[Music] when art known to everyone as Arty was 10 or 11 years old he learned a hard truth about friendship one day he was having a great time with his friends Howie and Steve racing through the streets of New York on his roller skates that was until his skate came loose and he tripped oh no poor Arty is hurt you'd think his friends would stop and help him wrong they just skated away without him and left him in the dust a deflated Arty limped back home to tell his father vladic what had happened vladek was busy doing some DIY Construction in the garage a wise but eccentric man his father said that the only way to find out who your friends were was to lock them together in a room with no food for a week you see vladek had been through a lot from his experiences he has gained deep insights into hardship survival and relationships all of which Arty would soon learn about Flash Forward a few years and Arty is now an adult he goes to visit his father who still lives in Rigo Park Arty and vladek don't have the closest relationship they haven't seen each other in two years the truth is vladek can be a bit of a grouch for a start he isn't very nice to his second wife Marla after a nice dinner vladek leads the way to Artie's old bedroom his dad has now turned it into a spin studio vladek hops on the cycle for his heart and inquires about Artie's career in comics Artie seizes the chance to talk about the comic he's always wanted to make the one about his father's life in Poland and World War II is reluctant at first but Artie is very persuasive so he eventually agrees so let's enter the world of vladek spiegelman vladek was a handsome young man he was often compared to Rudolph Valentino an attractive actor who starred in The 1921 film The chic this meant many ladies wanted to be his girlfriend one of them was Lucia Greenberg although they had a pleasant first date vladek wasn't very interested in her but she was very persistent so much so that they stayed together for three or four years in December 1935 vladic goes to visit his parents in sosnowitz for the holidays once he's there his cousin has plans for vladic and introduces him to Anya zilberberg Arty's future mum vladek and Anya were quite different vladek was just scraping by trading textiles whereas Anya came from a wealthy family who owned a large Factory that made stockings he was 30 while she was 24. vladek left school at 14 to work whereas Anya finished high school successfully she really was a great catch even Anya's School principal told vladek how lucky he was whoever said Opposites Attract must have been right they were young and in love and couldn't get enough of each other so when it was time for vladek to return to chenster cover the two lovebirds called each other twice a day and sent letters and photos of themselves as well a week passes and vladek is in his apartment when Lucia visits she sees a photo of Anya and mocks her appearance when vladek tells her that he's going to get engaged to Anya Lucia loses it she lunges at vladic begging him to forget Anya Lucia won't be letting Vlad It Go easily later when vladek reunites with Anya in sosnovitz he takes the next step and meets her parents over dinner they treat him like a king and by the end of 1936 the happy couple are officially engaged to cement his engagement vladek decides to move from chenstakova to sosnowitz but it's not so easy for vladic Lucia is still pining for him as he tries to leave his apartment One Last Time Lucia suddenly turns up and falls to the floor grabbing his legs pleading with him not to leave her vladek rests himself free and escapes slamming the door in her face brutal talk about unrequited love however this is not the last we hear from Lucia she decided that if she couldn't have vladek he couldn't have Anya so she writes a letter to Anya bad-mouthing vladek with horrible lies what a crazy ex unfortunately Anya is upset and doesn't want to see vladek anymore she won't even take his calls not a man to give up vladek travels to sosnovitz to convince Anya that Lucia is lying it takes some convincing on Vlad X part but he eventually talks Anya around phew relieved vladic moves to sosnowitz and on February the 14th 1937 Anya and Vladik get married they got married on Valentine's Day how adorable back in the present day vladder tells Artie that he doesn't want his private life written about after all it has nothing to do with Hitler and the Holocaust Artie disagrees but promises not to include it clearly he didn't keep his word about that so over the next few months Artie visits his dad regularly to hear more of his story not wanting to miss out on more juicy details about his parents love life Artie asks if his mum had any boyfriends before they met and yes she did but the boyfriend wasn't just anyone he was a communist vladek despised communists even worse for vladic Anya was working with them she would translate messages her old boyfriend brought from polish into German this was bad news the Polish government were persecuting Communists and unfortunately for Anya the police suspected her of being one it was only a matter of time before they came knocking luckily just before they did a friend telephoned Anya and warned her to hide the incriminating documents but what could Anya do she couldn't leave them in her own apartment nor could she destroy them they were just too important a quick thinker Anya frantically ran downstairs to miss stefanska a seamstress and begged her to hide the documents for her confused Miss stefanska agreed after all Anya was one of her best customers soon after the police came and turned Anya and vladek's home inside out they looked and looked but found nothing phew Anya was safe unsatisfied the police searched all their neighbors apartments from top to bottom including Miss stefanskas and they found the documents what would Miss stefanska do would she rat out Anya loyal to a fault she did not that took courage but she paid a heavy price after being locked up in prison for three months Miss stefansko was set free because the evidence against her did not Stack Up Mr zilberberg paid the cost of the lawyers and compensation for her efforts to the tune of fifteen thousands Watty a small fortune at the time that ex-father-in-law was a very generous man especially when it came to his family he just didn't want vladic to be a textile shop owner he wanted vladek to have his own Factory Beyond vladek's Wildest Dreams he gave him the money to start a factory in bielska business was booming and in October 1937 vladic and Anya's first son richiel was born sadly riccio did not survive the war an Arty never knew his older brother vladek went to bielska to start his Factory and find them an apartment meanwhile Anya stayed in sosnowitz with the baby and her family but all was not well soon after vladek arrived he received a distressing phone call Anya was sick he had to go home right away vladek rushed back to sosnowitz to see Anya poor Anya was lying on the couch sobbing and saying that she didn't want to live what was wrong with Anya vladek just didn't understand wasn't bringing a child into this world supposed to be a cause for celebration Anya seemed to be under a lot of strain since giving birth and she was very depressed not wanting their daughter to suffer Anya's parents suggested vladek take her to a sanitarium or long stay hospital to recover at a moment's notice they began their journey to Czechoslovakia which had one of the most expensive and beautiful sanatoriums in the world when they were nearing the end of their train journey they passed a small town with a chilling sight that frightened all the Jewish passengers a Nazi flag this was the first time vladek had seen as fastika with his own eyes he couldn't believe it their fellow passengers gave them some even Grimmer news in Germany it was worse Jews were being beaten arrested and expelled synagogues were burned down jewish-owned shops taken over and given to Germans it was a hellish reality however with its beautiful gardens and castle-like buildings the sanitarium was another world it was more like a five-star hotel with medical staff to regularly check on Anya everything was taken care of vladek even got to try out his dance moves and jokes with Anya in the end her smile returned and she was able to laugh again it was a miraculous recovery but in the three months they were there the Poland they left had changed for one Vlad X Factory had been ransacked his pride and joy but he could rebuild that the other changes were much more sinister one day vladek was returning home from downtown bielska he was upset by what he had seen everyone was yelling Jews out Jews out and two people were killed and the police just stood by and watched what had happened how could the polls agree with the Nazis though not all polls agreed their governess Yanina was absolutely appalled she considered the spiegelman's family life continued as normal for over a year but anti-semitic tensions were Rising on August 24 1939 they boiled over vladek received a letter that would change his life a draft notice from the Polish army war was now inevitable and vladek had been ordered to fight Anya riccio and Janina fled to sosnowitz while vladek headed to the frontier against Germany one week later this new reality was confirmed on September 1st 1939 Germany invaded Poland marking the start of World War II what will happen to the spiegelmans can they escape the Nazis wish them luck a frightening World awaits them [Music] we hope you enjoyed this schooling online production for more easy lessons check out our other videos