Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief (2005), and Steven Spielberg, director of Schindler’s List (1993), both use their works to portray the theme of racism in Nazi-era Germany. Racism today affects millions of people daily, with 4.6 million people being racial discrimination in Australia alone. However, in Nazi-era Germany, the Jewish people were discriminated because they weren’t part of the ‘master race’, causing millions to suffer and be killed. The text creators use the techniques of setting, characters, conflicts and symbols to explore the theme of Nazi-era Germany.
The setting is extremely important in both text, as it can have immense effects on the plot and characters, establishing the atmosphere or mood of a story or a specific scene. The Book Thief is set in a fictional town called Molching, where it’s stated that, “The book thief … travelling down towards Munich … Fuhrer … January 1939.” [Page 19-21, Part 1]. Germany in 1939 prepares the reader for Nazi and anti-Jewish sentiments and the racism that is explored later in the novel. Although Schindler’s List takes place in Krakow, Poland, mostly in a Jewish ghetto, Krakow was part of German territory during 1939. This is shown when text appears at the beginning of the film stating, “September 1939 … German forces defeated the Polish Army … Jews were ordered to … relocate to major cities. More than 10,000 Jews … arrived in Krakow daily.” [1:47-2:02]. The word ‘ordered’ implies the Jews had no choice in the matter and were forced to move. The setting of both text paints the scene for audiences of wartime and racism aimed at Jews.
Characters are important elements in novels and films as the types of characters involved create different types of conflicts and tensions, as well as different types of resolutions. Liesel Meminger, the main character of The Book Thief, is a young teenage German girl. While Schindler’s List is set in occupied Poland, the main character, Oskar Schindler, is a middle-aged Czechoslovakian, who works as a German industrialist and is also a member of the Nazi Party. This is shown with a close up shot, as Oskar places a pin with a swastika on his jacket coat [4:15-4:22]. At the beginning of The Book Thief, Liesel is portrayed
In The Book Thief, a work of historical fiction, written by Markus Zusak introduces the main character Liesel Meminger, the reader starts to see how she keeps having many conflicts but always stays positive. Liesel has many conflicts, for example her brother dies early in the book and that shapes the way she is. Later on Liesel steals books and that makes her happy because the first book she stole was the grave digger's handbook and that is how she remembers her brother. Liesel steals and reads books this is how she finds happiness with all the bad things going on around her. In the end of the book most of the people she loves die and it is hard for her to find happiness again. The author uses the setting and point of view to express theme and to make the reader feel sympathy; He uses this because with the theme of finding light in the darkness, deaths perception, and the setting of Germany makes the theme clearer.
An event occurred over half a century ago that took nearly six million innocent lives had left us with all kinds of story about it. Among those are Night by Elie Wiesel and Schindler’s List by Steven Spielberg. These two pieces of literatures may be similar, yet different in many ways. For instance, the Holocaust. It is one recognizable way that shows the similarity between the movie and the book. However, they are very different because one is about a person saving, or rather buying, 1200 lives and the other is many lives that were saved by a union, Schindler’s List and Night, respectively. Which can indicate the fact that Jewish were treated as less than human when they were bought like some objects. Other factors include
Both set in the time period of World War II, Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief and Elie Wiesel’s Night tell a story revolving around the events of the Holocaust. However, each book tells a very different story and uses different word choices to describe their story. The diction used in the young-adult fiction novel The Book Thief and the nonfiction memoir Night drew a sharp contrast when compared to each other, highlighting the intentions of each book.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a girl living in Nazi Germany through perspective of death. Just nine years old when her brother dies and her mother leaves her in the care of the Hubermanns, Lisel turns to the comfort of books to ease her pain. However, as she grows up the innocent words in her books lead her to discover the immense pain words carry through the horrific doings of Hitler, a man beloved by many Germans. The portrayal of life in Nazi Germany depicted by the Book Thief is accurate due to events in the book such as the book burning, the Hitler Youth, encounters of hate shown to Jews, and Germany’s invasion of Russia.
Between the two books of different genres, a reader is opened up to different circumstances of two people. During the Holocaust, there were those who lived through the terror in Nazi Germany under Hitler's reign, and those who suffered from the work of Nazi’s ending up inside compact concentration camps. Within the book Night by Elie Wiesel and the book The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the Holocaust period was a key factor. Both the books stress the idea of the Holocaust, however are portrayed in very different ways. With the stories being told from different perspectives the true feelings of the Holocaust are understood and the similarities between all people are shown.
The chaos and destruction that the Nazi’s are causing are not changing the lives of only Jews, but also the lives of citizens in other countries. Between Night by Elie Wiesel and The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, comradeship, faith, strength, and people of visions are crucial to the survival of principle characters. Ironically, in both stories there is a foreseen future, that both seemed to be ignored.
‘Schindler’s List’ is no less a “Jewish story” or a “German story” than it is a human story. And its subject matter applies to every generation.’ [Stephen Spielberg] Discuss.
The Holocaust was a brutal event in World War Two and millions of people were killed. Although this occurrence was brutal, beautiful things happened too. Beauty and brutality co-existed throughout the the Holocaust and changed people's lives. Markus Zusak used imagery to represent beauty and brutality co-existing in “The Book Thief” throughout the lives of Liesel, Hans, and Death.
Germans and Jews: More Similar than Most Think “Only through hardship, sacrifice and militant action can freedom be won.” This quote by Nelson Mandela shows that people must suffer in order to get what they desire, and the population of Nazi Germany knew this all too well. Many, many innocent human beings died at the hands of Hitler and his minions, and through these hardships, people found their strength. In both Markus Zusak’s book, The Book Thief, and the real Holocaust, both the Jews and the Germans face hardships that ultimately guide them to freedom. The purpose of The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is to teach people about the hardships that both the Jews and the Germans endured during the Holocaust.
In Nazi Germany, the axis fought extremely hard to oppress Jews and dehumanize them. These ideals were pushed upon the German citizens relentlessly during Hitler's reign through laws. In the book, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the author presents the readers with characters who are under Nazi rule. These characters are all affected by the government in different ways, but the overarching theme of the book is the dehumanization of good people. Hans, Rudy, and Liesel all give humanity back to someone who has been dehumanized, even in the face of adversity.
In the movie Schindler's List, the story of the Holocaust is told from a dual point of view; that of the Jewish people who are downtrodden,
Schindler's List is one of the most powerful movies of all time. It presents the indelible true story of enigmatic German businessman Oskar Schindler who becomes an unlikely saviour of more than 1100 Jews amid the barbaric Nazi reign. A German Catholic war profiteer, Schindler moved to Krakow in 1939 when Germany overran Poland. There he opens an enamelware factory that, on the advice of his Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern, was staffed by Jews from the nearby forced labour camp at Plaszow. Schindler's factory prospered though his contacts with the Nazi war machine and its local representatives, as well as his deft skill on the black market. Then, somewhere along the way, Schindler's devotion to self-interest was
“The opposite of love is not hate but indifference,” Elie Weisel stated after commenting on his thoughts on racism and his years surviving the Holocaust. Weisel was thrown in and out of concentration camps starting at the age of fifteen until finally his final camp where his father had died was liberated. The tragedies that Weisel along with the other millions of people who suffered were unimaginable and even Weisel himself strived for years to find words that somewhat explained what their experience was like. However, no one will ever be able to fully express what It is truly like to live during such racist times, whether it be through writing or film.
In Stephen Spielberg’s 1993 movie Schindler’s List, businessman and factory owner Oskar Schindler is concerned with both the welfare of his business as well as the workforce he employs of primarily Jewish people after witnessing their persecution by the German’s during the German’s occupation of Poland amid World War II. Themes pertaining to Social Psychology can be found in this film such as prejudice and discrimination, conformity, influence in social groups, aggression, cognitive dissonance, and altruism.
“When a Jew shows up at your place of residence in the early hours of the morning, in the very birthplace of Nazismn, you’re likely to experience extreme levels of Discomfort, Anxiety, Disbelief and Paranoia.”, The propaganda of Hitler was the most important aspect in the The Book Thief because it often set the mood that I was feeling and that feeling was sick and cringing while reading the Novel. Before the war, The Nazi’s passed laws to effectively get rid of the Jews Human Rights and basically stripping and restricting them from being “human”. Max, The “Jewish Fist Fighter”, was a victim of the Propaganda and his presence served and reminded me the vast superiority that the German’s had against the Jews during the Holocaust.This made me think so negatively on the Propaganda that was set against the Jews and completely disagreeing with the way Hitler was seeing things because of the fact that for Max to be, “lucky”, lucky meant that his home was the Hubermann’s freezing basement