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All about the book thief
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It’s the early 1940s in a small town in Germany. On a normal day, adults would be working and children would be in school. But today, everyone is out on the sidewalks, silent. A large group of raggedy, lethargic, stick-thin people are walking, no trudging on the streets. One elderly man stands out from the crowd, he is especially frail. He stumbles, his legs too weak to hold his body up. People just watch on(Zusak 393*). In current times, this situation would’ve never happened, but during the Holocaust, this was acceptable, if the person was a Jew. The scene described in the beginning was one of the events in The Book Thief, a novel where an orphaned German girl, Liesel and her foster family try to scrape by during hard times. Throughout the
A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal is a memoir about his time as a Jewish child in multiple ghettos and death camps in and around Germany during World War II. The author shares about his reunions with family and acquaintances from the war in the years between then and now. Buergenthal wished to share his Holocaust story for a number of reasons: to prevent himself from just being another number, to contribute to history, to show the power and necessity of forgiveness, the will to not give up, and to question how people change in war allowing them to do unspeakable things. The memoir is not a cry for private attention, but a call to break the cycle of hatred and violence to end mass crimes.
Towards friends and neighbours, Hans aids all of those that need it. After Mr. Kleinmann’s clothing store was vandalized, Death, the narrator, observed,“In sloppy lettering, the words JEWISH FILTH were spilling over at their edges.[...]Hans moved closer and stuck his head inside. “Do you need some help?” Mr. Kleinmann looked up.[...] “No, Hans. Please. Go away.” Hans had painted Joel Kleinmann’s house the previous year. He remembered his three children. He could see their faces but couldn’t recall their names. “I will come tomorrow,” he said, “and repaint your door”(181). Despite not knowing them very well, Hans still offers help towards those who have nothing, even if it may affect his own financial situation. As women who had nothing would come up to Hans and ask him to paint their blinds black, he said, ““Frau Hallah, I’m sorry, I have no black paint left,” he would say, but a little farther down the road, he would always break. There was tall man and long street. “Tomorrow,” he’d promise, “first thing,” and when the next morning dawned, there he was, painting those blinds for nothing, or for a cookie or a warm cup of tea”(354). Even though it was against the values of WWII Germany’s society, Hans still felt the need to help anyone, even if they were Jewish. “Papa reached into his paint cart and pulled something out. [...] The Jew stood before him, expecting another handful of
Grenville, John A.S. “Neglected Holocaust Victims: the Mischlinge, the Judischversippte, and the Gypsies.” The Holocaust and History. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Abraham J. Peck. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1998. 315-326.
Elie Wiesel exhibits several tools of survival during his life of becoming a victim of the Holocaust. Elie explains that he is fascinated with the concept of being dead and how it would take away all the pains that he must endure while running through the snow, such as being hungry, cold, and dealing with a swollen throbbing foot.
Everyday one may see dozens of small acts of compassion. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a compelling story set in Germany during the Second World War; a difficult time for compassion. The story follows a foster family living in Molching, Germany and their acts, big and small, against the Nazi regime. In The Book Thief, Hans Hubermann exemplifies the inherent compassion of humans. This can be seen through Hans’ act of offering to black out the windows of families for little or no payment, giving bread to a starving jew, and teaching Liesel how to read. All acts indicating his dedication to aid those stricken by misfortune.
The dark side of human nature has always been very apparent in our lives. Just turn on the news or open a history textbook. One of the darkest stains of human history, the Holocaust, illustrates a particular lack of humanity. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak explores the unpredicted kindness human nature through a young German girl who discovers the power of words.
A common theme that both these books share is Heroism - real and perceived. For instance, Trudi Montag saved the lives of several Jews by hiding them from the Nazi’s as well as providing them with necessary food and supplies since they had lost everything they once had due to the Nazi’s excuting them one by one. Trudi true showed heroism risking her own life to promote the welfare of others, she knew if the Nazi’s found out she was protecting jews inside her home she could be arrested or worse killed yet she did not hesitate one before taking action. Moreover, Trudi gave everything she had to others whether it be her own personal space, belongings, or food even if she had to struggle harder to keep everything running in her
1st Part Hall, Allan Incredible Stories of young Jews who hid in the heart of Nazi Berlin The Daily Record 23 March 2013 www.dailyrecord.co.uk Rolf
The Book Thief is a story set in during World War II. It is mainly about the life of a German orphan through the perspective of death. Though the story is mainly about Liesel, the narrator often gives snippets of the lives of other characters that appear in the story. In a time of history that had great complexities, a story about it would be complex too. The central conflict of the story is Liesel is a young German girl who doesn’t fully understand to a great extent what is happening around her. From the first page of the story many additional conflicts has been unraveled from the main conflict.
The developmental stage of a young child’s life is very crucial and can be impacted by the media. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel Meminger is a young girl living in a very important part of Germany’s history, the Second World War. Liesel’s childhood unfolds and develops against the backdrop of a time when words, books specifically were used for power and control. Liesel is someone who has a love for reading and, as such, books become very important to her, not only for her education but for her rebellion and discovering her true identity. Throughout the novel, books become a crucial symbol used to convey the desires and discovery of identity for the main character as her childish ignorance changes to her mature adulthood.
Fate’s crucial role on human nature is to predetermine an individual's destiny. Depending on the individual, fate can have both positive and negative outcomes. Humans have no choice over the outcome of their future. Fate has ultimate power which is why there is a reason everything happens in life. In Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, each character's fate is predetermined. Hans’s neat handwriting helped him live through a war where no other man could survive. Liesel was given a black book which forced her to spend time in the Hubermann's basement to prevent her death. Rudy was home on Himmel Street because he was not sent to the Hitler Youth Camp. Instead, he died along with the rest of the Steiners on the night of the bombing. Destiny choosing
With minimal clothing, scraps for food, and being treated as pests, the Jews of Europe were being executed by the thousands during World War II. They were being persecuted simply for being a Jew. Running and hiding didn’t do much good. They were sought out only to be taken to a camp filled to the brim with both children and adults alike. Here they would be over-worked, underfed, and ultimately killed. They Holocaust caused more suffering that even the strongest man could endure physically, mentally, and emotionally.
World War II was a grave event in the twentieth century that affected millions. Two main concepts World War II is remembered for are the concentration camps and the marches. These marches and camps were deadly to many yet powerful to others. However, to most citizens near camps or marches, they were insignificant and often ignored. In The Book Thief, author Markus Zusak introduces marches and camps similar to Dachau to demonstrate how citizens of nearby communities were oblivious to the suffering in those camps during the Holocaust.
Death states that, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (Zusak 491). This book shows us human doing things that weren’t even imaginable before this point. Many people give into ideas that were lies. But, we also watch a few people go out of their way and sacrifice everything for a man they barely even know. They do everything they can to keep him safe and alive. They work harder, the get another job, and they even steal. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, death examines the ugliness and the beauty of humans.
Ghettos start to take shape throughout German captive territories. Mass killings are perfectly and vividly described in the letters and communications within the Third Reich through communication and the war diaries of men like Lt. Col. Helmuth Groscurth about the massacres of polish citizens in October of 1939; “The woman had to climb into this grave and took her youngest child in her arms…” A culture of inhumanity was being created as certain groups were being targeted and annihilated from institutions for the handicapped and mentally disabled by the spring of 1940. Based on the calculations offered by the Germans the average daily cost for an institutionalized person in 1940 was RM 0.56. The Germans presented the information to the Aryan population as a positive money saving endeavor and affirmative reasoning to justify and execute the handicapped or disabled population institutionalized as wards of the state.