The Book Thief Summary

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. Liesel Meminger is a nine year old girl that was living in Germany in 1939. Her mother was taken away from Liesel and her brother. When Liesel and her brother where going to go see their mother Liesel brother died. She found a book called “The Grave Diggers Handbook”. Liesel was taken to a foster home. She gets along with her foster parents. The foster parent’s names are Hans and Rosa Hubermann. The foster parents of Liesel show her how to read and write. Liesel best friend name is Rudy Steiner they have many memories together. They both are thieves, Rudy and Liesel. Rudy has a big crush on Liesel. Max Vandenburg is a Jew being hidden in the basement of Liesel basement. Liesel and Rudy stole books from

“The War Against The Jews” by Lucy Dawidowicz explores a very dark time in history and interprets it from her view. Through the use of other novels, she concurs and agrees to form her opinion. This essay will explore who Dawidowicz is, why she wrote the book, what the book is about, what other authors have explored with the same topic, and how I feel about the topic she wrote about. All in all, much research will be presented throughout the essay. In the end you will see how strongly I feel about the topic I chose. I believe that although Hitler terrorized the Jews, they continued to be stronger than ever, and tried to keep up their society.

The Holocaust lasted from 1933-1945, when the Nazi army used the Jewish people as a scapegoat and persuaded parts of Europe that they were responsible for all the issues being faced at that time. Hundreds of thousands of Jews, and other groups of people, were thrown into forced labor camps called concentration camps. The majority of those who were in the camps did not live to see liberation. The stories of the survivors are indispensable resources to completely understand the heinous events during the Holocaust. The overall feeling of emptiness is extremely evident in the book Night.

The Book Thief is about a young German girl named Liesel Meminger as she goes through life while living in Germany in 1939. Liesel and her foster parents live a normal life on 33 Himmel Street. There is only one difference between their family and the others, they are hiding Max Vandenburg (a Jewish man) in their basement during the time of the Holocaust. This story, narrated by Death follows the life of Liesel from her first step into 33 Himmel Street, until the day she died in Sydney, Australia.

CHAPTER 1- This chapter introduces Liesel, her brother, her mother, and the Führer and shows the importance of them. It shows Liesels understanding of words can and there effects on humanity even though she can't read or write. The Grave Digger's Handbook is the first book that Liesel steals. It's important because she found it the last day she saw her mom and had to burry her brother. Also important is the fact that Hans is more involved with Liesel to begin with which foreshadows their close relationship.

The story opens with death being the narrator, who claims that he likes a brown sky and that he has seen a girl three times-at the death of her brother,a crashed plane, and a destroyed town from a bomb attack. The girl was Liesel Memminger, a nine year old German girl who is traveling with her mother and brother to her new home-a foster home. Her brother, Werner unfortunately didn’t make it on the way, so they had him buried, and that was when Liesel stole her first book. Upon arriving to Himmel Street in Molching, she is greeted by Hans and Rosa Hubermann, but mostly Hans. Hans and Liesel soon grew fond of each other, and as for Rosa, it is the complete opposite.

Hitler and the Holocaust is a very informational novel written by Robert S. Wistrich that not only explains this horrible time in history, but also gives us a look into the mind of Hitler and Nazi ideology. This book is not just centered on Hitler and Germany as it my sound, antisemitism spread like a plague all across Europe even before the Holocaust took place. In this work, Wistrich is not making an argument, but is trying to find an explanation on why so many inhumane actions were allowed.

(Meltzer 16) “ Our plans were tipped off prematurely, so that a lot of Jews slipped through our hands. They are now wandering about Berlin without homes, are not registered with police and are naturally quite a public danger,” wrote Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda and political boss in Berlin. The darkness the Nazi’s surrounded the Jewish community would soon be broken by many people who would lead them to the light. The book RESCUE by Milton Meltzer is a nonfiction novel that talks about people who risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazi’s, also the book starts out with the background of WWII and talks about the inhumanity the Jews suffered through.

The Australian author, Markus Zusak, set out to relate the experiences of his parents growing up during the Second World War for his fifth novel, The Book Thief, first published in 2005. The author has said that much of the inspiration for the book came from the stories his parents would tell him when he was a child. Firstly, in the Second World War, there are a lot of words and propaganda are spread about the Jews and the war. One of the main characters in the novel, Liesel always shows a skeptical attitude about the Fuhrer and the war that represents most Germans’ standpoint about the media information that they get. Secondly, it is undoubted that there are many Jews who were persecuted by the Nazis.

4:3:2 THE BOY At the beginning of the novel the father leads the story, later half of the story taken by the young boy, who is also unnamed throughout the novel. He is a “normal” character lives in the future world. So, he does not know the reality and the values of human beings. He does not even know to differentiate the good guys and the bad guys.

This book shows that the Germans and Hitler had something wrong with the Jews, and it shows that people should not get mistreated just because they are different than them. The physiological need of the people in the camp are trying to stay alive, and trying to defend for themselves,and trying to find food and water, They also dehumanize them by putting numbers on their wrist, and making them work in the cold weather that makes them feel dehumanized.

Liesel most definitely could have trusted Rudy with the secret of having Max hidden in her basement. Rudy was clearly Liesel’s best friend and partner in crime when Liesel was doing her acts of thievery stealing the books from the mayor’s wife bookself. The devotion to Liesel Rudy also had was strong and I believe Liesel could have trusted Rudy.

“Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs.” - Pearl Strachan Hurd. The Book Thief is a story about Liesel Meminger, a nine-year-old German girl who lives with Hans and Rosa Hubermann after her mother was forced to give her away. I believe the most important example of the power of words in The Book Thief is Max’s word shaker story because of Hitler and Liesel’s influence.

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 1939, WWII began when the Nazi Party invaded Poland, causing six to nine million Jewish people to fear for their lives. This fear began when all citizens had to register with the government, and the Jews had to wear the Star of David. Second, the Jews were forced into ghettos. Third, they were taken from the ghettos to concentration and death camps. For example, in “The Diary of Anne Frank”, “Violins of Hope”, and “Resistance during the Holocaust”, we can see the different ways of passively resisting Nazi atrocities.