When one thinks of Germany, the first word that comes to mind is often “Nazis”. This may be a bit rude to think of, but it can’t be helped that the single largest event that occurred involving Germany as the center of it all was when the Nazis rose to power and caused World War II. During that time, the Nazis caused a great deal of pain to those outside of Germany, as well as causing the sudden fame of unusual war heroes such as Jack Churchill and Mariya Oktyabrskaya. However, they also caused strife and pain for those that lived within Germany as well. The novel, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, describes the situation perfectly, in how the Nazis caused their own citizens to abandon their dreams, tear their familial bonds apart, and limit their ability to have personal thoughts.

Rudy Steiner is a major character who serves as the sidekick for the protagonist, Liesel. Unfortunately for him, he also happens to be the image of the Nazi’s “perfect” German citizen, being a white boy with blonde hair and blue eyes with no Jewish blood. At the time, the Nazis had an ideal known as “Blut und Boden” (Schoenbaum, 239). This concept, being German for “Blood and Soil” which attempted to pick out a “new nobility” by experimenting with racial selection and selective breeding with people. Ideals such as this can be found in Jeffrey HERF’s The Jewish Enemy which notes the kind of Jewish propaganda as well as their justifications for their actions. Due to this, many children much like Rudy were taken in by the Nazis, often forcefully, to be used for this experimentation rather than letting them live whatever lives they desired. It also sparked a massive boom of racism in the people, which only grew worse as time passed. Rudy managed to escape being captured by the Nazis thanks to his father entering the army to prevent Rudy from being forced into leaving Himmel Street. However, Rudy’s dreams were particularly conflicting with the Nazi ideals, as he idolized Jessie Owens, the black runner who won four gold medals in the Olympic Games. The simple fact that Rudy idolized someone who wasn’t white earned him the ire of several people, and when Rudy coated himself in charcoal to emulate his favorite athlete, he was killed. Outside of the book, such cases were frequent. Perhaps not kids being killed for idolizing someone of African descent, but definitely so for having dreams that the Nazis simply did not approve of.

Rudy had his father torn away from him and his mother as mentioned above, and his mother then lost Rudy due to his dreams. However, conscription and murder were not the only ways that the Nazis tore families apart. In fact, they even caused families to tear themselves apart. This was because the Nazi ideologies were ingrained in the minds of a large part of the population to the point where it could be described as fanatical and maddening. Disagreements alone were enough to break the bonds that held parents and their children apart. Of course, political differences also caused deaths as well. Many communists in Germany were slaughtered as the Nazis sought to minimize the Communist danger (HERF, 193). This was due to the German Community Party being a popular party in Germany when the Nazis took over. Both cases occur in the families of the protagonist, Liesel Meminger. As noted before, The Jewish Enemy describes ways that the Nazis justified their deeds, and their claim that Communism was dangerous was a common one. These reasons given by the political group was eaten up by the people of Germany, as described in Hitler’s Social Revolution by David Schoenbaum. The book describes a classless society offered by Hitler, which apparently was to be achieved by limiting every detail of the lives of the people. In this way, Hitler’s ideals was very similar to Communism, which is very ironic in how he attacked people for supporting Communism. Her birth father was a communist who was implied to have been killed due to his political views, before the Nazis deported the unwilling Liesel, her younger sibling, and her mother away to somewhere else. Through this experience, the remaining members of the Meminger family were lost, either through death or simply being sent elsewhere, and Liesel was left in the care of the kind and caring man that was Hans Hubermann. Hans was morally upright, strong, and compassionate, but disagreed with Nazi views. However, his son, Hans Junior, was obsessed with Nazi ideology to the point where Junior believed that Liesel should not be reading any books other than Mein Kampf, the book written by Hitler himself about his own struggles. This difference in views causes Junior to stop talking to his family, causing distress to Hans Senior and his wife. Yet, this bond is never re-forged as Junior dies in battle while Senior dies later due to the bombing of the neighborhood. These two examples are things that occurred to many families in the real life, and show the true horror of the Nazi Party’s actions to its own non-Jewish people.

Although it came up several times in the earlier paragraphs, people in Nazi Germany were not allowed to express their own thoughts. Those of Community views were killed. All who supported the Jewish people were hunted and massacred. Many who simply held a liking to the “perfect German” were wiped out. People were unable to simply speak their mind. In fact, the Nazis expected them to not think about anything that went against them. The German people were to only think about Nazis and helping the Nazis. This is represented in the book as is, such as when Hans Junior claimed that Liesel should be reading Mein Kampf rather than any other book. However, it is also shown as a symbol in the form of books. The German people frequently burned books, such as how they killed off those who had opposing views against the Nazis. As Liesel stole more and more books from these burning, her mental ideals became more and more differing from the Nazis. Those who held a detest for the political party’s concepts always owned books, such as Hans Senior and Frau Ilsa Hermann. In fact, the latter is the person with the most books in the town, having her own library, and is the only other person than Hans Senior to encourage the protagonist’s growing rebellious thoughts. Meanwhile, those who follow the Nazis have limited books, such as those burning the books and Hans Junior only reading Mein Kampf, which is the literal book version of Nazi ideals.

The Nazis caused people to abandon their dreams, family, and ideologies. Even to this day, it is no secret that many consider them to be a major antagonist group of reality’s history itself, and this just goes to show that they were cruel even to their own people. Markus Zusak magnificently wrote in and described the struggles of the German people into his novel, and their experiences are revealed blatantly in his characters and scenes. It showed what the Nazis did, but more importantly, showed how that affected the citizens that both supported and opposed them, as well to everyone in between. The myriad of reactions to the political party’s views were shown, and the consequences of simply having thoughts that differed from them without even opposing them. Every small detail was given and shown, while finer details can be found by analyzing the themes and symbols such as the books. Without a doubt, the novel The Book Thief is a true and tragic reflection of the strife that the hundreds of thousands of people in Germany went through despite not having an ounce of Jewish blood flowing through their veins.
