Describe Vladek Spiegelman in three paragraphs.

Vladek Spiegelman is the principle protagonist in the narrative and also acts as an intermediate narrator for most of the material in the book—that is, he narrates his life story to Artie who re-tells Vladek's story, frequently using Vladek's own words.

Vladek is a Jew and a Pole and was born October 11, 1906. He grows up in the small Polish village of Czestochowa where he becomes successful as a textile salesman. He has one prolonged romantic relationship with a girl named Lucia Greenberg but eventually ends that relationship to pursue a relationship with Anja Zylberberg. Vladek and Anja marry on February 14, 1937, and move to Sosnowiec where Vladek enjoys success continuing his career as a textile salesman. Anja's affluent father soon establishes a textile factory for Vladek in Bielsko, a nearby town. Vladek works in Bielsko and lives in Sosnowiec for some time until Anja suffers a nervous breakdown shortly after delivering their first son, Richieu. Vladek accompanies Anja throughout her prolonged recuperation at a sanatorium in Czechoslovakia. After Anja regains her health, Vladek moves the family to Bielsko where they remain until he is drafted on August 24, 1939, at which time Anja returns to Sosnowiec to live with her parents.

Vladek takes part in one firefight where he kills one German soldier and is then captured. He is incarcerated as a prisoner of war for several months and is then discharged back to Poland as a common citizen of the now-occupied country. Vladek manages to sneak home to Sosnowiec where he lives with Anja and her relatives for several months. The family group is slowly broken up by various pogroms and selections. Vladek and Anja eventually send young Richieu away to what they suppose to be a safer environment—it is not, however, and Richieu soon dies. They live in various Jewish ghettos until attempting an escape to Hungary when they are handed over to the Nazis by double-crossing smugglers. Vladek and Anja are then transported to various work camps and on to Auschwitz where they are separated.

Vladek uses all his skills and luck and survives months at Auschwitz even as nearly all of his family and friends are murdered. He then is evacuated from Auschwitz to Dachau where he survives several more weeks of Holocaust until the war finally ends. Vladek is eventually freed and spends several weeks roaming through Germany until he makes his way back to Sosnowiec where he is reunited with Anja who—miraculously—has also survived. They emigrate to Sweden and have a second child, Artie, and then continue on to New York where they settle in Rego Park. About two decades later Anja commits suicide and, much later, Vladek marries Mala. Vladek's generally good health begins to fail with age and he dies on August 18, 1982, at the age of seventy-five.