The Power of Secrets in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

715 Words2 Pages

“‘Book burning’ refers to the ritual destruction by fire of books or other written materials. Usually carried out in a public context, the burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or political opposition to the materials in question.” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
The night of May 10, 1933, German students from some of the best universities in the world, gathered in Berlin to burn books with un-German ideas. The students, along with Nazi officials, threw hundreds of books into a bonfire while giving the Hitler salute and singing Nazi anthems. The students gave up everything that they had believed in due to their unwavering adoration for Hitler and his beliefs.
Germany was now being led by Adolf Hitler, a high school drop out who aspired to become an artist and was strongly anti-intellectual. Before Hitler, German universities had been considered some of the best in the world, but under Hitler’s rule, many young people living in Nazi Germany where very hard behind their peers from other western countries. Western education became secondary to teaching the youth mysticism, speculation and collective thinking toward a common goal and of course, the pursuit of a glorious future for Germany.
People that did not follow Hitler and the Nazi Party who remained behind in Germany only managed to escape through hiding their true feelings. The Nazis could never actually know one's thoughts as long as one maintained a poker face and didn't reveal those private thoughts. This can be seen in “The Book Thief”.
Liesel Meminger was a very bright girl that didn’t have the resources to flourish. Her mother must hide from the Nazis because she is a communist and sends Liesel ...

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...on of words and their power.

Works Cited

Losowsky, Andrew. "Book Burning In History: Martin Luther To Harry Potter (PHOTOS)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 May 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. .
"Adolf Hitler." Jewish Virtual Library. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. .
"Book Burning." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. .
"Nazi Propaganda and Censorship." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. .

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