When Worlds Collide

Author's Note- During World War II Adolf Hitler targeted Jewish people, but because of this many other people struggled.  With Adolf Hitler in charge of Germany the economy was beginning to plummet and the rations of food they were given was not nearly enough for survival.  Because of Adolf Hitler, all of Germany struggled, not just the Jewish population.

The sirens blare and the people cower in the basement hoping and praying that their street won’t be bombed by those evil fighter pilots who kill innocent civilians every day with their bombs. Believe it or not, those people cowering in the basement were not Jewish, they were innocent people who did not deserve to die the way they did. “The Book Thief”, by Markus Zusak shows that Jewish people were not the only people in Germany who struggled during World War II.

I’m not trying to say that Jewish people did not struggle during world war 2, they did. In “The Book Thief” Jewish people were paraded through each town and each street, while civilians watched, and sometimes even cheered. Jewish people were hated by nearly everybody in Germany just because a man told the people to hate them. By sparking this hatred for the Jewish population Adolf Hitler was in a good place and he started up concentration camps where Jewish people were taken and killed. According to Nazi Holocaust organizer Eichmann, 6,000,000 Jewish people died in concentration camps; Also according to Nazi Holocaust organizer Eichmann, 32,000,000 Jewish people died in all, for the simple reason that one man said they were terrible people because they were different.

Being different in Germany during world war two automatically made you a target, but fitting in also caused all sorts of problems for the Germans. Before this war started all of the Germans lived in peace, for the most part. People of different races and religions were friends, that is until Adolf Hitler stepped in and put an end to that. Once the war started to heat up, Adolf Hitler needed more soldiers so he forced many men to join the army, a lot families never saw their beloved husband or father again. In The Book Thief Liesel’s father, Hans Hubermann is sent to war because he got caught helping a Jewish person. Sadly, he gets assigned the worst possible job, his job was to pull people from the fires caused by the bombs and then put out the fires. The hardest part of that job must have been watching innocent people die everyday.

With people dying all around her, Liesel managed to find friendship with a Jewish man who’s last hope was her and her family. Max Vanderburg, is a Jewish man on the run, who hid in the Hubermann’s basement for quite some time. Or at least long enough for Liesel and Max to develop a friendship that would last forever. Jewish people and people of the Nazi party, completely different worlds, what happens when the worlds collide? Friendship is what happens, a friendship that is the most unique and special of all friendships. Even though Liesel had several friends, she is very lonely inside. Max is just what Liesel needed, he filled that empty space in her heart and taught her how to love and trust again, even after her brother died and her real mother abandoned her. Friendship can happen under the most unique circumstances, you just have to open your eyes and look.

As you can see The Book Thief is a perfect example of how not only Jewish people struggled but also how non-Jewish people struggled in Germany, during World War II. Like Liesel and Max, you must remember that friendship stretches beyond race and religion, friendships stretches beyond all barriers.