The Book Thief

By Markus Zusak

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• Approximately six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

• True

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• Other victims of Nazi persecution included Roma (Gypsies), many Slavic nationalities, the disabled, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals and political opponents such as Communists and socialists.

• True

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• Jews made up 25% of the population in prewar Germany.

• False• In 1933, Germany had a population of 70

million people, about 550,000 of whom were Jewish. Thus, Jews made up less than 1% of the total German population.

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• Jews are a race as well as a religious group.• FALSE • Jews are not a race. Jews are a religious group

as are Catholics, Protestants and Muslims.

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• All concentration camps were located in Germany.

• False• A majority of camps were located in Poland;

only about 20% of the camps were in Germany.

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• If Jews converted, they were not sent to ghettos or concentration camps.

• False• Jews were not permitted to convert to

Christianity. Children born to a Jewish mother or father were considered racially Jewish by the Nazis.

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• The Nazis established ghettos as havens against the anti-Semitism of local populations in Poland and other Eastern European countries.

• FALSE• Jews were herded into ghettos with very

limited food, housing and medical supplies and almost all were eventually sent to their deaths in concentration camps.

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• Before 1939, the United States, Canada and western European countries had an open-door policy for all German-Jewish refugees, but Hitler refused the

• FALSE• Jews were allowed to leave Germany up to 1939,

but most European countries limited or forbade their entrance. The US government refused to change the very small American quota to admit Jewish refugees from Europe.

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• The government of the United States was aware of the mass executions of Jews during the war.

• True

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• The Holocaust would not have been possible without the support of local populations in countries occupied by the Nazis.

• True

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• Hitler was partly Jewish.• FALSE • There is no credible evidence to support the

idea that Hitler was partly Jewish.

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• There was no Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.• FALSE • Jews carried out acts of resistance against impossible

odds—in ghettos, concentration camps and killing centers and in many ways. Organized armed resistance was the most forceful form of Jewish opposition to Nazi policies. Jews used armed resistance in over 100 ghettos in occupied Poland and the Soviet Union. Jews also sabotaged equipment and spied on German activities.

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• Before World War II, most Jews lived and worked on farms and few lived in urban areas.

• FALSE • Most of the Jews of Western Europe lived in

cities. In Eastern Europe, Jews also lived in urban areas, but others lived in smaller cities or marketing villages known as “shtetls”

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• The Nazis believed that racial purity was required to build the new German Empire.

• True

Holocaust Facts and Fictions

• The latest research indicates that the Nazis and their allies ran over 42,000 camps, ghettos, and other sites of detention, persecution, forced labor and murder during the Holocaust.

• True

The Book Thief

Historical Background

Reading The Book Thief

• In order to get the most out of reading The Book Thief, you really need to understand the historical background to the novel.

• Holocaust means “Completely burnt” and is used to describe the mass murder of Jews (Genocide) during WWII.

A Brief History of the Holocaust• 1933• The Nazi Party takes over Germany• Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor of

Germany (prime minister)• The Nazis “suspend” civil freedoms• The first concentration camp

“Dachau” is set up – to imprison Communists.

• Books with ideas considered dangerous to Nazi beliefs are burnt.

A Brief History of the Holocaust• 1934• Hitler combines the

chancellor and President role to become “Fuhrer”, or the sole leader of Germany.

• Jewish Newspapers can no longer be sold in the street.

A Brief History of the Holocaust

• 1935• Jews are deprived of citizenship and other

basic rights• Nazis intensify persecution of people with

different political beliefs

A Brief History of the Holocaust

• 1936• Nazis boycott Jewish owned

businesses• The Olympic Games are held in

Germany, signs barring Jews are removed until after the event

• Jews no longer have the right to vote.

A Brief History of the Holocaust• 1938• On Kristallnacht, “The

Night of Broken Glass”, in one night over 30,000 Jews are arrested and deported to concentration camps, synagogues were ransacked and 92 Jews were murdered.

A Brief History of the Holocaust

• 1938 continued• Jews must carry ID cards and passports must

be marked with a “J”.• Jews could no longer run business or attend

public events.• All Jewish children were removed to Jewish

schools• Jewish businesses were shut down, valuables

and jewels had to be handed over.

A Brief History of the Holocaust• 1939• Germany takes over

Czechoslovakia and invades Poland.

• World War II begins as Britain and France declare war on Germany

• Hitler orders that Jews must follow curfews, they must turn in radios to the police and must wear yellow stars of David.

A Brief History of the Holocaust

• 1940• Nazis begin deporting Jews to

Poland• Jews are forced into Ghettos

(confined areas)• Mass Murders of Jews begin

in Poland• Jews are put into

concentration camps

A Brief History of the Holocaust

• 1941• Germany attacks Soviet Union• Jews throughout Western Europe are forced

into ghettos• Death Squads are formed to kill Jews

(shooting and hand grenades) throughout Eastern Europe. By December 1941, 300,000 people were killed by these squads alone.

A Brief History of the Holocaust

• 1942• Nazis discuss the “Final Solution” – their plan

to exterminate all the Jews in Europe.• Jews are forbidden to subscribe to

newspapers, keep pets, own bicycles, buy meat or eggs, use public transport, or attend school

Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps

A Brief History of the Holocaust

• 1943• By February, about 80% of

Jews who died in the Holocaust had been murdered. Mostly by gas chambers in Extermination Camps, otherwise by starvation or literally worked to death.

A Brief History of the Holocaust

• 1944• Hitler takes over Hungary and begins sending

12,000 Jews each day to Poland, where they are murdered.

A Brief History of the Holocaust• 1945• Hitler is defeated and

commits suicide.• Death camps are

emptied• Many survivors are left

without family or homes.

Facts about the Holocaust• It is estimated that over 6 million Jews were

killed between 1933 and 1945.• 7 out of 10 Jews in Europe were killed.• Millions of others were killed for other

reasons: Catholics, Communists, homosexuals, the disabled, Romany Gypsies, Serbians, Jehovah’s Witnesses,

• They also killed politicians, trade unionists, teachers or anyone who spoke out against Hitler.

Facts about the Holocaust

• Concentration camps were places that Jews were taken to work.

• Extermination camps were places they were taken to be killed.

• Some camps did both, sending those who could not work (children and the elderly) to be killed while others worked.

Facts about the Holocaust• Auschwitz – Birkenau Camp• Arrival at the camp, prisoners directed to the right went to

work, those to the left went to the gas chambers.

The Book Thief• The Book Thief is set in Munich, which is in the south of

Germany. • Near Munich is the Dachau Concentration Camp• The first labour camp opened by the Nazis.• The camp held over 200,000 prisoners.• 25,613 people are believed to have died in Dachau due

to disease, malnutrition and suicide (+ another 10,000 in subcamps)

• The prisoners were also used for medical experiments.• Dachau was liberated on 29 April, 1945 by the US Army,

who also found piles of corpses.

Dachau

Dachau Death MarchPrisoners were marched through the surrounding towns on “death marches” from Dachau, just days before liberation.

Liberation of Dachau, April 29, 1945

1600 people were found crammed into each of 20 barracks – originally designed to hold 250 people.

Other Information

• The SS – Shutzstaffel, meaning “protection squad”, was a major Nazi organisation that was created as Hitler’s personal guard and then grew to carry out Hitler’s racist ideology. They were primarily responsible for ruling Germany by fear and the extermination of the Jews by capturing, enslaving and murdering them on mass.

Other Information

• Hitler Youth – a military youth organisation that recruited young people to train them in Nazi ideals and military practices.

• By 1940, it had 8,000,000 members• By 1943, the Nazi Party were

recruiting the Hitler youth as manpower as they began to struggle during the war.

• 12 year olds were being recruited by 1945.

Other Information• Mein Kampf (My Struggle)• Book by Adolf Hitler written in 1925

while he was in prison.• It contained his political ideology as well

as some elements of autobiography.• He claimed the German (Aryan) race was

superior to all others and should take over the world.

• The extremely racist book, focused on the inferiority and evil of Jews.

• The book became the Nazi bible, 10 million copies sold by the end of the war.

HOMEWORK

• Read pp. 1-35

Wall of Silence

• This activity will be completed in silence. • All communication is done in writing. • Do not ask questions during the activity.

• You will review the “stimulus” carefully and thoroughly.• After reviewing, you will write a response on the big

paper. You must write a response on every big paper!• You may write your thoughts to what you have read or

seen, and/or you may respond to others’ comments.