Art Spiegelman's 'Maus' on Jewish Voices in German Middle East Debate

In a commentary for Der Freitag, Velten Schäfer argues that pressuring Jewish voices critical of Israel, such as the initiative 'Stimme für einen gerechten Frieden in Nahost', is misguided. He contends that the Holocaust does not prescribe a single correct political stance on the Middle East conflict. Schäfer uses a scene from Art Spiegelman's graphic novel 'Maus' to illustrate his point: in the frame story, Spiegelman's father, a Holocaust survivor, reacts with racist suspicion toward a Black hitchhiker, prompting his son's embarrassment. This moment, Schäfer writes, shows that victims of terrible injustice can themselves be terribly unjust. The article suggests that the same principle applies to the current German debate on the Middle East, where some Jewish voices are dismissed as illegitimate.