Gestapo come and take Anja and Vladek. Vladek is taken to Auschwitz, and Anja was taken to Birkenau. -
Vladek works as a Tin Worker and a Shoemaker in Auschwitz
Vladek uses his craftsmanship to make work as a tin worker and a shoemaker. He is able to save enough food and valuables to negotiate Anja's transfer to Auschwitz from Birkenau. -
Vladek and Prisoners Destroy the Gas Chambers
As the Germans are retreating from the Russians, they have the prisoners pull apart the machineries of the gas chambers. They wanted to take it to Germany where they could "finish them in quiet" (2.69). Also, they wanted to leave no evidence of what they did. This was the first time that Vladek saw the chambers with his own eyes. -
Vladek is taken to be Executed
Vladek is taken from Auschwitz, most likely to be executed, and he ends up in Dachau, where he purposefully infects his hand to stay in the infirmary. He is then transported with his fellow prisoners to the Swiss border, where they expect that they are going to be freed. But the German soldiers escort them into the woods to execute them. Before the German soldiers kill them, however, the Germans run away, becaus they are afraid of the reprocussions by the American soldiers. -
Vladek is taken to the Refugee Camp
Vladek goes to the American refugee camp, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where he gets typhus fever, and later was diagnosed with diabetes. He catches wind that Anja is still alive, and after nearly a month of travel, he meets her where she is living, in Sosnowiec. -
Artie is Born
Artie Spiegelman is born to Anja and Vladek on February 15, 1948. He was extremely premature, and the doctors thought that he might die. -
Anja Kills Herself
Anja commits suicide in May of 1968. -
Vladek Dies
"Vladek died of congestive heart failure on August 18, 1982" (2.41).
