Introduction to The Book Thief ENG 2 D

Introduction to The Book Thief ENG 2 D Novel Study

A Quick Overview • A story set in Germany during WWII • Captures the life of a normal young girl growing up during such a time • Has won numerous awards and was on the New York Times Best Seller list for over 190 weeks! • Written by Australian author Markus Zusak

Important Characters Death: A supernatural being who serves as the narrator. He is very busy carrying away the souls of mankind after they have died and sees the world through colour. It is apparent that he has done this job for millennia and as he watches over Liesel we get a sense of his struggle to understand mankind’s capacity for good and evil.

Liesel Meminger: – Is the book thief – Forced to live with foster parents in Munich Germany at the onset of WWII – When she learns to read she begins stealing books whenever possible. Max Vandenburg: – A 23 year-old Jew – Father served with Liesel’s foster-father during WWI. – Hides in their basement and develops a friendship with Liesel

Hans Hubermann: Liesel’s foster father who is a tall, gentle man with compassion and bravery that Liesel admires. It is Hans who teaches Liesel to read and soothes her from her endless nightmares. Rosa Hubermann: A stern woman who has a kind heart but does not show it as often or as softly as her husband. Rudy Steiner: An amusing character the same age as Liesel who regularly requests kisses from Liesel. He becomes Liesel’s partner in crime.

Setting • In 1923, Hitler and his supporters were concentrated in Munich • It became a Nazi stronghold when Hitler became dictator in 1933 Adolf Hitler in Munich Germany, Nov. 1933 • A group of Munich University students formed a resistance movement in 1942 – majority were caught and executed • The city was heavily damaged by allied bombing during World War II—the city was hit by 71 air raids over a period of six years.

Dachau First concentration camp, Dachau, was 16 km north-west of Munich April, 1945 the US assaulted the outskirts of Munich, liberating Dachau concentration camp in the process Was a concentration camp for 12 years and recorded the intake of 206, 206 prisoners. Approximately 32, 000 prisoners were liberated in 1945

Historical Context Adolf Hitler • Was born in 1889, dreamed of being an artist and left school to pursue this dream • At 18, went to Vienna to study art but was not accepted to Vienna Academy of Fine Arts • Was unemployed for the next 5 years • His time in Vienna he became influenced by Karl Laager – Mayor of Vienna

• Karl was anti-Semitic, meaning to have hatred or hostility towards Jews • Hitler’s hatred for Communists and Jews began to develop, he moved to Munich and enlisted in the Germany army • He served as a messenger in the army, was honoured with Iron Cross twice for his bravery

• Was devastated by German defeat and returned home blaming the Jews and Communists • After the war he became involved in politics and discovered that he was a gifted public speaker

Political Career • In 1920 he joined the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazis) • In 1923 tried to take over the government in a revolt in Munich – it failed and he was sent to jail but gained him nationwide attention

• While in jail he wrote Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”) and set out his belief that the German, or Aryan, race was superior to all, especially the Jews

Belief of Aryan Race • Hitler identified Jews as a race, not as a religious group • He claimed that the Aryan race had to be kept pure and become superior to the rest of the world • To be kept pure, he claimed that the superior race need room to live…alone • The book was dismissed, few recognized the threat the book posed to Jews and all of Europe • No one thought it possible for him to carry out such ideas…but the conditions in Germany proved otherwise

Depression The German people had been humiliated by the surrender of WWI. The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed at the end of WWI and required Germany to: – Accept responsibility for the war – Disarm – Renounce power over substantial territory – Pay damages equivalent to $442 Billion (Final payments were made Oct. 2010, 92 years later!)

Germany After WWI • Germany was ruined, their currency was worthless and the country plunged into deepest recession ever • 15 million were unemployed, desperately poor, and the government had no solution- they needed a saviour • This was Hitler’s chance to get into power without using force –his powerful speeches played on their hopes and fears and blamed Communists and Jews for the German hardships • The masses were inspired by his message of a master race bound for Aryan dominance

Germany under Hitler’s Reign • Nazis gained enough seats by spreading lies about opposing parties, bullying voters and promising to save Germany • The media was taken over to ensure Hitler’s image was built up and to vilify Jews

Humiliation • Hitler united an entire nation to turn against the “enemy” • All Jews, even those who had fought in WWI, were made to wear the yellow Star of David • They were picked on, businesses were boycotted, shops were vandalized, propaganda was designed to emphasize their inferiority, synagogues were burned and homes were looted

• They created ghetto areas where they imprisoned Jews • Gypsies, homosexuals, and the handicapped were also persecuted

Life in the Ghetto • • Ghettos were terribly overcrowded No sanitation No clean water No heat Scarcely any food Disease killed many Many died of starvation while their loved ones watched helplessly…

Someone’s father…

Someone’s mother…

Someone’s child…

Someone’s brother…

While Hitler was invading other countries, his army started to take back ‘their’ ghettos One by one, the Jews living in the ghettos were rounded up and sent to concentration camps

The Final Solution • Senior officials did not openly talk about genocide, however, plans were carried out to install poison-gas chambers in what came to be known as death camps

Inside Concentration Camps • Worked, sometimes to death, separated from family, at the will of soldiers • Little food, starvation was common • Josef Mengele: notorious for cruel experiments using children attempting to find the genetic formula ensuring Aryan women gave birth to blonde, blue-eyed children

• Six death camps located in rural locations close to a railway line so that cattle cars could transport deportees from ghettos to the gas chambers

Heroes of the Holocaust Oskar Schindler: • Supported the Nazi movement until all the kindergarten children in a local ghetto ‘disappeared’ • Owned a factory that provided the German army with supplies • Asked to secure a workforce of Jews to stay at his factory. • Treated them well, offered them protection • When the war ended he had rescued 1, 200 Jews

Heroes of the Holocaust Frank Foley • British spy working in the British Passport office in Berlin • Issued false visas to enable German Jews to leave the country • Estimated that he saved 10, 000 Jews

Heroes of the Holocaust Chiune Sugihara • Japanese Consul-General issued thousands of visas to Jews fleeing Nazi occupied Poland • Began spending 18– 20 hours a day when his order to leave was issued • Was still writing visas while in transit from his hotel and after boarding the train, throwing visas out the train window to desperate refugees.