One - the Sheik

One - The Sheik

Art visits his dad, Vladek, in Rego Park, New York, after being away for about two years. Vladek has married Mala after the suicide of Art's mother. Art persuades Vladek to begin telling him the story of his life, which Art hopes to use for a book. Vladek begins at the time that he is a young man working in the textile business near Czestochowa, Poland. He has an affair with the beautiful Lucia before he is introduced to Anna Zylberberg. Anna (Anja) is from a wealthy family and is well educated but nervous and sickly. Vladek and Anja are married in 1937, and Vladek moves to the town of Sosnowiec, Anja's hometown.

Two - The Honeymoon

Art visits his father in Rego Park several times over the next few months. Vladek is focused on the many pills he takes and on his failing health. Art is focused on trying to get the details of Vladek's story. The family prospers since Anja's father has given them money to invest in a textile factory. Vladek and Anja have a son, Richlieu, but after his birth, Anja suffers a deep depression. Vladek accompanies her to a sanitarium in Czechoslovakia, where she is to be treated. On their trip to the sanitarium they see a Nazi banner and hear of the first actions against Jewish people. Anja recovers from her depression, and they return to Poland only to find that their factory has been robbed. Anja's father helps them financially, and for a time, their life is good. But in August of 1939, Vladek is drafted into the Polish army and sent to fight the Germans.

Three - Prisoner of War

During additional visits to see his father, Art hears Vladek tell about his service in the Polish army. Vladek has little training and shoots his gun only for appearances, but he manages to kill a German soldier. He is later taken prisoner by the Germans and sent to a POW camp in Germany where he cleans stables. It is cold, and the Jewish prisoners are treated worse than the other Polish prisoners are, but Vladek volunteers to work for the German soldiers and gains some additional food and warmth this way. He has a dream in which his grandfather appears to him and tells him that he will be free on a specific day in the future. The dream comes true, and Vladek is sent back to Poland where Jewish authorities are able to connect him with a friend of his family. After much difficulty, he is eventually reunited with his family. Art ends the chapter in the present with Vladek complaining about Mala and throwing away Art's coat because it is shabby.

Four - The Noose Tightens

Vladek works out on his exercise bicycle while he talks to Art. Art begins using a tape recorder to document Vladek's stories. It is now 1940. Vladek and Anja live a comfortable life in her father's household. Food and clothing are rationed, but they have money, so they can get things on the black market. Life for Jews in Poland is very restrictive, and the threat of being sent away is ever present. Germans round up Jews, beat them, and kill them, but Vladek and his family always manage to avoid being taken. Vladek gets a job working in a tin shop so that he can have the required working papers. Vladek and Anja talk briefly about sending Richlieu to live with a Polish family but decide to keep him with them. During the winter of 1941-42, the Jews are moved to a segregated area of Sosnowiec. Vladek trades gold and jewelry for food and clothing but must be careful as those selling items without coupons are hanged. Anja's elderly grandparents are hidden from the Germans for a time but are eventually taken and sent to Auschwitz. One day all Jews in the city are required to report to the stadium for sorting; the able-bodied are allowed to remain, but those who are weak or old or who have many children are sent away. In the present, Mala tells about her own experiences of Sosnowiec. She complains about Vladek's domineering ways and miserliness. Art looks for his mother's