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Amazon.ca describes this book as a "dark and powerfully absorbing novel, brilliantly executed". It's narrator calls it "just as small story, really." Jump in with both feet and surrender to one of the most gripping, unusual, hilarious books I've read in years. It's a book about books, about hate, about love, and about how words can be our most powerful weapons.
Monday, March 7, 2011
History
The novel is woven across a series of actual events. What can you find out about these historical events? Are they depicted accurately? Be sure to indicate the source of your information.
Hitler youth was like the Boys and Girls Club which we have here now. Hitler used it as a front to train kids to become future soldiers and support personnel for the Reich (that's why Liesel was taught to wind bandages and mend clothes). He had many similar programs so that he could prepare an army without breaching the treaty signed at the end of WWI.
The location Stalingrad is referred to repeatedly through the novel, usually as an ominous and vague death trap. The battle for Stalingrad began in 1942 and ended in 1943. It is considered to be one the most horrific battles of the war (if not the most). Stalingrad is very similar to Winnipeg in that it flanks a river and suffers fom extreme weather conditions. The battle quickly became a stalemate and fighting was done house by house. The germans became cut off towards the end of the battle and suffered from supply shortages resulting in starvation, lack of ammo and mass hypothermia. Germany lost the entire 6th army at Stalingrad most of whom were killed. The Russians quickly built a reputation for brutally torturing and killing german prisoners throughout the war. http://www.2worldwar2.com/stalingrad.htm
As it mentions in the book, Dachau is a place where the Jewish people go. This place is a concentration camp, just for men. Inside the camp, people would be badly beaten for no particular reason other than the fact that they are Jewish. To get off the camp, Nazi's would often make the prisoners or their families pay money or give food to be set free. The living conditions in there were horrible. In a hut meant for sleeping, there were 270 people and it had only 12 toilets for the men to use. When it came down to the rest of the day, the inmates would have to work 12 hours a day with a lack of nutrition which then lead to bad health. In 1933, they actually made a newer camp on the edge of the Amper river.
I think what is very interesting about the history that we learn in the novel. or at least what I've read up until the point that I'm at, is that it is all from a German perspective. I'm not saying that the information is mis-represented in favor of the Germans, but that it is interesting to read the novel from the viewpoint of the life of a German family, This is not so in any other holocaust novel I've read, and I think it's importiant for us to understand both perspectives. For example, though yes we hear throughout the novel about the Jews losing their jobs, slowly leaving, and Kristillnacht, these are all things the Germans see occuring. We are not (at least so far) given insight into the Jewish ghetto's and the containment and death camps, as many other novels outline. Instead we read about aspects of the war that apply to the German population, such as Hans's struggle to join the Nazi party, the Hitler Youth, the burning of Jewish literature, etc. Maybe I'm at a disadvantage, being only halfway through the novel, but so far what I've read is that the history shown to us is from a German perspective, which is different from what most of us have experienced before.
In the novel, Max gets a fake ID from a German friend of Walter's. In WW2 many Germans -especially teenagers- participated in a secret network that provided food, safe houses and fake IDs to Jews. This network was a lot like the Underground Railroad. One particular man who saved 15,000 Jews was Raoul Wallenberg. He made Schutz passes that said that the person carrying them was under the protection of the Swedish government and could not be harmed. Besides these, he saved even more people by creating Swedish safe houses that were protected by the Swedish flag.On one occasion he stopped 70,000 people from being killed by sending a letter to the general in charge of the execution and threatening to have him tried for war crimes when the war was over.
Hitler's birthday was a big celebration that Liesel had to attend, and Rosa was stressing because they couldn't find their flag. In Germany on April 18, 1939, Hitler's birthday was declared a national holiday and festivities were planned in every municipality across the country. Death implies that the marching part of the parade was a very big deal and in Berlin the main part of the celebration was a show of military capability. This was intended as a warning to western countries.German troops took part in a parade and this included 12 companies of the Luftwaffe, 12 companies of the Army, and 12 companies of sailors, as well as the SS. 162 warplanes flew over the city of Berlin.
In the book, Hitler is the leader of Nazi Germany. Before Hitler was elected the government was based on democracy which means that everyone has the right to give their vote to whoever they want. A lot of people didn't like Hitler at first, but then later when a building burned down by a communist, this indicated that the communists wanted to take over the country. People then believed that Hitler would be better than the communist party. So in the election he had won by more than 50%. Later Hitler was elected in march of 1933, he changed it to make the government based on dictatorship.
In the book, they said that Poland is being attacked by Germany. To attack Poland was like taking a risk because the German economy was not fully set and the army was not at its best. The invasion started on September 1,1939. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany but no help came in right away. Instead of helping right away, the two countries wanted Poland to hold them off so that they could build up their forces. The two armies came in about two weeks later to help. Germany had sent 1,300 aircraft planes to fight in the war. Hitler attacked Poland so that he could gain land for preparing for the great war. He thinks that he could beat Poland easily because he suspected that France and Britain would rather have an agreement than to fight.
Death and Rudy both briefly mention Kristallnacht or The Night of Broken Glass in "The Book Thief" but don't fully elaborate on it so here's a little more about it. On the nights of November 9 and 10 1938, throughout Germany, parts of Austria and Sudetenland mobs freely attacked Jews in the street, in their homes, at work and in synagogues. Approximately 96 Jews were killed, hundreds more injured, more than 1,668 synagogues were burned, almost 7,500 Jewish businesses got destroyed, cemeteries were vandalized, schools as well, and about 30,000 Jews were arrested and shipped off to concentration camps. Goebbels, Hitler's right hand man, officially stated that these were isolated and spontaneous events, however they were very clearly orchestrated by him. Hitler was reported to have decided "that such demonstrations are not to be prepared or organized by the party, but so far as they originate spontaneously, are not to be discouraged either." The trigger of these attacks was the assassination of the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a German-born Polish Jew who was staying with his uncle in Paris. His family was forced out of their home and shop and made to leave the country for Poland. This angered him and he planned to kill the German Ambassador for France but settled for the third secretary instead upon learning the Ambassador wasn't in the country. These incidents were the most widely reported by foreign journalists than any other occasion between 1933 and 1945. It sent huge shock waves throughout the world and the New York Times wrote, "No foreign propagandist bent upon blackening Germany before the world could outdo the tale of burnings and beatings, of black-guardedly assaults on defenseless and innocent people, which disgraced that country yesterday." http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/kristallnacht.html
Jesse Owens was born on September 12, 1913 and passed away on March 31, 1980. Jesse was recognized as an American track and field star. His fame came in the 1936 Summer Olympics which took place in Berlin. He won four gold medals in the following events: 100 meters, 200 meterrs, 4x100 meter relay team, and long jump.
Something I found interesting was the times that Liesel and her family had to go into an air-raid shelter because it really shows just how terrified people were of losing everything along with their lives. Death talks about the frenzy everyone goes into getting their windows painted black, finding air-raid shelters and organizing what to take when the sirens sound. During world war 2 Germany created a law that made it mandatory to have a bomb-raid shelter in your home or on your street. Throughout the war there were close to 7,000,000 homes and 161 cities destroyed by air raids but only about 500,000 people killed. This shows that air-raid shelters saved many lives and were very effective. In the novel it says that Himmel Street was utterly decimated and this is what happened to many other streets because the allied countries against Germany were bombing civilians hoping to make them surrender through heavy losses.
The German Communist Party was a political group between the years 1918 and 1933. It was founded by people that were against the war and was led by Rosa Luxemburg. The groups main attacks were towards the Social Democratic Party of Germany. It was then banned by Adolf Hitler but remained an underground organization. The party returned in the postwar in East and West Germany. The German Communist Party was then banned in West Germany by the Constitutional Court in 1956 and in East Germany it was merged with the Social Democratic Party.
In the novel, they talk about air raids in Germany and other places in the world. Well in World War 2, Germany used one type of aircraft called the Ju 87 Stuka or the dive bomber. This plane was mostly used to attack on Poland and France. A total of 5700 planes were built for this type of aircraft. There were three different types of planes, each with its own types of models. Out of the three planes, the third one was the most powerful(Ju 87D). It could carry 1800kg of bombs and had more radiators than the other two. This is a big movement from the first plane considering that the first model could only carry 250kg of bomb load. The name of the first plane was the Ju 87A. So this goes to show that big advancements were made in the world war. http://www.acepilots.com/german/ju87.html
The bombings play a critical part in life for Liesel and everyone else on Himmil street. The raids seem like a cruel thing to do and we do not often hear that side of the war. However the book does not say that the idea of bombing civilians came from Hitler. Hitler understood that his navy could not defeat the British navy, therefore he decided that if he bombed Britain hard enough, they would lose the will to fight and would surrender. Britain's airforce defeated the Luftwaffe at the battle of britain though, crippling Germany's airforce. After winning the skies back the Allies were able to fly over Germany nearly unopposed and that resulted in massive air raids designed to punish the german people into surrender, just as Hitler had tried to do against Britain.
The Star of David is also known as the Magen David and means the “Shield of David” in Hebrew. It is supposed to represent the shape of King David's shield. Some Kabbalists thought that the six points represented God's absolute rule over the universe in all six directions: north, south, east, west, up and down. They also thought that the triangles represented humanity’s dual nature, good and evil. And that the star could be used as protection against evil spirits .The two overlapping triangles have also been thought to represent the relationship between God and the Jewish people. The star that points up symbolizes God and the star that points down represents the people on earth. Many Jewish people wear jewellery with the Star of David as part of the design and the flag of Israel has a blue Star of David in the center. It is now considered the symbol of unity. In WW2 Hitler made the Jewish people wear the Star of David as a “badge of shame”. It was also worn so that they could be recognized and everyone would know that they were Jewish. This made it easier for the Nazi’s to know who they were after and who needed to be taken away. The Star of David was also put on Jewish people’s buildings and offices so that everyone knew why they were closed and out of business.
In the novel, it says that Max was born and raised in an area of Germany called Stuttgart and fled from there. According to holocaust-history.org, there was a very very small Jewish population in Stuttgart and there are no records or stories of anyone escaping from that area. It is said that Stuttgart had virtually no Jewish population in 1933 (before the start of WWII) and by around 1938, almost all of the small Jewish community had fled to Palestine.
I am happy with how the book has been following real history facts. In 02/12/1943 Hitler called the Hitler Youth for active services and Rudy was called out by the Hitler Youth the same year in the book.
When Liesel turned ten that meant that she would have to start going to Hitler Youth meetings. They don't talk about Liesel's experience with it as much but here are some basic facts: to be eligible for it you needed to be an ethnic German, a German citizen as well as free of hereditary diseases. They were trained to roll banadages,march and sew/mend clothes. Attendance was made mandatory for girls 10-18 in 1939. However, upon marriage and childbirth, members were forced to exit the League. Under Nazi-ideology women were not visualized to carry arms and instead BDM girls were groomed to become wives of Nazis and have many children. In this way Hitler and his party wanted to increase the strength of the "Aryan" race. (Blond hair, blue eyes, white skin, yada yada yada.)
In the book, they give a lot of references to the swastika. About 3000 years ago, this symbol had a meaning of good luck and power. Many countries like India, China, and England used this symbol. The word swastika originated from India specifically from the Sanskrit language. It had a very religious and positive meaning at that time. Later the Germans used this symbol to represent their nationalism. They put the Swastika in their flag and it very quickly became a symbol of hate. To this day, most people see the Swastika as a meaning of hate. But some cultures today like the Hindus, still use the Swastika for religious reasons.
In the novel, it says that in 1936 at the olympics, Jesse Owens had completed the 4x100m relay and won his fourth gold medal. Because he was African American, Hitler refused to shake his hand. That is infact true that Hitler refused to shake his hand. By the second day Jesse Owens won the 100m final. Hitler had decided not to congratulate any of the athletes at all except for a few German and Finnish winners.
On April 6th, 1933, the Press and Propaganda Office of the German Student Organization proposed that the nation start "action against un-German spirit." The purpose of this was to rid Germany of un-German language and literature and of "extreme Jewish intellectualism." It was originally planned by the German Student Organization for book burning to take place on May 10th, but some events were postponed due to weather. Book burning quickly became a symbolic act for Germans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings
Adding on to Steffany's comment, I know that propaganda was used in WW2. So I think that it would play a major role in the perspective of Germans. It made them think that the burning of books could symbolize something important. Propaganda can be caused by almost any type of media.
Adding on to what Jamie and Steffany said, not only did the Germans burn "enemy propaganda", but all foreign radios and anything else that was considered "um-German" was strictly forbidden and could be punished with either a prison sentence or even death. Also, the German radio gave false reports, only saying the other side's casualities and not reporting on their own losses.
Several times throughout the story, Death mentions when he goes to collect the Jewish souls from the trenches and gas chambers and crematories. It doesn't go into much detail if any at all about the deaths of all the Jews, so here's a little more insight. Approximately two-thirds of the nine million Jews who lived in Europe died. The Nazis killed the Jews (as well as Gypsies, disabled people, homosexuals, Polish and Soviet citizens and political and religious opponents, which brings the total to between 11 million and 17 million) in a variety of methods: 1. Concentration camps- where they would die of disease or starvation 2. The gas chambers- where the Jews were led into "showers" and instead of water they were gassed 3. Crematories- they would be led into a crematory and put into to it, dead or alive (mostly alive) 4. They were shot- individually, or in groups. If in groups, they would stand in a line and be shot through the head. The Nazis placed many of the bodies in "mass graves", often dug by Jewish prisoners.
On page 52 I read the word Radetzky march and this was being sung by Pfiffikus while he interfered a soccer game that was being played by a few kids on the street including Rudy and Liesel. Radetzky Marchis a march composed by Johann Strauss Sr in 1848. It was dedicated to the austrian Field Marchcal Joseph Radetzky Von Radetz and it was a quite popular march among soldiers. The march is more of a piece by a thankful father to the savior of his son than a march about a military man. It is usually played in under three minutes.This is a tradition that is carried over today when the march is played in classical music venues in Vienna, among members of the audience who are familiar with the tradition.
I think that pfiffikus was humming this piece becasue it was still very popular and to worship and to gain respect and peace from the children because around this time he was not popular on the streets.
The Nazi party was described on page 128 and was used when Hans Huberman was told he still can't be accepted into the Nazi party. The Nazi party is also known as the NSDAP, which is short for National Socialist German Workers' Party. This was a political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945. Adolf Hitler was the leader. He had all the power in the German state, and only Germans were allowed to join. This was an event that was not fair to the Jews and the people of the party persecuted those they perceived as either race enemies. These enemies were the Jews, the Slavs, the Roma's, and the communists. There was also the homosexual, the mentally and physically disabled and others. This event was led the worst killing ever for murders and approximately six million Jews and 6 million other people from other targeted groups died. This event name was changed to The Holocaust, which was led to World War 2. This event has changed people's lives today and had taken a lot of progress and gained members over many years. There were 60 members in the 1920’s, then in the 1945’s there were 8.5 million members.
This was an event to remember, forever. This event is the book and is the main reason for the life of this book. Without the Naxi party world was 2 would not have happened and this book and this much knowledge would not have been gained in the world today.
According a comment on Wiki Answers, Himmel Street is based on a 100 meter path called Himmelstrasse in an extermination camp, which led to gas chambers.
Hitler Youth was for kids aged 10-18, they believed that the future of the Nazi's lied in the children. Boys (like Rudy) were prepared for miltary, while girls were prepared for motherhood. Girls (like Liesel) had to be able to 60 metres in 14 seconds, throw a ball 12 metres, complete a 2 hour march, swim 100 metres and know how to make a bed.
Now, in Germany anything related to Nazi's in Germany is frowned upon. Back in the days of the Book Theif when the politcal group was encouraged, you were looked down upon for not supporting the Nazi Party.
The bombing of Cologne was bombed two hundred and sixty-two times of seperate air raids from their allies during World War 2. The Royal Air Force bombed Cologne more then thirty-one times. The most notable attack happened on May 30 and 31, 1942 where Cologne was the first allied bomber raid of one thousand.
Part Three in "The Book Thief" is called Mein Kampf. Mein Kampf means "My Struggle" and was a book written by the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The first volume of the book was published in 1925 the second part was published in 1926. The book was written while Hiter was imprisoned.
Mein Kampf (in English means My Struggle) was an actual book written my Adolf Hitler. it was a combination of an autobiography and his political views. his goal of this book was to make several editions giving him the wealth he always dreamed of.
A gas chamber is a cylinder room where gas is released to poison somebody or an animal. The gas chamber was first introduced in the United States in the beginning of the 1920's for prisoners. During World War 2 in Nazi Germany when the Holocaust was taking place they designed gas chambers to execute people that were Jewish in their genocide program. The main gases used in the chamber are hydrogen cyanide, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide.
The various forms of execution that the Nazis developed may seem excedingly cruel (and they were) but cruelty was not the purpose. When Hitler originally began executing Jews he lined them up and had soldiers shoot them, usually lining them up on bridges, tying them together, and only shooting a few which would drag the rest down and drown them. This conserved ammo.The problem with this was that the soldiers in the firing squads became so traumatized from killing so many people that they became useless. For that reason Hitler's engineers developed ways to kill the Jews that did not sacrifice good troops. (I'm getting most of my info from prior knoledge because I learned a lot about the wars over time)
A topic that came up quite a bit in The Book Thief was rationings. Everyone suffered from the rationings, especially non-Germans and poorer Germans. High ranking Nazi officials on the other hand, lived rather comfortably and often had parties and could afford nice things. Although the Germans lived in much better conditions than the Jews, by far, a lot of them still felt huge implications from how it was before the war and before hitler. (Again, I have issues with hitler, so I refuse to capitalize his name.) Their freedoms were limited in huge ways, if you know anything about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the second Right and Freedom went out the window once hitler came into power. (Freedom of religion, freedom of the press including freedom of speech, belief, opinion and expression, freedom to peacefully protest/peaceful assembly and freedom of association for anyone who didn't know what the second right and freedom is). You know how you're allowed to choose who you want for prime minister, go where ever within Canada and leave the country when ever you please. You have the right to life, liberty and security, and you are innocent until proven guilty when charged with a crime. You have the right to a fair trail, and not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. Everyone is considered equal in the eyes of the law, no matter what race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. That pretty much covered the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. ALL of that was taken away from the Germans. Many of them didn't agree with the Nazis, but that was very dangerous thing and they did not have the courage to stand up for what was right. Even the ones who, many of whom were murdered just for opposing Nazi regime.
On page 506, Death talks about the Allies bombing Hamburg on July 27, 1943, and he states that close to forty-five thousand people died. In this bombing attack, 787 bombers participated, and a supposed firestorm broke out. This is a phenomenon where the fire was so intense that it consumed oxygen into itself, with wind forces up to 240 km / h. The temperatures were so high that it resulted in asphalt burning in the streets. Combine this with the fact that oxygen was sucked out of shelters and basements from the firestorm, up to 3400 people died that night (as opposed to close to forty-five thousand).
The Jews walking through the street were performing what was called a death march. The Nazi’s were moving the Jews to facilities to exterminate them or to move them to different camps. They marched them through the streets to demonstrate the power of the Nazi party. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_marches_(Holocaust)
James Cleveland Owens was born September 12, 1913 and died March 31, 1980. He was an American track and field athlete whofocused on sprints and the long jump.He took place in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he won four gold medals.One in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay team. He was the most successful athlete at the 1936 Summer Olympics. He got the Jesse Owens Award accolade named after him for his significant career.
I noticed that Hans mentioned that he didn’t believe/join the NSDAP which was The National Socialist German Worker’s party. In English this would mean it was the Nazi Party, it was a political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945. It was known as the German Workers' Party (DAP).
Dachau Concentration Camp was the first concentration camp opened in Germany. It first opened on March 22, 1933. The concentration camp was established by the Nazi Party and the German Nationalist People's Party. It was located 16km from Munich and was located on the grounds of abandoned factories. The main purpose for this concentration camp was to terrorize political opponents against the Nazi regime. The prisoners had to work until they were skin and bones and most would die from suicide or starvation and sometimes the gas chambers.
During the book burning, which was a true event that did take place many times during WWII, it is true that you had to stand with your right hand at a 45 degree angle and “heil” Hitler. It did not matter if you supported what the Nazi’s were doing, you heiled Hitler until you were told you could put your hand down. If you did not follow this, the consequences would be HUGE.
During the 1936 Olympic Games, in Berlin, Germany, James “Jesse” Owens participated in the 100m, 200m, long jump, and 4x100m relay. He received gold medals for each of the events he participated in. During the medal ceremony, Hitler would not shake Jesse Owens’ hand due to the fact that he was African American. Adolf Hitler also refused to shake any non German medalist’s hands. After the Olympic committee offered him to either shake everyone’s hand or no ones hand, he opted for the no ones hand and no longer shook hands with the medalists.
In 1925, part one of a novel titled “Mein Kampf/ My Struggle”, was published by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. This novel was part autobiography, part his political views which he wanted everyone to follow. Hitler originally wanted to name the book “Viereinhalb Jahre (des Kampfes) gegen Lüge, Dummheit und Feigheit/ Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice. Close to publishing, Hitler’s publisher, Max Amann, suggested the shorter title “Mein Kampf/ My Struggle”/. Volume one has 12 chapters, and volume two, published in 1926, has 15.
In the book it states that the Hubermann’s live in the town of Molching, on Himmel Street. In Germany, there is no such place as Molching, but the novel was based off of the town of Olching, is a municipality in the district of Fürstenfeldbruck, in Bavaria, Germany. It is located approximately 20 km northwest of Munich, Germany. Himmel Street is also not a real street in Germany. However in I think that “Himmel” is a refrence used to describe Himmelstrasse, which was the nickname for the 100-meter road that led to the gas chambers. The word Himmelstrasse means “Road to Heaven” which kind of gives the hint to that fact that if you end up going there, you are going to die.
In the novel, on page 192 it mentions the "Nuremberg Laws". In 1935, at an annual Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, two measures were announced later known as the Nuremberg Laws. "The law of protection of German blood and honour" is the first law. It bans marriages between Jews and Germans and also German woman in a Jewish household cannot work under the age of 45. "The Reich Citizenship Law" is the second law. The Jews were taken their German citizenship away. Then a new distinction between "Reich citizens" and "nationals" were introduced.
In the novel, on page 192, it says that Max didn't think life could get any harder until November 9th came. On November 9th in 1938, a campaign of terror was launched by the German Nazis against Jewish people and their lives, like their homes and businesses in Germany and Austria. 100 died and over 30,000 were arrested and sent to consentration camps. This was just the begining of the Halocaust. The rest of the Jewish people left in Germany knew they were no longer safe there. This was called the "Kristallnacht" also known as "the night of broken glass."
I have been reading this book for some time now and have heard of the Molching and Himmel street probably a hundred times and I found out that there actually is no place called Molching in Germany. Markus Zusak’s based Molching on the real city called Olching. Himmel Street came from the work Himmelstrasse which in the Sobibor extermination camp was the nickname for the 100-meter road that led to the extermination chambers
Death mentions Hans escaping from him in World War 1 France. The Germans invaded France in 1914. The Germans were fairly successful in the battle, but were defeated in the end and this was just the beginning of another to come. Germany’s defeat in World War 1 was also one the main reasons Hitler came in to power, with the promise to bring Germany power once more
Stalingrad was mentioned in the story a few times; it was battle that was fought in Southwestern Russia mainly between the Soviets and the Germans. It took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943. It was a brutal battle, thought to be one of the worst in World War 2 because of its sheer brutality and extremely heavy casualties. Russia’s harsh climate was considered to be one of the main turning points in the battle. Michael Holtzapfel mentions it, when he was talking to Liesle after returning from the Stalingrad. Many consider this battle to be a main turning point in the war, because of the heavy losses suffered by Germany.
Molching, according to multiple sources, is a fictional place. However, it is not enough evidence to say the story is not factual. PS., notice the cocofhony in 'Molching'? For those unfamiliar with it, cocofhony is a word that makes a harsh sound, used to add an effect. In this case, the effect was used to describe the situation. By making the harsh sound, the author made the city seem much more violent.
According to a map on 'http://www.geonames.org/2857472/olching.html a city name Olching does exist. According to the map, the city is located near Bavaria, known as a concentration camp.
The street they lived on was called Himmel street. Of coarse, Himmel street is fictional. However, during a concentration camp called Sobibor, the Jews were led along a 100 meter path that led to 'himmelstrasse' (translates to road to heaven). The connection being, the author gave the street a name that suited some of the history of what happened.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobibor_extermination_camp (not a reliable source, I'm sorry)
This site explains the history of the book burning in Nazi Germany, and it is described exactly as it is in the book. This is a small proof that the Book Thief is fact based.
A history that I found was the LSR, which is the Lake Superior Regiment. This was in 1944 to 1945 and it is where the British army was going towards Germany from Holland and they came upon a river. They started to build a bridge to get across but then the Germans blew it up before anyone could get across. Then they made another one in the same spot and it was again blasted. Then they tried two more thinking the Germans would have thought they wouldn't do it again. This time 50 infantry had gotten across. The Lake Superior Regiment was composed of Native Canadians, and when they saw their brethren being hit so hard, they quickly stripped to their shorts, shoved their bayonets between their teeth and swam the river... about a thousand of them. They struck the Germans and a furious battle broke out.
This was the first German airborne division that was named as a Flieger division. They controlled air assets rather than troops on the ground-named 7th Flieger Division. The division was later reorganized to start a series of nominally airborne divisions. Though named Fallschirmjäger divisions, only some of them participated in airdrops in the early part of the war, and in practice most operated as ordinary infantry throughout the war. This took place in October 1938 and was till around 1943 and this was used as a Parachute Division in world war two.
These are the 2 sites I got the information from 1.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Parachute_Division_(Germany) 2.)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_divisions_in_World_War_II
Around page 149, it mentions how Liesel and her family are having a tough time with food because of the fact that there wasn't much of it. They would have to eat pea soup that made them sick, and only have a little of it. Around that time, that happened to many people because jobs were lost and not as much money was made because many of their costumers were part of the Jewish community. In the novel, a lot of the kids were stealing apples from the apple tree just so they had something more to eat, that was a way of representing that issue during WWII.
1923 is when the lither youth program or HJ for short was started. it was originally munich-based and liesel happened to live in Munich and ironically that's where the HJ originally took off before obtaining it 2.3 million peak in 1933
During WW2 typhus a bacteria spread by lice or fleas was an epidemic. because most of the concentration camps were filthy as..... well u get it. anyways im thinking that not only the concentration camps but during the hard times and era for that matter, keeping your house and surroundings clean was hard. So i think liesel's brother had typhus he had a hacking cough and was asleep when he died some symptoms of typhus. i could be wrong.
When Liesel was told that her mother could no longer be paid to do the Mayor’s laundry, my heart really went out to the family. It shows just how easily one little thing could affect someone’s entire life back then. Because she was no longer getting paid by them, it seemed much harder to make ends meet for the family. Even though that is still true today for some families, it seems like it would’ve been a lot more common back then.
There were many events that happened in the novel that were historically correct. One would be the fact that people would gather in basements (that were previously inspected) during air-raids. Another could be the fact that even feeding a Jew a small piece of food could get you in serious trouble and possibly even whipped.
Much like in the book, the Hitler Youth was separated into groups, but they were not led by other Hitler Youth members, like Rudy's group was. Each of the groups had an adult leader.
A study showed that 10,000-12,000 were hidden by German families underground during the war, but only 25% survived. Additionally, if these families were caught, it would mean death for every member of the family.
In the book the cuckoo was called from the radio saying the streets of Molching would be targeted. The website manly said, it was the perspective of opposing Soviet and Finnish soldiers stranded at a Sami woman's farmhouse. "Kukushka" was the nickname given by Soviet soldiers exclusively to lone Finnish snipers, who ambushed their targets from a purpose-built tree-branch-nest. Thus the title refers to both Veikko (the sniper) and Anni (a lone woman living in the forest, much like a cuckoo).
I also looked up that cuckoo is a medium-sized long-tailed bird, typically with a gray or brown back and barred or pale underparts.
This information was from: http://www.google.ca/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=1h&oq=cuckoo&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ACAW_enCA404CA405&q=cuckoo+definition
Hitlers book is mentioned a lot in the novel. Mein Kampf (My Struggle) was written while Adolf Hitler was in prison in 1923-24. The original title was "Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice". His nazi publisher thought it would be better shortened. Humans are being put into catagories based on physical appearance, establishing higher or lower orders, or types of humans in his book. His book was released in 1925 and didn't get many copies sold. But when Hitler became Chancelor of Germany, millions of copies were being bought.
At one point in the book, Molching is preparing for possible bombing, and one of the major bombings in Germany was that of Dresden by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force. Between February 13-15, 1945, the two allied forces dropped as many as 650,000 incendiaries, together with 8000 lb. high-explosive bombs and hundreds of 4000 lb. bombs using altogether 3600 planes. By the end of this there had been four raids. This resulted in 39 square km. of destroyed city.
During the WW2 there were many things that Jewish people were not allowed to do and Nuremberg Laws were established of what was not allowed. The first part to the law was that a Jewish person and a German person were not allowed to get married. Sexual intercourse between a Jewish person and a German person was also forbidden. The third part was that Jews were not allowed to employ female citizens under the age of 45, of German or kindred blood. Jewish people were forbidden to display the Reich and national flag or the national colours. If you disobeyed part 1, you were subject to hard labour, if you disobeyed part 2 you were subject to prison or hard labour, if you disobeyed part 3 or 4 you could go to jail for a year with a fine or other punishments.
kristallnacht was also mentioned in the book and in English this word translates to, the "night of broken glass". It is said that this night came to be because Hitler was at a dinner meeting and got word that Vom Rath, a German diplomat stationed in Paris was shot and killed by a 17 Jewish boy. He killed Vom Rath because he was upset that him, his family and tens of thousands of Jewish people were kicked out of Germany. Hitler got angry with this, and decided to break and damage Jewish shops and houses. Firemen were told to let the fires burn the buildings but to make sure that they didn't catch near by buildings on fire.
The Hitler Youth (or Hitler Jugend) was founded a year after its adult counterpart, Sturmabteilung, in 1922. This organization was started by the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP for young boys 10-14 years of age, then 14-18 years of age, and girls joined the BDM, Bund Deutscher Mädel (or League of German Girls). The emphasis in this organization was put on physical and military activity and violence from the older boys to younger boys was even at times encouraged to weed out the un-fit and harden the rest. Chancellor Heinrich Brüning banned the Hitler youth in April 1932 because of the political violence, but, the ban was uplifted by June by Franz von Papen to appease Hitler. The Hitler Youth finally came to and end in 1945, making it last 23 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_youth
At one point in the book, Himmel Street witnesses Jews being taken to Dachau. This was the very first concentration camp to open in Germany. The city of Dachau is approximately 16 km. northwest of Munich in the southern Germany state of Bavaria. The camp was in use from 1933-1960. The camp's basic organization, layout, and building plans were developed by Kommandant Theodor Eicke and were used for all concentration camps that followed.
Hitler youth was like the Boys and Girls Club which we have here now. Hitler used it as a front to train kids to become future soldiers and support personnel for the Reich (that's why Liesel was taught to wind bandages and mend clothes). He had many similar programs so that he could prepare an army without breaching the treaty signed at the end of WWI.
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ReplyDeleteThe location Stalingrad is referred to repeatedly through the novel, usually as an ominous and vague death trap. The battle for Stalingrad began in 1942 and ended in 1943. It is considered to be one the most horrific battles of the war (if not the most). Stalingrad is very similar to Winnipeg in that it flanks a river and suffers fom extreme weather conditions. The battle quickly became a stalemate and fighting was done house by house. The germans became cut off towards the end of the battle and suffered from supply shortages resulting in starvation, lack of ammo and mass hypothermia. Germany lost the entire 6th army at Stalingrad most of whom were killed. The Russians quickly built a reputation for brutally torturing and killing german prisoners throughout the war.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.2worldwar2.com/stalingrad.htm
As it mentions in the book, Dachau is a place where the Jewish people go. This place is a concentration camp, just for men. Inside the camp, people would be badly beaten for no particular reason other than the fact that they are Jewish. To get off the camp, Nazi's would often make the prisoners or their families pay money or give food to be set free. The living conditions in there were horrible. In a hut meant for sleeping, there were 270 people and it had only 12 toilets for the men to use. When it came down to the rest of the day, the inmates would have to work 12 hours a day with a lack of nutrition which then lead to bad health. In 1933, they actually made a newer camp on the edge of the Amper river.
ReplyDeleteI think what is very interesting about the history that we learn in the novel. or at least what I've read up until the point that I'm at, is that it is all from a German perspective. I'm not saying that the information is mis-represented in favor of the Germans, but that it is interesting to read the novel from the viewpoint of the life of a German family, This is not so in any other holocaust novel I've read, and I think it's importiant for us to understand both perspectives.
ReplyDeleteFor example, though yes we hear throughout the novel about the Jews losing their jobs, slowly leaving, and Kristillnacht, these are all things the Germans see occuring. We are not (at least so far) given insight into the Jewish ghetto's and the containment and death camps, as many other novels outline. Instead we read about aspects of the war that apply to the German population, such as Hans's struggle to join the Nazi party, the Hitler Youth, the burning of Jewish literature, etc.
Maybe I'm at a disadvantage, being only halfway through the novel, but so far what I've read is that the history shown to us is from a German perspective, which is different from what most of us have experienced before.
In the novel, Max gets a fake ID from a German friend of Walter's. In WW2 many Germans -especially teenagers- participated in a secret network that provided food, safe houses and fake IDs to Jews. This network was a lot like the Underground Railroad. One particular man who saved 15,000 Jews was Raoul Wallenberg. He made Schutz passes that said that the person carrying them was under the protection of the Swedish government and could not be harmed. Besides these, he saved even more people by creating Swedish safe houses that were protected by the Swedish flag.On one occasion he stopped 70,000 people from being killed by sending a letter to the general in charge of the execution and threatening to have him tried for war crimes when the war was over.
ReplyDeleteHitler's birthday was a big celebration that Liesel had to attend, and Rosa was stressing because they couldn't find their flag. In Germany on April 18, 1939, Hitler's birthday was declared a national holiday and festivities were planned in every municipality across the country. Death implies that the marching part of the parade was a very big deal and in Berlin the main part of the celebration was a show of military capability. This was intended as a warning to western countries.German troops took part in a parade and this included 12 companies of the Luftwaffe, 12 companies of the Army, and 12 companies of sailors, as well as the SS. 162 warplanes flew over the city of Berlin.
ReplyDeleteIn the book, Hitler is the leader of Nazi Germany. Before Hitler was elected the government was based on democracy which means that everyone has the right to give their vote to whoever they want. A lot of people didn't like Hitler at first, but then later when a building burned down by a communist, this indicated that the communists wanted to take over the country. People then believed that Hitler would be better than the communist party. So in the election he had won by more than 50%. Later Hitler was elected in march of 1933, he changed it to make the government based on dictatorship.
ReplyDeleteIn the book, they said that Poland is being attacked by Germany. To attack Poland was like taking a risk because the German economy was not fully set and the army was not at its best. The invasion started on September 1,1939. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany but no help came in right away. Instead of helping right away, the two countries wanted Poland to hold them off so that they could build up their forces. The two armies came in about two weeks later to help. Germany had sent 1,300 aircraft planes to fight in the war. Hitler attacked Poland so that he could gain land for preparing for the great war. He thinks that he could beat Poland easily because he suspected that France and Britain would rather have an agreement than to fight.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_50th_birthday
ReplyDeletehttp://myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=raoul_wallenberg
These are the websites I got my information from for the first two blogs.
Death and Rudy both briefly mention Kristallnacht or The Night of Broken Glass in "The Book Thief" but don't fully elaborate on it so here's a little more about it. On the nights of November 9 and 10 1938, throughout Germany, parts of Austria and Sudetenland mobs freely attacked Jews in the street, in their homes, at work and in synagogues. Approximately 96 Jews were killed, hundreds more injured, more than 1,668 synagogues were burned, almost 7,500 Jewish businesses got destroyed, cemeteries were vandalized, schools as well, and about 30,000 Jews were arrested and shipped off to concentration camps. Goebbels, Hitler's right hand man, officially stated that these were isolated and spontaneous events, however they were very clearly orchestrated by him. Hitler was reported to have decided "that such demonstrations are not to be prepared or organized by the party, but so far as they originate spontaneously, are not to be discouraged either." The trigger of these attacks was the assassination of the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a German-born Polish Jew who was staying with his uncle in Paris. His family was forced out of their home and shop and made to leave the country for Poland. This angered him and he planned to kill the German Ambassador for France but settled for the third secretary instead upon learning the Ambassador wasn't in the country. These incidents were the most widely reported by foreign journalists than any other occasion between 1933 and 1945. It sent huge shock waves throughout the world and the New York Times wrote, "No foreign propagandist bent upon blackening Germany before the world could outdo the tale of burnings and beatings, of black-guardedly assaults on defenseless and innocent people, which disgraced that country yesterday."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/kristallnacht.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht
These are the sites I used for my first three blogs.
ReplyDelete1st blog- http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/dach-early.htm
2nd blog- http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Nazi_Germany_dictatorship.htm
3rd blog- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/invasion_poland_01.shtml
http://www.kasprzyk.demon.co.uk/www/history/WW2.html
Jesse Owens was born on September 12, 1913 and passed away on March 31, 1980. Jesse was recognized as an American track and field star. His fame came in the 1936 Summer Olympics which took place in Berlin. He won four gold medals in the following events: 100 meters, 200 meterrs, 4x100 meter relay team, and long jump.
ReplyDeleteSomething I found interesting was the times that Liesel and her family had to go into an air-raid shelter because it really shows just how terrified people were of losing everything along with their lives. Death talks about the frenzy everyone goes into getting their windows painted black, finding air-raid shelters and organizing what to take when the sirens sound. During world war 2 Germany created a law that made it mandatory to have a bomb-raid shelter in your home or on your street. Throughout the war there were close to 7,000,000 homes and 161 cities destroyed by air raids but only about 500,000 people killed. This shows that air-raid shelters saved many lives and were very effective. In the novel it says that Himmel Street was utterly decimated and this is what happened to many other streets because the allied countries against Germany were bombing civilians hoping to make them surrender through heavy losses.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/blitz.htm
http://www.bukisa.com/articles/196287_air-raid-shelters-in-wwii
The German Communist Party was a political group between the years 1918 and 1933. It was founded by people that were against the war and was led by Rosa Luxemburg. The groups main attacks were towards the Social Democratic Party of Germany. It was then banned by Adolf Hitler but remained an underground organization. The party returned in the postwar in East and West Germany. The German Communist Party was then banned in West Germany by the Constitutional Court in 1956 and in East Germany it was merged with the Social Democratic Party.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel, they talk about air raids in Germany and other places in the world. Well in World War 2, Germany used one type of aircraft called the Ju 87 Stuka or the dive bomber. This plane was mostly used to attack on Poland and France. A total of 5700 planes were built for this type of aircraft. There were three different types of planes, each with its own types of models. Out of the three planes, the third one was the most powerful(Ju 87D). It could carry 1800kg of bombs and had more radiators than the other two. This is a big movement from the first plane considering that the first model could only carry 250kg of bomb load. The name of the first plane was the Ju 87A. So this goes to show that big advancements were made in the world war.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.acepilots.com/german/ju87.html
The bombings play a critical part in life for Liesel and everyone else on Himmil street. The raids seem like a cruel thing to do and we do not often hear that side of the war. However the book does not say that the idea of bombing civilians came from Hitler. Hitler understood that his navy could not defeat the British navy, therefore he decided that if he bombed Britain hard enough, they would lose the will to fight and would surrender. Britain's airforce defeated the Luftwaffe at the battle of britain though, crippling Germany's airforce. After winning the skies back the Allies were able to fly over Germany nearly unopposed and that resulted in massive air raids designed to punish the german people into surrender, just as Hitler had tried to do against Britain.
ReplyDeleteThe Star of David is also known as the Magen David and means the “Shield of David” in Hebrew. It is supposed to represent the shape of King David's shield. Some Kabbalists thought that the six points represented God's absolute rule over the universe in all six directions: north, south, east, west, up and down. They also thought that the triangles represented humanity’s dual nature, good and evil. And that the star could be used as protection against evil spirits .The two overlapping triangles have also been thought to represent the relationship between God and the Jewish people. The star that points up symbolizes God and the star that points down represents the people on earth. Many Jewish people wear jewellery with the Star of David as part of the design and the flag of Israel has a blue Star of David in the center. It is now considered the symbol of unity. In WW2 Hitler made the Jewish people wear the Star of David as a “badge of shame”. It was also worn so that they could be recognized and everyone would know that they were Jewish. This made it easier for the Nazi’s to know who they were after and who needed to be taken away. The Star of David was also put on Jewish people’s buildings and offices so that everyone knew why they were closed and out of business.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel, it says that Max was born and raised in an area of Germany called Stuttgart and fled from there. According to holocaust-history.org, there was a very very small Jewish population in Stuttgart and there are no records or stories of anyone escaping from that area. It is said that Stuttgart had virtually no Jewish population in 1933 (before the start of WWII) and by around 1938, almost all of the small Jewish community had fled to Palestine.
ReplyDeleteI am happy with how the book has been following real history facts. In 02/12/1943 Hitler called the Hitler Youth for active services and Rudy was called out by the Hitler Youth the same year in the book.
ReplyDeleteWhen Liesel turned ten that meant that she would have to start going to Hitler Youth meetings. They don't talk about Liesel's experience with it as much but here are some basic facts: to be eligible for it you needed to be an ethnic German, a German citizen as well as free of hereditary diseases. They were trained to roll banadages,march and sew/mend clothes. Attendance was made mandatory for girls 10-18 in 1939. However, upon marriage and childbirth, members were forced to exit the League. Under Nazi-ideology women were not visualized to carry arms and instead BDM girls were groomed to become wives of Nazis and have many children. In this way Hitler and his party wanted to increase the strength of the "Aryan" race. (Blond hair, blue eyes, white skin, yada yada yada.)
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Germany#The_Nazi_era (source for above)
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ReplyDeletehttp://www.biography.com/articles/Jesse-Owens-9431142
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ReplyDeletehttp://history1900s.about.com/cs/swastika/a/swastikahistory.htm
ReplyDeleteIn the book, they give a lot of references to the swastika. About 3000 years ago, this symbol had a meaning of good luck and power. Many countries like India, China, and England used this symbol. The word swastika originated from India specifically from the Sanskrit language. It had a very religious and positive meaning at that time. Later the Germans used this symbol to represent their nationalism. They put the Swastika in their flag and it very quickly became a symbol of hate. To this day, most people see the Swastika as a meaning of hate. But some cultures today like the Hindus, still use the Swastika for religious reasons.
In the novel, it says that in 1936 at the olympics, Jesse Owens had completed the 4x100m relay and won his fourth gold medal. Because he was African American, Hitler refused to shake his hand. That is infact true that Hitler refused to shake his hand. By the second day Jesse Owens won the 100m final. Hitler had decided not to congratulate any of the athletes at all except for a few German and Finnish winners.
ReplyDeleteOn April 6th, 1933, the Press and Propaganda Office of the German Student Organization proposed that the nation start "action against un-German spirit." The purpose of this was to rid Germany of un-German language and literature and of "extreme Jewish intellectualism." It was originally planned by the German Student Organization for book burning to take place on May 10th, but some events were postponed due to weather. Book burning quickly became a symbolic act for Germans.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings
Adding on to Steffany's comment, I know that propaganda was used in WW2. So I think that it would play a major role in the perspective of Germans. It made them think that the burning of books could symbolize something important. Propaganda can be caused by almost any type of media.
ReplyDeleteAdding on to what Jamie and Steffany said, not only did the Germans burn "enemy propaganda", but all foreign radios and anything else that was considered "um-German" was strictly forbidden and could be punished with either a prison sentence or even death. Also, the German radio gave false reports, only saying the other side's casualities and not reporting on their own losses.
ReplyDeleteSeveral times throughout the story, Death mentions when he goes to collect the Jewish souls from the trenches and gas chambers and crematories.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't go into much detail if any at all about the deaths of all the Jews, so here's a little more insight.
Approximately two-thirds of the nine million Jews who lived in Europe died.
The Nazis killed the Jews (as well as Gypsies, disabled people, homosexuals, Polish and Soviet citizens and political and religious opponents, which brings the total to between 11 million and 17 million) in a variety of methods:
1. Concentration camps- where they would die of disease or starvation
2. The gas chambers- where the Jews were led into "showers" and instead of water they were gassed
3. Crematories- they would be led into a crematory and put into to it, dead or alive (mostly alive)
4. They were shot- individually, or in groups. If in groups, they would stand in a line and be shot through the head.
The Nazis placed many of the bodies in "mass graves", often dug by Jewish prisoners.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust
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ReplyDeleteOn page 52 I read the word Radetzky march and this was being sung by Pfiffikus while he interfered a soccer game that was being played by a few kids on the street including Rudy and Liesel. Radetzky Marchis a march composed by Johann Strauss Sr in 1848. It was dedicated to the austrian Field Marchcal Joseph Radetzky Von Radetz and it was a quite popular march among soldiers. The march is more of a piece by a thankful father to the savior of his son than a march about a military man. It is usually played in under three minutes.This is a tradition that is carried over today when the march is played in classical music venues in Vienna, among members of the audience who are familiar with the tradition.
ReplyDeleteI think that pfiffikus was humming this piece becasue it was still very popular and to worship and to gain respect and peace from the children because around this time he was not popular on the streets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radetzky_March
The Nazi party was described on page 128 and was used when Hans Huberman was told he still can't be accepted into the Nazi party. The Nazi party is also known as the NSDAP, which is short for National Socialist German Workers' Party. This was a political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945. Adolf Hitler was the leader. He had all the power in the German state, and only Germans were allowed to join. This was an event that was not fair to the Jews and the people of the party persecuted those they perceived as either race enemies. These enemies were the Jews, the Slavs, the Roma's, and the communists. There was also the homosexual, the mentally and physically disabled and others. This event was led the worst killing ever for murders and approximately six million Jews and 6 million other people from other targeted groups died. This event name was changed to The Holocaust, which was led to World War 2. This event has changed people's lives today and had taken a lot of progress and gained members over many years. There were 60 members in the 1920’s, then in the 1945’s there were 8.5 million members.
ReplyDeleteThis was an event to remember, forever. This event is the book and is the main reason for the life of this book. Without the Naxi party world was 2 would not have happened and this book and this much knowledge would not have been gained in the world today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party
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ReplyDeleteThere is no place called Molching in Germany. Molching is based off of the town Olching.
ReplyDeleteThe source for that information is:
ReplyDeletehttp://thebookthieves.blogspot.com/2008/05/geography-of-book-thief.html
According a comment on Wiki Answers, Himmel Street is based on a 100 meter path called Himmelstrasse in an extermination camp, which led to gas chambers.
ReplyDeleteThe name Himmelstrasse means "Road to Heaven".
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_there_a_himmel_street_in_molching_germany
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobibor_extermination_camp
Hitler Youth was for kids aged 10-18, they believed that the future of the Nazi's lied in the children. Boys (like Rudy) were prepared for miltary, while girls were prepared for motherhood. Girls (like Liesel) had to be able to 60 metres in 14 seconds, throw a ball 12 metres, complete a 2 hour march, swim 100 metres and know how to make a bed.
ReplyDeleteThere is no place in Germany called Molching, and theres no Himmel Street either.
ReplyDeleteNow, in Germany anything related to Nazi's in Germany is frowned upon. Back in the days of the Book Theif when the politcal group was encouraged, you were looked down upon for not supporting the Nazi Party.
ReplyDeleteThe bombing of Cologne was bombed two hundred and sixty-two times of seperate air raids from their allies during World War 2. The Royal Air Force bombed Cologne more then thirty-one times. The most notable attack happened on May 30 and 31, 1942 where Cologne was the first allied bomber raid of one thousand.
ReplyDeletePart Three in "The Book Thief" is called Mein Kampf. Mein Kampf means "My Struggle" and was a book written by the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The first volume of the book was published in 1925 the second part was published in 1926. The book was written while Hiter was imprisoned.
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ReplyDeleteMein Kampf (in English means My Struggle) was an actual book written my Adolf Hitler. it was a combination of an autobiography and his political views. his goal of this book was to make several editions giving him the wealth he always dreamed of.
ReplyDeleteA gas chamber is a cylinder room where gas is released to poison somebody or an animal. The gas chamber was first introduced in the United States in the beginning of the 1920's for prisoners. During World War 2 in Nazi Germany when the Holocaust was taking place they designed gas chambers to execute people that were Jewish in their genocide program. The main gases used in the chamber are hydrogen cyanide, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.answers.com/topic/hubermann
ReplyDeleteI found out that Hubermann means prosperous small farmer and hans if a painter so I found that interesting
The various forms of execution that the Nazis developed may seem excedingly cruel (and they were) but cruelty was not the purpose. When Hitler originally began executing Jews he lined them up and had soldiers shoot them, usually lining them up on bridges, tying them together, and only shooting a few which would drag the rest down and drown them. This conserved ammo.The problem with this was that the soldiers in the firing squads became so traumatized from killing so many people that they became useless. For that reason Hitler's engineers developed ways to kill the Jews that did not sacrifice good troops.
ReplyDelete(I'm getting most of my info from prior knoledge because I learned a lot about the wars over time)
A topic that came up quite a bit in The Book Thief was rationings. Everyone suffered from the rationings, especially non-Germans and poorer Germans. High ranking Nazi officials on the other hand, lived rather comfortably and often had parties and could afford nice things.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the Germans lived in much better conditions than the Jews, by far, a lot of them still felt huge implications from how it was before the war and before hitler. (Again, I have issues with hitler, so I refuse to capitalize his name.)
Their freedoms were limited in huge ways, if you know anything about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the second Right and Freedom went out the window once hitler came into power. (Freedom of religion, freedom of the press including freedom of speech, belief, opinion and expression, freedom to peacefully protest/peaceful assembly and freedom of association for anyone who didn't know what the second right and freedom is).
You know how you're allowed to choose who you want for prime minister, go where ever within Canada and leave the country when ever you please. You have the right to life, liberty and security, and you are innocent until proven guilty when charged with a crime. You have the right to a fair trail, and not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. Everyone is considered equal in the eyes of the law, no matter what race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. That pretty much covered the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. ALL of that was taken away from the Germans. Many of them didn't agree with the Nazis, but that was very dangerous thing and they did not have the courage to stand up for what was right. Even the ones who, many of whom were murdered just for opposing Nazi regime.
On page 506, Death talks about the Allies bombing Hamburg on July 27, 1943, and he states that close to forty-five thousand people died.
ReplyDeleteIn this bombing attack, 787 bombers participated, and a supposed firestorm broke out. This is a phenomenon where the fire was so intense that it consumed oxygen into itself, with wind forces up to 240 km / h. The temperatures were so high that it resulted in asphalt burning in the streets. Combine this with the fact that oxygen was sucked out of shelters and basements from the firestorm, up to 3400 people died that night (as opposed to close to forty-five thousand).
http://www.battlefieldsww2.com/Remnants_from_world_war_II_in_Hamburg.html
The Jews walking through the street were performing what was called a death march. The Nazi’s were moving the Jews to facilities to exterminate them or to move them to different camps. They marched them through the streets to demonstrate the power of the Nazi party. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_marches_(Holocaust)
ReplyDeleteJames Cleveland Owens was born September 12, 1913 and died March 31, 1980. He was an American track and field athlete whofocused on sprints and the long jump.He took place in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he won four gold medals.One in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay team. He was the most successful athlete at the 1936 Summer Olympics. He got the Jesse Owens Award accolade named after him for his significant career.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that Hans mentioned that he didn’t believe/join the NSDAP which was The National Socialist German Worker’s party. In English this would mean it was the Nazi Party, it was a political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945. It was known as the German Workers' Party (DAP).
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party
Dachau Concentration Camp was the first concentration camp opened in Germany. It first opened on March 22, 1933. The concentration camp was established by the Nazi Party and the German Nationalist People's Party. It was located 16km from Munich and was located on the grounds of abandoned factories. The main purpose for this concentration camp was to terrorize political opponents against the Nazi regime. The prisoners had to work until they were skin and bones and most would die from suicide or starvation and sometimes the gas chambers.
ReplyDeleteDuring the book burning, which was a true event that did take place many times during WWII, it is true that you had to stand with your right hand at a 45 degree angle and “heil” Hitler. It did not matter if you supported what the Nazi’s were doing, you heiled Hitler until you were told you could put your hand down. If you did not follow this, the consequences would be HUGE.
ReplyDeleteDuring the 1936 Olympic Games, in Berlin, Germany, James “Jesse” Owens participated in the 100m, 200m, long jump, and 4x100m relay. He received gold medals for each of the events he participated in. During the medal ceremony, Hitler would not shake Jesse Owens’ hand due to the fact that he was African American. Adolf Hitler also refused to shake any non German medalist’s hands. After the Olympic committee offered him to either shake everyone’s hand or no ones hand, he opted for the no ones hand and no longer shook hands with the medalists.
ReplyDeleteIn 1925, part one of a novel titled “Mein Kampf/ My Struggle”, was published by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. This novel was part autobiography, part his political views which he wanted everyone to follow. Hitler originally wanted to name the book “Viereinhalb Jahre (des Kampfes) gegen Lüge, Dummheit und Feigheit/ Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice. Close to publishing, Hitler’s publisher, Max Amann, suggested the shorter title “Mein Kampf/ My Struggle”/. Volume one has 12 chapters, and volume two, published in 1926, has 15.
ReplyDeleteIn the book it states that the Hubermann’s live in the town of Molching, on Himmel Street. In Germany, there is no such place as Molching, but the novel was based off of the town of Olching, is a municipality in the district of Fürstenfeldbruck, in Bavaria, Germany. It is located approximately 20 km northwest of Munich, Germany. Himmel Street is also not a real street in Germany. However in I think that “Himmel” is a refrence used to describe Himmelstrasse, which was the nickname for the 100-meter road that led to the gas chambers. The word Himmelstrasse means “Road to Heaven” which kind of gives the hint to that fact that if you end up going there, you are going to die.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel, on page 192 it mentions the "Nuremberg Laws". In 1935, at an annual Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, two measures were announced later known as the Nuremberg Laws. "The law of protection of German blood and honour" is the first law. It bans marriages between Jews and Germans and also German woman in a Jewish household cannot work under the age of 45. "The Reich Citizenship Law" is the second law. The Jews were taken their German citizenship away. Then a new distinction between "Reich citizens" and "nationals" were introduced.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/nurlaws.html
In the novel, on page 192, it says that Max didn't think life could get any harder until November 9th came. On November 9th in 1938, a campaign of terror was launched by the German Nazis against Jewish people and their lives, like their homes and businesses in Germany and Austria. 100 died and over 30,000 were arrested and sent to consentration camps. This was just the begining of the Halocaust. The rest of the Jewish people left in Germany knew they were no longer safe there. This was called the "Kristallnacht" also known as "the night of broken glass."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thepeoplehistory.com/november9th.html
I have been reading this book for some time now and have heard of the Molching and Himmel street probably a hundred times and I found out that there actually is no place called Molching in Germany. Markus Zusak’s based Molching on the real city called Olching. Himmel Street came from the work Himmelstrasse which in the Sobibor extermination camp was the nickname for the 100-meter road that led to the extermination chambers
ReplyDeletehttp://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_there_a_himmel_street_in_molching_germany
Death mentions Hans escaping from him in World War 1 France. The Germans invaded France in 1914. The Germans were fairly successful in the battle, but were defeated in the end and this was just the beginning of another to come. Germany’s defeat in World War 1 was also one the main reasons Hitler came in to power, with the promise to bring Germany power once more
ReplyDeleteStalingrad was mentioned in the story a few times; it was battle that was fought in Southwestern Russia mainly between the Soviets and the Germans. It took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943. It was a brutal battle, thought to be one of the worst in World War 2 because of its sheer brutality and extremely heavy casualties. Russia’s harsh climate was considered to be one of the main turning points in the battle. Michael Holtzapfel mentions it, when he was talking to Liesle after returning from the Stalingrad. Many consider this battle to be a main turning point in the war, because of the heavy losses suffered by Germany.
ReplyDeleteMolching, according to multiple sources, is a fictional place. However, it is not enough evidence to say the story is not factual.
ReplyDeletePS., notice the cocofhony in 'Molching'? For those unfamiliar with it, cocofhony is a word that makes a harsh sound, used to add an effect. In this case, the effect was used to describe the situation. By making the harsh sound, the author made the city seem much more violent.
"http://www.shmoop.com/book-thief/setting.html"
According to a map on 'http://www.geonames.org/2857472/olching.html
ReplyDeletea city name Olching does exist. According to the map, the city is located near Bavaria, known as a concentration camp.
The street they lived on was called Himmel street. Of coarse, Himmel street is fictional. However, during a concentration camp called Sobibor, the Jews were led along a 100 meter path that led to 'himmelstrasse' (translates to road to heaven). The connection being, the author gave the street a name that suited some of the history of what happened.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobibor_extermination_camp (not a reliable source, I'm sorry)
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005852
ReplyDeleteThis site explains the history of the book burning in Nazi Germany, and it is described exactly as it is in the book. This is a small proof that the Book Thief is fact based.
A history that I found was the LSR, which is the Lake Superior Regiment. This was in 1944 to 1945 and it is where the British army was going towards Germany from Holland and they came upon a river. They started to build a bridge to get across but then the Germans blew it up before anyone could get across. Then they made another one in the same spot and it was again blasted. Then they tried two more thinking the Germans would have thought they wouldn't do it again. This time 50 infantry had gotten across. The Lake Superior Regiment was composed of Native Canadians, and when they saw their brethren being hit so hard, they quickly stripped to their shorts, shoved their bayonets between their teeth and swam the river... about a thousand of them. They struck the Germans and a furious battle broke out.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/05/a1134505.shtml
ReplyDeletethat is the website for my last one i just posted
Another History I found was the Flieger Division
ReplyDeleteThis was the first German airborne division that was named as a Flieger division. They controlled air assets rather than troops on the ground-named 7th Flieger Division. The division was later reorganized to start a series of nominally airborne divisions. Though named Fallschirmjäger divisions, only some of them participated in airdrops in the early part of the war, and in practice most operated as ordinary infantry throughout the war. This took place in October 1938 and was till around 1943 and this was used as a Parachute Division in world war two.
These are the 2 sites I got the information from
1.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Parachute_Division_(Germany)
2.)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_divisions_in_World_War_II
Around page 149, it mentions how Liesel and her family are having a tough time with food because of the fact that there wasn't much of it. They would have to eat pea soup that made them sick, and only have a little of it. Around that time, that happened to many people because jobs were lost and not as much money was made because many of their costumers were part of the Jewish community. In the novel, a lot of the kids were stealing apples from the apple tree just so they had something more to eat, that was a way of representing that issue during WWII.
ReplyDeletehttp://furtherglory.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/why-were-jews-forced-to-scrub-the-sidewalks-of-vienna/
ReplyDeletethe link to my last comment
1923 is when the lither youth program or HJ for short was started. it was originally munich-based and liesel happened to live in Munich and ironically that's where the HJ originally took off before obtaining it 2.3 million peak in 1933
ReplyDeletehttp://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/holoprelude/hitleryouth.html my link for my last post
ReplyDeleteDuring WW2 typhus a bacteria spread by lice or fleas was an epidemic. because most of the concentration camps were filthy as..... well u get it. anyways im thinking that not only the concentration camps but during the hard times and era for that matter, keeping your house and surroundings clean was hard. So i think liesel's brother had typhus he had a hacking cough and was asleep when he died some symptoms of typhus. i could be wrong.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemic_typhus.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002339/
2 links to my last post
When Liesel was told that her mother could no longer be paid to do the Mayor’s laundry, my heart really went out to the family. It shows just how easily one little thing could affect someone’s entire life back then. Because she was no longer getting paid by them, it seemed much harder to make ends meet for the family. Even though that is still true today for some families, it seems like it would’ve been a lot more common back then.
ReplyDeleteThere were many events that happened in the novel that were historically correct. One would be the fact that people would gather in basements (that were previously inspected) during air-raids. Another could be the fact that even feeding a Jew a small piece of food could get you in serious trouble and possibly even whipped.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5422476/the_book_thief_a_unique_yet_beautifully.html?cat=37
Much like in the book, the Hitler Youth was separated into groups, but they were not led by other Hitler Youth members, like Rudy's group was. Each of the groups had an adult leader.
ReplyDeleteA study showed that 10,000-12,000 were hidden by German families underground during the war, but only 25% survived. Additionally, if these families were caught, it would mean death for every member of the family.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.suite101.com/content/hiding-jews-during-world-war-ii-a116107
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo_(film)
ReplyDeleteIn the book the cuckoo was called from the radio saying the streets of Molching would be targeted. The website manly said, it was the perspective of opposing Soviet and Finnish soldiers stranded at a Sami woman's farmhouse. "Kukushka" was the nickname given by Soviet soldiers exclusively to lone Finnish snipers, who ambushed their targets from a purpose-built tree-branch-nest. Thus the title refers to both Veikko (the sniper) and Anni (a lone woman living in the forest, much like a cuckoo).
I also looked up that cuckoo is a medium-sized long-tailed bird, typically with a gray or brown back and barred or pale underparts.
This information was from:
http://www.google.ca/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=1h&oq=cuckoo&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ACAW_enCA404CA405&q=cuckoo+definition
Hitlers book is mentioned a lot in the novel. Mein Kampf (My Struggle) was written while Adolf Hitler was in prison in 1923-24. The original title was "Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice". His nazi publisher thought it would be better shortened. Humans are being put into catagories based on physical appearance, establishing higher or lower orders, or types of humans in his book. His book was released in 1925 and didn't get many copies sold. But when Hitler became Chancelor of Germany, millions of copies were being bought.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/kampf2.htm
ReplyDeleteAt one point in the book, Molching is preparing for possible bombing, and one of the major bombings in Germany was that of Dresden by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force. Between February 13-15, 1945, the two allied forces dropped as many as 650,000 incendiaries, together with 8000 lb. high-explosive bombs and hundreds of 4000 lb. bombs using altogether 3600 planes. By the end of this there had been four raids. This resulted in 39 square km. of destroyed city.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II
ReplyDeleteDuring the WW2 there were many things that Jewish people were not allowed to do and Nuremberg Laws were established of what was not allowed. The first part to the law was that a Jewish person and a German person were not allowed to get married. Sexual intercourse between a Jewish person and a German person was also forbidden. The third part was that Jews were not allowed to employ female citizens under the age of 45, of German or kindred blood. Jewish people were forbidden to display the Reich and national flag or the national colours. If you disobeyed part 1, you were subject to hard labour, if you disobeyed part 2 you were subject to prison or hard labour, if you disobeyed part 3 or 4 you could go to jail for a year with a fine or other punishments.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Laws
ReplyDeletekristallnacht was also mentioned in the book and in English this word translates to, the "night of broken glass". It is said that this night came to be because Hitler was at a dinner meeting and got word that Vom Rath, a German diplomat stationed in Paris was shot and killed by a 17 Jewish boy. He killed Vom Rath because he was upset that him, his family and tens of thousands of Jewish people were kicked out of Germany. Hitler got angry with this, and decided to break and damage Jewish shops and houses. Firemen were told to let the fires burn the buildings but to make sure that they didn't catch near by buildings on fire.
The Hitler Youth (or Hitler Jugend) was founded a year after its adult counterpart, Sturmabteilung, in 1922. This organization was started by the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP for young boys 10-14 years of age, then 14-18 years of age, and girls joined the BDM, Bund Deutscher Mädel (or League of German Girls). The emphasis in this organization was put on physical and military activity and violence from the older boys to younger boys was even at times encouraged to weed out the un-fit and harden the rest. Chancellor Heinrich Brüning banned the Hitler youth in April 1932 because of the political violence, but, the ban was uplifted by June by Franz von Papen to appease Hitler. The Hitler Youth finally came to and end in 1945, making it last 23 years.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_youth
At one point in the book, Himmel Street witnesses Jews being taken to Dachau. This was the very first concentration camp to open in Germany. The city of Dachau is approximately 16 km. northwest of Munich in the southern Germany state of Bavaria. The camp was in use from 1933-1960. The camp's basic organization, layout, and building plans were developed by Kommandant Theodor Eicke and were used for all concentration camps that followed.
ReplyDelete