Understanding WWII Germans: Insights from 'The Book Thief'

Markus Zusak's The Book Thief is a Fictional story of a young girl, Liesel, growing up in Nazi Germany. The book is geared towards Young-Adults with the goal of convincing the reader that not all Germans during World War II were bad. Using a unique narrative we are guided through the story line by Death, who will often tell us his opinion of the going-ons of the story as well as giving us further context so as to allow a better understanding of the situations we are presented with. From a young age I was taught that the Germans were bad people, much like Muslims today we generalize an entire population based off of the actions of a relatively small group of the whole. After reading The Book Thief, although a fictional story, it has brought me to understand that most Germans during WWII were merely trying to get by, they were living ordinary, or as

Such a situation is Liesels relationship with her best friend Rudy a seemingly average friendship in reality is riddled with emotion and confusion, a feeling we've all had as we've "come of age". We witness her feelings, masterly portrayed by Zusak, shift from a dislike of Rudy, to friendship, to confusion, until finally budding into love. It are these complicated emotions and interactions that aid in our realization of Liesel's humanity. How is it that Zusak is able to so vividly portray life growing up in Nazi Germany? How does he know or how did he come to understand that they're just as human as we are? What authority does he have to depict them as such? Although he himself had not grown up in Nazi Germany his parents had and as he grew he heard tales of their time in Germany. It is through his parents experience that he came to realize German humanity and it is through they're stories that he formed his knowledge of German life during