The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Book Thief
By Markus Zusak
A Book Report
by Bobby Everett Smith
Spoiler Alert
February 16, 2019
Setting
Nazi Germany during World War II, 1939 to 1945, on the outskirts of Munich, Germany in the small town of Molching on a street named Himmel.
Characters
Liesel Meminger, The Book Thief, teenager left with foster parents at the beginning of WWII
Werner Meminger, 6-year-old brother to Liesel who dies enroute to foster parents in 1939.
Rosa Huberman, foster mother of The Book Thief, Liesel Meminger. Mama.
Hans Huberman, Liesel’s foster father whom she called Papa
Hans Huberman, Jr., Hans’s son, a Nazi, critical of his father for not being German enough
BDM—Band of German Girls, Hitler organization to teach German girls about the Fuhrer.
Rudy Steiner, the boy next door to Liesel, The Book Thief. Obsessed with Jesse Owens, American athlete. Best friend and partner in crime to Liesel.
Tommy Muller, a kid on Himmel Street with chronic ear infection.
Sister Maria, Liesel’s teacher in school in Molching.
Frau Hermann, the Mayor of Molching’s wife.
Max Vandenberg, a Jew hidden and protected from the Nazis by the Huberman’s.
Arthur Burg, leader of Liesel and Rudy in stealing food—apples, potatoes, onions, etc.
Death, personified, tells his story in the first person where he is collecting souls in Nazi Germany during World War II
The Story
Liesel Meminger and her six-year-old brother travel with their mother by train to a small German town near Munich in 1939. The mother can no longer support her two children and she has arranged for a foster family to take them in. The young brother dies enroute. Hans and Rosa Huberman lived on Himmel Street in Molching, German, a poor part of town.
Liesel resisted efforts to leave her at the foster home, but Hans eventually talked the ten-year-old girl who became known as The Book Thief, into staying with him and his wife. Hans welcomed the small stipend they got from the German government for acting as foster parents.
Liesel at age 10 could not read or write but she liked the idea of books. At her brother’s funeral she found a small book on the ground, “The Grave Digger’s Handbook” which she picked up and hid inside her shirt. The Book Thief had struck for the first time, beginning an illustrious career.
Hans’s main occupation was painting, and he made additional money playing the accordion on a free-lance basis. Rosa took in laundry and they got the foster-care stipend which helped even though they anticipated a larger sum before the death of Werner.
Adolph Hitler had bold ambitions for Germany in 1939 as he led the invasion of Poland in the first major battle of World War II. The BDM or Band of German Girls in the English translation was one of the organizations that Hitler founded to indoctrinate young citizens into a strong loyalty for him and his cause. Liesel got her brown uninform and began to attend the BDM shortly after she arrived at the Huberman’s home.
At Hitler’s urging, Jews in Germany became the focus of bigotry and hatred. Their businesses were attacked; store fronts were emblazoned with yellow Stars of David, and as the war progressed, they were hunted down and transported to concentration camps where they were loaded into enclosed rooms and gassed to death.
The next-door neighbors to the Huberman’s were the Alex Steiner’s. Liesel and Rudy became best friends and partners in crime during the next five years. Alex Steiner was a member of the Nazi party, but he did not hate Jews which created somewhat of a conundrum.
Hans Huberman was a member of the group of Germans who were not supporters of Hitler and who did not hate Jews. Hans or Papa and Liesel developed a special bond as Papa began to teach her how to read although he was not too good a reader himself. They learned to read The Grave Diggers Handbook because that was the only book around.
In the summer of 1939, Rudy and Liesel spent their time playing soccer on Himmel Street. When they were not playing soccer, Liesel would accompany her foster-mother on her rounds to deliver laundry to her clients. Sometimes Rudy would go too. One of their clients was the town’s mayor and his wife liked to have her laundry done by someone else, so Rosa was the one. Liesel and Rudy were impressed to go to the home of the town’s leading executive.
In April 1940, Liesel and Hans went to the celebration of Adolph Hitler’s birthday in the town’s square. They reluctantly saluted—Heil Hitler. Liesel thought about her mother and blamed Hitler for taking her away. She hated Hitler but Hans instructed her to never acknowledge that fact in public even though at the time he was making plans to take in a Jew who was in hiding from the German Gestapo.
Part of the Hitler birthday celebration was the burning of books—mostly books that were critical of Hitler or supportive of Jews but other books about Hitler got into the piles. Liesel stole her second book as she recovered one of the books at the bottom of the pile that had not completely burned. It had gotten hot and it burned her lightly as she stuffed the book inside her Hitler uniform to add it to her book collection at home—The Shoulder Shrug, her fourth book. She got two others from a birthday party that the Hubermann’s gave her
Hans Jr, the son of Papa, who believed devoutly in Hitler and the War came home for a short visit and he brought with him criticism of his father who was against Hitler and a copy of Mein Kampf, the autobiography of Adolph Hitler, written by himself.
Rudy and Liesel conspired to steal a book from the Mayor’s house. They did it and thought they had gotten away with it, but a week later, when Liesel delivered the laundry to the mayor’s house, the Frau surprised Liesel by introducing her to the library, a whole room full of books, a major revelation to Liesel.
Through the summer of 1940 Hans and Liesel read almost every night. The Shoulder Shrug. The protagonist of the book was a Jew presented in a positive light. That did not make it a favorite with the Nazis. When she could, Liesel went to the mayor’s house to pick up laundry or deliver the clean laundry and while she was there, the mayor’s wife allowed her to read books in her library. Liesel was discovering the power of words. At other times she played soccer in the street in front of their house and she and Rudy seized every opportunity to steal food.
The Steiner family was not doing so well. Alex, the father, depended on Jewish customers who were vanishing in size and in wealth, reducing the size of the Steiner’s market. Rudy was frequently hungry, and the stealing trips were more a necessity for food than just a teenage prank.
Mama Huberman made pea soup once a week and that along with some bread would be all the family had for the entire week. Even so it was more than the Steiner’s had. Liesel would liked to have given Rudy some of their food, but it was not in good enough supply to allow her to do that.
In November 1940 Max Vandenburg arrived at the door step of the Hubberman house. Max was a German Jew in need of help. The Nazis were terrorizing Jews throughout Germany and Max was on the run. Hans had let it be known that he would help if necessary, although he had applied for membership in the Nazi party.
Hans invited Max into the house and hid him for the next two years in his basement. Hans swore Liesel to secrecy and she and Max formed a tight bond reading books including Mein Kampf which Max brought with him. They shared descriptions of their various nightmares. After a while, Liesel hugged Max and their bond became even stronger.
Max stayed in the basement continuously for two years. Rosa brought him food and Hans emptied the bucket that Max used for sewage. The food supply got even shorter with Max on board but the Huberman’s persevered. Hans and Rosa risked their lives by hiding Max in their basement, but they did it anyway.
In early 1942, Liesel was 13 years old, hungry and cold, still flat-chested and without her period. Max got sick and they had to move him to Liesel’s bed upstairs. Liesel moved into the parents’ bedroom where she slept on a mattress on the floor, but she spent a lot of time in her own bedroom sitting next to Max imploring him not to die. On her trips to school and other places, she looked for junk that she took to Max and stored at the foot of his bed, enticements to wake up and get well.
Liesel needed another book to read to Max, still unconscious, and she and Rudy conspired to get the book, The Dream Carrier, from the mayor’s library. They successfully pilfered the book and Liesel stored it at the foot of Max’s bed. He remained unconscious for eight more days. Liesel read to him well into the night. By April, his health had improved, and he was moved back down to the basement.
Death roamed the streets of Germany collecting souls and delivering them to “the boss”. Munich soon became a target of allied bombers and Death arrived right on schedule on the streets of Molching.
Nazis were searching house-to-house for potential additional air raid shelters. They were approaching the Huberman’s when Liesel ran into one of them intentionally in order to alert her Papa and give him some extra time to hide Max better. Liesel’s plan worked and they hid Max under the bed in Liesel’s room. The inspectors toured the basement, finding nothing. Rosa, Hans, and Liesel collapsed when they left.
As the war progressed, it became too dangerous to keep Max in the Huberman’s basement. The Hubermann’s and a total of 20 Himmel Street neighbors ran to 45 Himmel Street, the newly designated bomb shelter for the neighborhood. Max stayed behind and when the raid was over, Liesel and her foster-parents returned to their home. Max was still there.
Nazis were marching Jews down the streets of Molching—large numbers of Jews headed for Dachau where they undoubtedly would meet with Death. At Liesel’s house, Max packed a bag with some food and personal items and left their house for the last time, “you’ve done enough,” he said as he bid goodbye to Hans and Rosa.
In the coming days, Liesel searched for Max Vandenburg. In August 1943 she found him. She also started writing her own book, The Book Thief. Liesel found the bodies of Momma and Poppa lying tangled on the gravel of Hamel Street. They’re not moving, she said. Liesel Meninger lived to a very old age in a suburb of Sydney. Alex Steiner resumed work in his tailor shop.
A last note by your narrator:
“I am haunted by humans.”
The End
Rating
Five out of five stars.
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