As shown in the attached letter, over 200 Polish American organizations have united to inform the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education why the MAUS comic book is unsuitable and unacceptable for classroom use and why accurate educational materials are needed instead. Over 200 organizations request the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education to facilitate its removal from school curricula and replacement with balanced materials.
MAUS Falsifies Historical Facts.
- Falsification of historical facts violates states’ standards for educational accuracy.
o Poles are portrayed as Nazi German sympathizers, which was never the case.
o All kapos in Auschwitz are drawn as Poles, which is complete fiction.
MAUS Violates Ethical Writing Standards.
- Ethical writing requires unbiased and accurate accounting.
o Poles are portrayed as disgusting pigs; Jews are portrayed as gentle mice.
o Portraying Poles as a nation of swine constitute willful harm to the memory of millions of Poles who died at the hands of the Germans and Soviets during World War II.
o The highly offensive depiction of Poles as “pigs” forms a mental image that cannot be easily erased from the minds of young impressionable students.
MAUS Lacks Essential Historical Context
- Relevant facts that existed at the time must be presented so that students understand the overall historical picture.
o Germany’s “Drang Nach Osten” in its quest for “Lebensraum” meant destruction and liquidation of the Polish state, immediate extermination of the Polish elites, and comprehensive genocide over an extended period for the remaining Poles.
o Polish deaths were proportionately the greatest of any nation in WWII. For Poland, the deaths of Poles and Polish Jews were a double genocide.
Use of MAUS as Educational Material Constitutes Outright Discrimination.
- Title VI, 42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq., prohibits discrimination based on race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.
o Educational materials that disparage and disrespect any group plainly violate America’s principles of diversity and inclusion.
o Polish American students are forced to study a biased source that wrongly slanders their heritage and imposes on them a bigoted stereotype.
o The psychological impact of the comic book’s hate speech is traumatizing and adversely affects the academic performance of Polish American students.
Polish American Strategic Initiative (PASI)
P.O. Box 2771, New Britain, CT 06050