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How does this book compare to others you have read?
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While reading the book I came across what was called and Air-Raid shelter. I wasn't very sure what they were used for and why the nazis were searching basements and taking measurements, so I looked it up.
ReplyDeleteAir-raid shelters are used to hide from bombs taking place in the city (from German aircrafts) so people can protect themselves. They were basically bombs shelters. Areas like subway stations, cellars (in homes), basements and also tunnels can be used as an air-raid shelter.
In the book, everyone on Himmel street went to the basement of the Fiedler family. Liesel was woken from her sleep after Hans heard the signal - a 'cuckoo' on the radio. While the Hubermanns made their way over to the Fiedlers, Max couldn't go with them for obvious reason. One, because he's a Jew. Two, then everybody would know that Hans is hiding a Jew. Three, they could tell the Nazi soldiers and the Hubermanns will be punished or killed. While they were gone, Max went upstairs to take a look out the window and he saw the starry sky. He hadn't seen the outside world for 22 months, you could definitley give him a small break.
Throughout the book, Stalingrad is mentioned quite a few times. I did some research on it and I found out that the battle of Stalingrad was one of the worst wars in history. It took place between July 1942 and Febuary 1943. It was the Soviets(Russians) against the Nazis. In the end, the Nazis lost. It was an important battle in WWII and it was the first time the Nazis had lost a major battle.
ReplyDeleteen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad
In the book, the concentration camp closest to Molching is Dachau. I couldn't remember if I had ever heard of it, so I looked it up. Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp built in Germany. It was one of the longest ones open, from 1933-1945. Dachau wasn't one of the larger camps, but they held among the largest amount of prisoners, around 200 000. It was a work camp and most of the prisoners died from diseases. Dachau was also a concentration camp for political prisoners. Various royalty, politicians, priests and writers were imprisoned there. Dachau is still open for public viewing.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_concentration_camp#Post-liberation_Easter_at_Dachau
There were quite a few comments in the book referring to Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. I decided to research this, and here is the information I found.
ReplyDeleteOn November 9th, 1938 (the date in the book was correct) the Nazis organized a surprise attack on the Jews. Within a few hours, over a thousand synagogues, Jewish houses and Jewish businesses were damaged or even destroyed. The attackers included Nazi storm troopers, members of the SS, and Hitler youth. These people broke into Jewish homes, wreaked them, and murdered the Jews. They also broke into Jewish businesses, smashed the windows, and destroyed the businesses contents. Synagogues were targeted the most, with which the attackers vandalized and destroyed the contents which included scared Torah scrolls. Many of the synagogues were burned, and the fire departments did not offer any help, other then making sure the fires did not spread. After the night of broken glass, 25,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps. Other countries were disgusted with what had happened. On November 12, there was a meeting at which SS leader Reinhard Heydrich reported that 267 synagogues were burned, 91 Jews killed and 7500 Jewish businesses destroyed. He requested that new measures were to be set for the Jews. The measures included excluding them from public transportation, schools, and even hospitals. This event was named Kristallnacht, which means night of broken glass because of the shattered store windows that covered the streets of Germany.
I forgot to include where I got my information from. It was from this website.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/knacht-bio.htm
I also was curious like Josette and decided to research Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. When it came up in the novel I had no clue what it was referring to, so I decided to look it up. First of all I searched up the word "Kristallnacht". “Kristallnacht" is a German word that consists of two parts: "Kristall" translates to "crystal" and refers to the look of broken glass and "Nacht" means "night." The accepted English translation is the "Night of Broken Glass. In 1938, the Nazi's had been in power for five years and were hard at work trying to rid Germany of its Jews, attempting to make Germany "Judenfrei" (Jew free). Approximately 50,000 of the Jews living within Germany in 1938 were Polish Jews. The Nazis wanted to force the Polish Jews to move back to Poland, but Poland did not want these Jews either. On October 28, 1938, the Gestapo rounded up the Polish Jews within Germany, put them on transports, and then dropped them off on the Polish side of the Poland-Germany border (near Posen). With little food, water, clothing, or shelter in the middle of winter, thousands of these people died. “On November 9, 1938, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels announced a government-sanctioned retaliation against the Jews. Synagogues were ravaged and then burned. Jewish shop windows were broken. Jews were beaten, raped, arrested, and murdered. Throughout Germany and Austria, the pogrom rampaged. Police and firefighters stood by as synagogues burned and Jews were beaten, only taking action to prevent the spread of fire to non-Jew owned property and to stop looters - upon SS officer Reinhard Heydrich's orders. The pogrom spanned the night of November 9 to 10. During this night 191 synagogues were set on fire. The damage to shop windows was estimated at $4 million U.S. dollars. 91 Jews were murdered while 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to camps such as Dachau, Sachsenhausen, and Buchenwald.
ReplyDeleteOn page 106, Death is talking about a place called “Stalingrad”. I was very intrigued by the description that was given for this place, so I decided to research it. In the book, the description that is given is this:
ReplyDelete“ 1. In 1942 and early’43, in that city, the sky was bleached bedsheet-white each morning.
2. All day long, as I carried the souls across it, that sheet was splashed with blood, until it was full and bulging to the earth.
3. In the evening, it would be wrung out and bleached again, ready for the next dawn.
4. And that was when the fighting was only during the day.”
Stalingrad was a major battle of World War 2, where the Nazi Germany fought the Soviet Union for control of the city Stalingrad, Russia. The German’s already had a ton of power over Russia, by killing many of their population, and taking many more as soldiers, but Hitler felt they should demonstrate their fighting force. Germany wanted to crush Russia’s military forces, and take their capital city. This battle took place between July, 1942, and February, 1943, and was among the bloodiest in the history of warfare. The war began by Luftwaffe bombing, which reduced most of the city to rubble. Eventually, they became house-to-house fighting. The Soviet Union put up an attack on the German army, but Adolf Hitler still kept up his “power of the will”, but by February of 1943, the German army had been destroyed to the last man.
Sources: http://www.2worldwar2.com/stalingrad.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad
I was just wondering what it was like to live in the war well hiding jews in your house. Since that is what the characters in the book are going through. I found this wonderful story at http://www.corrietenboom.com/history.htm after reading the story i was touched by how these people risked there lives and lost there lives in the end to save 800 Jewish people. This is one of the risk that the characters in the book are taking.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the book mentioned LSR's which is Air-Raid Shelters. I found out that they were used in the 1940's for the purpose of a place to hide when bombs were being dropped by German aircrafts. Many people usually took residence at the Air-Raid Shelters because at night they would usually have to go back and forth from the shelters and got tired of it, so many just slept in them. These were usually built underground as well.
ReplyDeleteIn the chapter Dominoes and Darkness, the Gestapo came to recruit Rudy. I was interested in the "special school" that was mentioned. I found out that Hitler actually created schools called Adolf Hitler Schools. They were for physically fitter boys. There, the boys would be taught to be the future leaders of Germany. They would go through gruelling pyhsical training every day. The school lasted 6 years and the boys would graduate when they were 18. The very best students were sent to Order Schools. Those schools were even more extreme. For example, real bullets bullets would be used in the war games/drills. Students were killed at those schools.
ReplyDeleteWhen Liesel stole the Dictionary i wondered if it was a real dictionary turns out it is http://www.babylon.com/dictionary/duden/
ReplyDeleteAnd you can still buy it. The dictionary was first published in 1882 by a guy named Konrad Duden. Thats why the name of the dictionary is named Duden Dictionary.
I was also confused about air raid shelters so i decided to look up more information about it
ReplyDeleteAir-raid shelters, also known as bomb shelters, are structures for the protection of the civil population as well as military personnel against enemy attacks (bombing) from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, though they are not designed to defend against ground attack (many have been successfully used as defensive structures in such situations anyway).
In the book, the author describes how Hitler’s birthday was celebrated in Munich (this is also where Hitler lived). All of the “Hitler Youth”, as they were called, would march through the town hall and square, and after there would be speeches and the town would gather for a bonfire, the fuel being books. I was curious as to whether Hitler’s birthday was celebrated everywhere, every year. April 20, 1939 was the day that Hitler turned 50, and it became a national holiday in Nazi Germany. A huge celebration was held for him in Berlin, but there were festivals all over the country. It featured the largest military parade in the history of the Third Reich (40,000 to 50,000 German troops took part and lasted about five hours), visits from foreign dignitaries, thousands of flaming torches, and Nazi banners. The festivals began in the afternoon of April 19, when Hitler was driven at the head of a line of fifty white limousines along the new central boulevard for Germany. A speech was then given by the taciturn Speer, and then there was a torchlight procession. At midnight, Hitler was congratulated and presented with gifts such as statues, paintings, rare coins, antique weapons, etc. One of the biggest gifts though, was given by Hitler’s pilot, Hans Baur, which was a model of the “Führer Machine”, which would be Hitler’s official airplane. Finally, Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” was published in 1939, in honour of his 50th birthday.
ReplyDeleteSource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler's_50th_birthday
I thought it was really rude how they said "no, they were not men and women; they were Jews." (Zusak 392) I can't believe that Germans didn't even think of Jewish people as people. How could you hate a group that much? I have decided to look up some of the things that the Germans have done to the Jews.
ReplyDeleteIn the whole time of the Holocaust their were 6 million Jewish deaths and many destroyed Jewish communities. They were blamed for all of the sick Nazi people. They were sent to concentration camps where they were beaten and terrorized. Germans called Jews evil, cowards, and said they weakened the German economy and culture. They burned books written by Jews, removed Jews from their jobs and schools, took away their businesses and property, and excluded them from public events. Jews in Poland were forced into ghettos which had very little food, water, space, and toiletries. The Jews were forced to wear badges so everyone knew they were Jewish and were killed with poisonous gas. The ones who were not killed were forced to work with no pay and forced to walk hundreds of miles.
I think all of this is so terrible and I just do not understand who you could hate a group of people that much when they have no done anything to you.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/history.html
In the book when they marched the Jews on Himmel street I wanted to see if they ever did this type of thing to humiliate the captured Jews. Although never finding and fully factual evidence I do know that Jews where marched down the street when they were moved to consecration camps from their homes or from concentration camps to concentration camps where people would laugh, call them names and even throw rocks at them as they passed. Although my knowledge may not be completely accurate about whether or not they did this as a punishment or just form fun I do know that when being moved they were humiliated.
ReplyDeleteIn this novel, there are mentions of Jewish people losing their jobs, being forced to close down their shops, so I decided to do a little research on it. In April 1933, the Nazi leadership carried out their first boycott against Jewish businesses. Violent acts against Jews, their property, and even their clients (Jewish or not) occurred, and the police rarely did anything to prevent it. Signs were placed on stores, reading antisemitic slogans such as “Don't Buy from Jews” and “Jews Are Our Misfortune”. The rising amount of incidents caused an increase in the destruction of stores. During Kristallnacht in 1938, windows of Jewish stores were smashed, and Nazis broke in and robbed them of goods and money.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005678
http://b4tea.com/information/the-holocaust-facts-information-about-holocaust
Himmel street was said to be in an area outside of Munich. I was interested to find out if Munich was a real place or not and it was. It is the capital city of Bavaria Germany. it is the 3rd largest city (Berlin and Hamburg being 2nd and 3rd)in Germany. Just outside of the city the first concentration camp (Dachau) was made. The city itself is very beautiful with many amazing structures including the MarienPlatz which is a large open square built during mid evil times that is just outside town hall. Also the Frauenkirche which is the most famous building in the city which now acts as a cathedral for the archbishop. Lastly the famous Nymphenburg Palace is located here which is the summer home of the rulers of Bravia.
ReplyDeleteHere are Images of the three places mentioned...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Rathaus_and_Marienplatz_from_Peterskirche_-_August_2006.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Frauenkirche_Munich_-_View_from_Peterskirche_Tower2.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Image-Schloss_Nymphenburg_Munich_CC_edit3.jpg
During the novel when Himmel street had the problems with Bombings I wondered if they were accurate and they were. During World War II the area was heavily damaged by many air raids over the period of approximately six years.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to do some research on Hitler’s youth movement. Liesel had to participate in this movement because she was enrolled by Rosa. I had never heard of this and it interested me to know some more facts. Hitler created this group to continue the growth of the Nazi regime through children. The Hitler Youth became known in Germany in the 1920’s and died in 1945. In 1933 there were 100 000 members of 10 to 18 year old German boys and girls. By 1936 there were around 4 million members. Hitler divided the boys and girls into separate organisations. The boys would prepare for the military. The military drills that the boys learned were, marching, grenade throwing, trench digging, map reading, gas defence, how to get under barbed wire and pistol shooting. The girls would prepare for motherhood. The girls also had to complete the task of running for 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. By 1938 the attendance of the children was so poor that by 1939 Hitler made a law that attendance was mandatory for children from ages 10 to 18. Hitler used this movement as one of his strategies to gain power by finding more men and woman to do his dirty work. Hitler expected the boys and girls to be strong and thought that, "The weak must be chiselled away. I want young men and women who can suffer pain. A young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as Krupp's steel." This quote disgusted me. He thought that all his thoughts were right and he tried to brainwash the young people into believing his principals. We are lucky that we do not live under an evil dictator who makes all the rules. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/hitler_youth.htm
ReplyDeleteOn page 183, it mentions the Gestapo searching people's homes for anything suspicious. The Geheime Staatspolizei (German for Secret State Police, but commonly abbreviated as Gestapo) was a police force that formed in 1933, by Hermann Goring. Later, in 1934, Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel (German for Protection Squadron, but commonly abbreviated as SS) took over. It was created in order to maintain Nazi control by tracking and arresting Jews and anti-Nazi individuals, and sending them to concentration camps or killing them. When World War II was underway, the number of Gestapo agents grew to over 150,000. The Gestapo encouraged citizens to report any suspicious people over to the local authorities. During the Holocaust, nearly one million Jews were massacred by the Gestapo and the SS. The Gestapo dissolved in 1945, when the war ended.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.answers.com/topic/gestapo
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel, the night of broken glass was mentioned and it interested me to learn more about it. Kristallnacht, also known as the night of broken glass was a tragedy for Jewish people and an historical event. I did not know much about this event so I researched and found some upsetting information. On the night of November 9, 1938 in many German cities, the German people smashed and shattered the lives of Jewish people. This night occurred because a 17 year old Jewish teenager, Herschel Grynszpan, assassinated a German official, Ernst vom Rath in Paris on November 7th, 1938. Therefore, the German’s wanted revenge. Over the next two days, German’s burned over 250 synagogues, 7 000 businesses were trashed and hundreds of Jewish people were killed. The morning after this cruel event, 30 000 German Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps for being Jewish. Jewish woman were arrested and later sent to local jails. Curfews were made which consisted of the Jew’s only being allowed to leave their homes during certain hours of the day. While these rules were being created, German’s did not let Jewish teenagers and children enter playgrounds, museums and swimming pools. They were banned from public schools and many adult Jew’s committed suicide. This event was shocking and it caused loss of family, loss of life, fear, loss of dignity, hatred and poverty for the Jewish people in Germany. It is hard to understand how humans can be so cruel to one another.
ReplyDeleteThis information was found on the website of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007697
After reading about the book burning, I was intrigued as to the historical significance and reasoning behind this atrocious act and did a bit of research to that end. As we all know, one of the Nazi’s primary goals was to “purify” Germany and eliminate anything that goes against the Nazi’s ideology of perfection. On April 6th 1933, the German Student Association announced that books and literature going against German ideals – known as the "Action against the Un-German Spirit" – and two days later issued what were called the “Twelve Theses” that essentially declared the need to “purify” German language, targeting any literature that is non-German. This was not the first major historical book burning though; in 1817, German students burned anti-national and reactionary texts and literature they deemed “Un-German” in an act less organized with similarly intended as the 1933 burning.
ReplyDeleteOn the evening of April 10th 1933 (the book was inaccurate on this account, placing the book burning on Hitler’s birthday, April 20th, and in the year 1940) students marched by torchlight through the town to the place where the bonfire was to take place, as described in the book. Then, in a boisterous ceremony, they threw all the “Un-German” books into a bonfire. Over 25 000, yes twenty five THOUSAND, books were burned that night in an act of censorship and anti-Semitism. Not all the book burnings throughout the country took place on the 10th, though, delayed a few days by rain but the nonetheless it was a momentous event.
What amazes me is the way Germans viewed the Jews as less than human. The fifth of their Twelve Theses states “A Jew can only think Jewish. If he writes in German, he is lying. The German who writes in German, but thinks un-German, is a traitor. The student who speaks and writes un-German is, in addition, thoughtless and has abandoned his duties.” So simple a thing as writing what you feel was considered traitorous, which simply makes no sense. How does burning this literature really solve anything? A German Jewish poet by the name of Heinrich Heine, whose works were all but destroyed in the burnings, wrote an admonishment in his 1820 play Almansor that really hits home, “Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people”
Woops; forgot to add my sources.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?ModuleId=10005852
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Theses
When I started reading the book and got to the point where the narrator was mentioning 1936 Olympics, I realized that I know one lady who in her far past was a member of that event. I met her in the elderly house where I usually volunteer, but I never really talked to her. One day I asked whether was it really true that she had participated in 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and she said “Oh, yes I did. I was doing gymnastics on the floor at the opening ceremony.” At that special moment, I was just standing there with my mouth wide open looking at her old wrinkled face and sky-blue eyes, not being able to believe that this person had lived and survived through something that happened so long ago, something that is for me very hard to believe in and something that is nothing for me but just history. I was truly fascinated. I had so many questions flowing to my brains, ready to be asked and poured out of my mouth like mountain stream, but I got hold of myself and with eager calm asked if I could take a mini interview about her past. She said “Yes”.
ReplyDeleteHer name is Margo Funke. She was born 1921 in Berlin. Besides herself there was another child in their family – her brother. Her family was of middle class. Her father was a businessman. They lived in a very good house and Margo does not remember having any problems with money and means for life. She was a very nice, obedient and responsible girl. At school teachers always praised her. She also trained gymnastics and really liked it. With her effort, determination and hard work she made it into the opening ceremony of the 1936 Olympics. It took her 7 years to fight for that; the selection was very strict. Still it did worth it; the ceremony was very big and beautiful. “Such experience is unforgettable!” said Margo who was about 15 years then. She remembers Hitler very well; how they Heil Hitlered him; how he kept refusing to shake hands of Olympians of dark skin color. She said that Hitler did a lot of good things for German economy and the well being of the country. Nevertheless her family did not support him; they missed their old chancellor Lieutenant General Kurt von Schleicher who was a very good chancellor by her words and had ruled Germany for 57 years. When I asked her did she know anything about Hitler’s plans and how he and his party persecuted Jewish people, she said, “No, we did not. Everything was very secret. There were rumours going on but known truly knew. People were usually taken in nights when everyone slept. Out of huge population of Berlin, maybe only two-three thousand people really know what was going on. Hitler’s true intentions came up a lot later when it was late to change anything. People did not have any chance to disobey. If they did they were killed.” That just proved to me again that German people were also victims of Hitler’s regime, maybe not to such extent as Jews were, but they still were victims. Ordinary people always suffer from the actions and decisions of a little political party on the top of the social ladder. You’re always under control of them; never independent. Times change, things change but politics always stay the same never losing their dirtiness and injustice. (Canada can be an exception!) (Continue ----=)
(Continue ---=) As the war started Margo’s life changed dramatically. Her father and brother were taken away to fight. War was the turning point in their lives. Both of them died from injuries and never healing wounds after they came back. Margo and her mother stayed in Berlin together. Her mom had a very good friend who unfortunately was a Jew. Because of unending anti-Semitism and Jew’s persecution that went in Germany, her mother agreed to help and hide her friend in their basement. Margo does not really remember the details, but she will never forget as her mother was telling and warning her at the same time, “Do not tell anyone. Anyone! If you do then...” This situation reminded me of the Liesel and how she was bond to keep a secret about Max. Fortunately they were not caught and their Jewish friend survived the war.
ReplyDeleteThe times were horrible; still despite the hard and desperate atmosphere love found its way into Margo’s heart. She fell in love and was never happier. Nevertheless the fate was not very generous to her. Her love was taking to war too, leaving her as a young lady who is expecting a baby. Margo will never forget the day she learned that her beloved one fell in war. Tears were tearing down her face as she was telling me. She was left alone with the baby soon to be born. I was heartbroken; I could not keep away my own tears. Just imagining what she had to do through... “I am survivor.” She calls herself. “Hitler had taken away everything I loved.”
With punctured heart, with beaten lungs, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair and surprise Margo survived the war. She gave birth to her daughter on May 10, 1945, the day Germany was occupied by Russian armies who were celebrating the victory. When she was 40 years old she and her new husband moved to Canada. It was another hard experience for her, but it is a completely different story.
I was very intrigued to find out what the word “Stalingrad” meant so I decided to do some research on it. I found out that it was a battle during World War 2 between the forces of Nazi Germany and the forces of the Soviet Union, who were protecting there city. The Battle of Stalingrad took place from August 1942 to February of 1943. This was the crucial battle of World War II because it ended the German offensive as well as destroying much of the German armies. The early stages of World War 2 were mainly focused on Western Europe but, Hitler was unique so he decided that he wanted to fight the Russians and diverted his attention to them by 1941. At first the huge German war machine focused on Leningrad and Moscow, 2 of the bigger cities in Russia. This attack was unsuccessful and so by the summer of 1942, Hitler wanted to attack southern Russia. Hitler thought too much of himself and against the advice of his generals Hitler attacked Stalingrad. The German forces took much of the city. The powerful German armies bordered the city and so the Russians were trapped and would remain so for several months. When back up arrived for the Soviets they bordered the Germans and forced them to surrender. The battle of Stalingrad not only destroyed much of the German army, but also ended their offensive attack in Russia and ultimately resulted in Germany’s defeat in the World War 2.
ReplyDeletehttp://users.telenet.be/stalingrad/
After reading "The end of the World (Part 1)" I was very depressed and after I finished reading I wanted to know how many people were actually killed by bombs in the war. This is not a topic I enjoy researching to the mourning fact that it is just wrong what happened to so many people, but still I wanted to know to see how accurate the book was in terms of the event on Himmel Street.
ReplyDeleteIt turns out that from the beginning of World War II (1939) to the very end (1945) that over 50 million people died. I could not find specific information relating to Bombing I did seem to find on most sites that I visited that the total number of civilian deaths was almost double the total deaths of military soldiers. This really shows how sad the world is and what people will do for power which is not only scary but quite disappointing.
I have read books about the Holocaust before but i can't say i have ever read a book coming from a Germans point of view. It was really different! To be honest i liked reading books that were from a Jewish persons perspective i don't really know why i just did.
ReplyDeleteI was curious to find out if there was any major bombings that happened in Germany and I found one
ReplyDeleteIn December 1944, Germany had lost the decisive Battle of the Bulge and the Allies were preparing for victory, as World War II was coming to an end. American soldiers had landed on the beaches at Normandy in June 1944, and were advancing toward Germany from the west. The Soviet army had taken Poland in July 1944, and German troops were in retreat on the Eastern front. The war in Europe was very clearly over except for some of the destruction of historic German cities. which began with the bombing of Nürnberg.
I received my information from the site below.
http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Nurnberg/Nurnberg01.html
@ Elvina
ReplyDeleteThat is a truly fascinting story. It's one thing to read about these kind of events in a story, or to talk about Hitler's reign as 'in the past' but to actually hear from someone who lived through it, who experienced it firsthand... wow.
The book has talked about Hitler Youth, so i decided to learn more about it like what grades it ranged from. Hitler Youth wasn’t always based on age but once it did, boys aged 6 to 10 were aloud to hang out and talk to the older boys and come to school informally. The official age was from 14 to 18 were kids were aloud to formally come to Hitler Youth. I got his information from
ReplyDeletehttp://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/hitleryouth/hj-prelude.htm
While reading this book, I started to get a little curious about the book Mein Kampf and how it could possibly save the life of Max. I understood that it was a book by Hitler, but what was it about. So i did some research on it. Turns out that Hitler wrote the book while he was in prison for taking part in the Beer Hall Putsch (which was a failed attemted at a revolution) and was sentenced to prison for 5 years. While in prison Max Amnan convinced him to write an autobiography, though Hitler never learned how to write, so they asked his chauffer Emile Maurice, to stay in jail with him and write his book. This book is a mixture of an autobiography, political ideas and an explaination of techniques and propaganda. This book was made to give the reader a positive view on Hitler.
ReplyDelete(Source)
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERmein.htm
Book Thief, many laws are mentioned about what Jews can and cannot do. For example, Jews are not allowed to have German citizenships and Jews and German’s can not intermarry, (Page 193). I did some research to find some more laws against Jews, and these are some things that I found. Jews had a strict curfew, and many designated areas of German cities were forbidden to Jews. When a general food rationing began, Jews were given less that German families, and there were time periods when Jews couldn’t purchase food and other supplies, and they were also restricted access to certain stores. This resulted in a lot of Jewish households not having their basic essentials. It was ordered that Jews give stuff to the local officials, such as radios, cameras, bicycles, electrical appliances, and other valuable items. In September 1941, Jews were prohibited from using public transportation, and in that same month, Jews over the age of 6 were ordered to wear the yellow Jewish Star. Jews were forced to live in certain areas in Germany, which were labeled as “Jewish houses”, and they were made to perform compulsory forced labor. These are only the beginning of the laws that were placed upon the Jews, but only from these few, we know that many Jews suffered because of these laws.
ReplyDeleteSource: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?ModuleId=10005469
As I was reading this book I saw that it mentioned something about Kristallnacht so I was decided to look deeper into what it actually was and this is what I found... The reason it was called Kristallnacht was because kristall in English was crystal which refers to the look of broken glass, nacht translates to night which is why in English Kristallnacht is known as the night of broken glass. On the night of Kristallnacht Jews and their property were brutally destroyed, Jews were raped, beaten, arrested, and murdered. Synagogues were ransacked and then burnt down. Windows were broken on Jewish owned shops. The estimated amount of damage was around 4 million dollars U.S. The shooting on Paris in November 1938 was the cause for the violence. The loss of life on the night of Kristallnatch was ninety-one while hundreds more were severely injured. 30,000 Jews were arrested that night and sent to concentration camps such as Dachau, Sachsenhausen, and Buchenwald. In the camps Jews were treated in the most brutal of ways. On this night around seven thousand Jewish businesses were destroyed and burnt to the ground, and one hundred and seventy seven Synagogues were burnt down or demolished. As ordered by Reich Marks chief of security police, Secret State Police arrested 30,000 wealthy Jews who were only released if they promised to immigrate. Kristallnacht did not eliminate all Jews that was when the Final solution was created.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cympm.com/kristallnacht.html
http://history1900s.about.com/od/holocaust/a/Kristallnacht.htm
I like how normally you would read a book from the jewish side but in this one its from the German side. I am so used to hearing all about how the jews lives were during the holocaust but never anything about the Germans. They always try and make the Germans sound like terrible people. In this book i find the author totally crushed that stereotype. This German family seems like such a great family. They are nothing like the way some authors make Germans. By having this book told from teh German side of the World War makes this book a whole lot more interesting to read. The author tries to destroy the stereotype and for me, he did. This really lets me know how the Germans acted during this really hard time for the jews.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading, I came across the part where all German houses had to paint thier windows completely black.
ReplyDeleteThis was known as the blackout. By covering your windows black, it made it harder for the bombers to find their target at night while in the dark. This was also a downfall for the town because they had to turn off the street lamps at night as well. This caused many accidents because no one could see where they were going. Apparently car headlights had to also be painted black which lead to more accidents. There was an increase in drowning deaths because people couldn't see where they were going and fell into lakes or off bridges.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_(wartime)
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/nettsch/time/wlife.html
It mentions the camp Auschwitz. Auschwitz was the largest of the German concentration camps. There were many gas chambers that they would put a group of Jews in at a time and they would all die. The jews were tortured at the concentration camps. After Germany invaded poland in 1939 Auschwitz was renamed to Birkenau which translates to Birch tree. It was called this because it was named after a small town in Poland where they arrested many jews.
ReplyDeleteI was looking up the cover of the book on the internet. I think that i have found how the dominos relate to the book. There is a Domino theory, the theory states that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control. Another example is that if one thing happens another thing will be set off by it. This realtes to the book because World War 2 was a communist/ socialist goverment. Hitler was the leader of the pack he lead neighboring nations to join in to the war and help him in his plan, to kill off the jewish population. The domino theory also could repersent Liesels life and just how one event conects to another. Also the fact that iif you push the last domino they all fall over this is kind of the effect of the world war all the people fell to Hitlers plan.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.answers.com/topic/domino-theory
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1965.html
Death was talking about how he even tried to forget the images of Auschwitz and Mauthausen. This gives the reader an impression of how bad it actually was there during that time period if death shuddered at the thought of them.
ReplyDeleteAushwitz was the largest concentration camp. (Look above at Hailey's post for more information).
In 1940 Mauthausen became one of the largest labour camps in German-controlled Europe. At this camp the inmates were used for slave labour. There were quarries, munitions factories, mines, arms factories and fighter-plane assembly plants. This camp was labelled as a Grade 3 camp which means that it was one of the toughest camps at that time. It wasn't like a concentration camp where the prisoners were put in gas chambers, they were killed through tough labour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauthausen-Gusen_concentration_camp
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/austria/mauthausen-concentration-camp
@ Jordan,
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting how they had to paint any sources of light black. I think it would be effective, because usually bombers, if trying to do as much dammage as possible, would attempt to bomb where they see there is the most civilisation. If there were no lights, they would have difficulty judging where to drop their bombs. However, I don't think that turning the streetlights of in Molching would have been much of a danger for anyone living there. It mentions in the book that there is hardly ever a vehicle on the roads, and I don't see any reason why the few vehicles that were there would go out at night when everything was blacked out. Of course, it could potentially cause some problems, but overall I think that blacking out the light was more effective then dangerous.
So . I pretty much hate Hitler. A lot. In most of the pictures that Max drew Hitler always had a dark coloured moustache and dark hair. whereas everyone who followed him had light coloured hair. I was very confused by this, so I looked up some history on Hitler's life and where he came from. The first thing I found out was that he had BROWN HAIR. I don't understand how people still followed him even though he was such a hypocrite, and thought that blond haired blue eyed people (he also had blue eyes) were the perfect race. He went to jail before he came into power, and he also refered to the holocaust as "The Final solution of the Jewish Question.
ReplyDeleteI did some research on the Hitler Youth meetings to find out if they were portrayed accurately in this book. I found out that in 1936 it was all but compulsory to join the Hitler Youth. When Hitler came into power he abolished all other youth movements, so evidently the number of members in the Hitler Youth meetings went up immensely (reaching up to 4 million in 1936). The Hitler Youth intention for boys was to prepare them for war, training them in grenade throwing, trench digging, map reading, gas defense, use of dugouts, how to get under barbed wire and pistol shooting. For girls, the intention was to prepare them for motherhood. Girls had to be able to run 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.
ReplyDeleteThe Hitler Youth was a way to demonstrate Hitler’s beliefs: the future of Nazi Germany was its children. He trained them to be the kind of people he needed them to be when they grew up.
"The weak must be chiseled away. I want young men and women who can suffer pain. A young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as Krupp's steel."- Adolph Hitler
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/hitler_youth.htm
I was very interested by Elvina's meeting with Margo Funke. Being as this is a novel I would love to have the chance to hear more of what it was like to live in Germany during World War II. I do not doubt that the emoticons expressed in this novel by Max and Liesel's family could have been experienced during this time period, as so far the book has been quite factual, but hearing first hand would help me connect this story and its themes with myself even more.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading, I noticed some things that Death said about showers. On page 349, Death said “... and we climbed out of those shower facilities, onto the roof and up, into eternity’s certain breadth. They just kept feeding me. Minute after minute. Shower after shower.” I remember hearing about the “showers” at some of the concentration camps when we learnt about the holocaust in grade 8. I decided to research about them. I found out that at the concentration camps, when there was Jews that were not in a good working condition, they were sent to the gas chambers. The Jews that were being sent were told that they were “going to take a shower,” in order to keep them from panicking. The “showers” that they were being sent to looked like showers, but instead of having water coming out of the shower heads, gas did. The gas used was Zyklon B, which is a poisonous gas made from hydrogen cyanide. Zyklon B was originally manufactured as a very strong disinfectant, and for pest control.
ReplyDeletehttp://judaism.about.com/od/holocaust/ss/ausch_tour_5.htm
In the book I noticed in mentioned Stalingrad and didn’t know what it was. I found out it was the worst and most important battle of World War II in 1942-1943. Hitler decided that the capture of Stalingrad was important because he could use the city to transport goods and resources to the north and to cut off fuel to Stalin’s war machine. Though, this battle turned into chaos for the reason of Stalingrad’s leader from the Soviet Union and Hitler’s hope to capture Stalingrad wasn’t going to be easy. The Soviet Union took drastic measures to battle the Germans because they didn’t have much time or resources. So they decided anyone strong enough to hold a rifle would go to war.
ReplyDeletehttp://funnytogo.com/stories/stalingrad/stalingrad.htm
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ReplyDeleteIn the book it only talks about a few of the rules that were put against the Jews. So i decided to research a bit more about all of the cruel things that the Jewish people had to go through. Jewish people during World War 2 had to eat off of barley anything they only had a certain amount of food that they got for their whole family. You did not have the right to be a Civil Servant anymore and you couldn't run a business to non Jew's. Jewish stores were boycotted and run out of business. People that were in university's and colleges were expelled at the most part. These are only a few of the things Jew's could not do anymore. What kind of right minded person could do all of this to a race?
ReplyDeleteBefore reading this book I did not really know anything about Hitler Youth so when I heard it mentioned in the book I decided to research it further. The ages of kids that was legible to be members of Hitler Youth were between ten and eighteen years old. There were separate organizations for both boys and girls. Hitler Youth was created in the 1920's and by the 1933 there were 100,000 members. By 1936 there were over four million members, it was mandatory for all youths to join Hitler Youth. The only way a youth could avoid being a member of Hitler Youth was to pay a subscription but after 1939 this became impossible. Boys who were between the ages of ten and thirteen joined Deutsches Jungvolk (German Young People. Once they turned thirteen they became a member of Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) until the age of eighteen. Part of what they did when they were at Hitler Youth was marching, bayonet drill, grenade throwing, trench digging, map reading, gas defence, use of dugouts, how to get under barbed wire and pistol shooting. Girls also started at the age of ten but went until they were fourteen. Their group was called Jungmadelbund (League of Young Girls). At fourteen the girls transferred over to the Bund Deutscher Madel (League of German Girls). Girls in these groups had to be able to run 60 meters in 14 seconds, throw a ball 12 meters, complete a 2 hour march, swim 100 meters and know how to make a bed. After researching Hitler Youth camps I have learned a lot more about them and now know what they were exactly.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/hitler_youth.htm
@ Josette
ReplyDeletei like what you mentioned about the showers i remeber learning about that as well. When i was in grade eight we watched a movie i can't exactly remember what it was called but i know brittany murphy was in it but anyway the film was about the holocaust and one of the actors were sent to the gas chambers "showers" you could actually watch the people die from the gas it was rather difficult to watch i couldn't imagine loosing my life that way.
In the book there was a chapter called “Aryan Shopkeeper”; I knew from before that Aryan referred to Aryan race, from which Nazis thought all Germans originated from, but I was interested in learning more and therefore I decided to do a little research. Here is what I found:
ReplyDeleteThe Aryans were a tribe of Indo-European-speaking, horse-riding nomads living in the arid steppes of Eurasia. Sometime around 1700 BC, the Aryans invaded the ancient urban civilizations of the Indus Valley, and destroyed that culture. The Indus Valley Civilizations was far more civilized than any horse-back nomad, having had a written language, farming capabilities, and led a truly urban existence. Some 1,200 years after the supposed invasion, the descendants of the Aryans, so they say, wrote the classic Indian literature called the Vedic manuscripts. http://archaeology.about.com/od/indusrivercivilizations/a/aryans.htm
Nazis used this term to refer to what they saw as a master race of people of Northern European descend. Hitler wanted to create his own super race, where people had a blue eyes and blond hair; women were beautiful and men were muscular. The Ironic thing is that Hitler’s perfect race did not include himself because He himself had a dark hair and dark eyes. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_did_Hitler_want_a_'pure'_Aryan_race
Heinrich Himmler the person who was ordered by Hitler to implement the Final Solution (the final and most deadly phase of Holocaust) told his personal masseurs to always carry with them the copy of Ancient Aryan Scripture because he thought that it will relieve them of guilt about what they were doing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race
How odious...
I had heard a bit about Kristallnaught before reading this book, but I didn't really know much information about it. After researching, I found out that on the night of November 9, 1938, the Nazis set out to attack the Jewish people, which involved the destruction of Jewish synagogues, homes, and shops or businesses. There was a lot of broken glass that night, which gave Kristallnacht the name: The Night of Broken Glass. This rampage by the Nazis was to mainly arrest the Jews and send them to concentration camps, but many were also killed (over 90 people). The purpose of Kristallnacht, was "To warn the Jews that their fate was coming." I guess this means that the Germans had even more tortous ideals lined up for the Jews if they did not immigrate like Hitler and the Nazis wanted them to. The event of Kristallnacht was also said to be a starting factor of the Hollocaust.
ReplyDeleteI found this information at the following sites:
www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/Kristallnacht-83036.html
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Kristallnacht
In the book, the book Mein Kampf was mentioned a lot. I’m not sure if other people have written about it before, but I was wondering what exactly it was about. I researched it and found out that it was a book that Hitler wrote while he was in prison. It was originally called “Four Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice,” but was then changed to “Mien Kampf,” which means “My Struggle.” This book is partly an autobiography of Hitler, and it talks about Hitler’s view on political issues and techniques of propaganda. Basically the purpose of the book was to provide a positive image of Hitler. In this book, Hitler outlined his political philosophy, which stated that the German race was superior to all others. Hitler warned his people that their race was being threatened by intermarriage. He said that his race was supposed to control the world, and that this was going to be difficult and that force would be needed. He stated that they were being threatened by the Jewish race, because the Jews were lazy and weren’t contributing to world civilization. Hitler claimed that the Jews were responsible for loosing the First World War, were slowly taking over the country and were responsible for everything that he didn’t like. The book basically talked about what he would do if he came into power, and his views and opinions about the Jews and the rest of the human race.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERmein.htm
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this book, I couldn’t help but wonder how you got into the Nazi Party, also known as NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers’ Party). Ever since Hans Junior said, “Well have you tried again? You can’t just sit around waiting for the new world to take it with you. You have to go out and be part of it - despite your past mistakes.” (pg 104) I wonder if people needed to fit into specific qualifications.
ReplyDeleteMembership Qualifications
1. Any German people who had a clean record, was a pure German and has completed his 21st year (or sometimes 18th) were illegible. As we know that is what Hans Hubermann had a problem being accepted because he did not have a clean record, since he painted over the words “Jewish Filth” on the door of one of the few Jewish shops that were still operating. (pg 181)
2. Younger male applicants must show proof that they had completed military service.
3. Only those who are racial comrades are eligible.
Application must be refused in all the cases where
1. The marriage partner is Jewish or of other coloured racial mixture.
2. Has belonged to some sort of secret society or small organization (Odd Fellows, Druid Order, etc.)
3. Suffers a hereditary illness
The National Socialist commandments
1. The Führer is always right!
2. Never go against discipline.
3. Don’t buy from Jews.
4. Spare the health of the party members and speakers and refrain voluntarily from smoking at the meetings.
(Source)
http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/reference/ob79.html
@ Alex
ReplyDeleteThose are truly horrific! Your application can be refused due to a hereditary illness? Hereditary, as in you get it from your family and have no control over it. Yeah, that makes sense. And this “The Führer is always right” thing... were Germans actually that big of pushovers that they let someone boss them around to that extent? (I apologize to anyone who’s German, but) I find it astoundingly stupid that people could be blind to this kind of tyranny and allow someone so cruel to run their country.
On page 431, it mentions the LSE, or the Luftwaffe Sondereinheit (Air Raid Special Unit). The Luftwaffe was the German airforce that was formed in May of 1935. It was created soon after a new law had passed that allowed Germany an independent military force since it was not permitted due to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I. At that time, Germany was only allowed a defense force of 100,000 people, and there was no airforce. The Luftwaffe from 1939 to 1945 had approximately 3.4 million people serving it. It was disbanded in 1946 by the Allied Control Commission.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.feldgrau.com/luft.html
On the subject of the Nazi party, I was always curious how Hitler came to be so powerful and widely supported. Surely there were enough people like Hans in the real world that could’ve made some of kind move against Hitler’s monarchy, right? Well what I discovered in my research is that in 1933 his governance was voted a legal dictatorship and then, as both leader of the Nazi Party and Chancellor of Germany, Hitler banned all other political parties. That is to say, part of Hitler’s power came from the Germans themselves; they voted him into power, they appointed him Chancellor and they voted him dictator.
ReplyDeleteIn September 1919, Adolf Hitler joined the Nazi Party, known then as “Deutsche Arbeiterpartei”, the German Workers’ Party, or DAP. He rose to power between 1919 and 1923, for his talented speaking abilities and his willingness to use any means necessary to gain supporters. Also during this time, the party’s name was changed to “Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei”, National Socialist German Workers' Party, or the NSDAP.
After a failed revolution attempt known as the Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison but served only 18 months, during which time he wrote Mein Kampf.
When the party didn’t fare well politically, violent fights ensued. In 1930, Nazi leader Horst Wessel was killed. On April 1st of that year, Hitler Youth was banned and Minister Joseph Goebbels was convicted of high treason. Curiously, the Nazi Party gained support during this time.
The Nazis grew to be the most powerful political party in Germany (there were still at least three at this point) and Hitler asked to be made Chancellor. He was refused, but a few years later when current Chancellor Franz von Papen left office, he elevated Hitler to Chancellorship.
Then with this combined power (he was leader of the Nazis by now) he opted to eliminate all political opposition and banned other parties, brining Germany into a totalitarian and single-party dictatorship. While he certainly was tyrannical, he was not just known as a dictator – he was legally voted one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_rise_to_power
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party
I had never heard of Hitler Youth before reading this novel, so I researched it. I found out that Hitler Youth was an extension of his beliefs about the future of Nazi Germany being in the hands of the children. Hitler Youth was started in the 1920’s and soon had many members. In 1936, there was seen to be 4 million members. The Hitler Youth was believed to be as important as school and in 1936; it became compulsory to join Hitler Youth. Hitler youth was for children of 10 to 18 years old. There were separate groups for boys and girls, in which the girls were prepared for mother hood and the boys, were prepared for military services. For boys, at 10 years old they were put in the Deutsches Jungvolk (German Young People). They remained there until they turned 13 which they were then moved to Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth). At Hitler Jugend, the boys were taught to march, throw grenades, dig trenches, read maps, use dugouts, how to get under barbed wire, shoot pistols and included bayonet drills and gas defense. For girls at the age of 10, they were put in Jungmadelbund (League of Young Girls) until they were 14. They were then put in Deutscher Madel (League of German Girls). For the girls in Hitler Youth, they had to be able to do a series of things. These included, running 60 meters in 14 seconds, march for 2 hours, swim 100 meters, throw a ball 12 meters and be able to make a bed. I’m not sure about anyone else, but I would not want to be in a Hitler youth group, and be forced to do all of these things.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/hitler_youth.htm
The concentration camp, Dachau was mentioned quite often throughout the novel, so I decided to research it. I learned that this was the first official concentration camp established by the Nazis in March 1933, about 10 miles away from Munich, Germany. This camp was primarily used as a ‘jail’ type place for communists, political opponents, criminals, and other minorities such as homosexuals and a few Jewish people. But as time went on, and especially after the event of Kristallnacht, more and more Jews were being brought to Dachau. A group of mainly Jews was marched to another concentration camp from Dachau, and it was referred to as The Death March, because they were walking to their deaths. Also, the prisoners at Dauchau were being used as medical guinea pigs, where the German Physicians were testing cures for diseases on them, killing or disabling many. Many innocent people, the majority of them Jewish, were killed at concentration camps like Dauchau throughout the war and throughout this novel, by the Nazis and Hitler’s power.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?ModuleId=10005214
When I came across the reference to the book Mein Kampf, I had no idea to what they were talking about so I went and looked it up. This is what I found.
ReplyDeleteMein Kampf, was written by Adolf Hitler while we was in jail for suggested “political crimes” in 1923. I found this next bit a little funny. The original title that Hitler wanted was “Four and a Half Years of Struggle Against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice”. Of course that is way too long for the title of a book, so he shortened it with the help of his editor to Mein Kampf (My Struggle). The book is combined autobiography and political ideology and consists of 720 pages. During Hitler’s rise to power, it was a popular read, but when he gained power, it was given out or purchased by most Germans and considered the Nazi Bible. Hitler fouled most people and really wanted world leadership, not rights property and peace. He finished school and was an student apparently eager to learn. Hitler is considered a genus minus the fact of a few dangerous ideas stirring in his mind.
This is a picture of the most popular cover of Mein Kampf.
http://www.markville.ss.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/projects/classof2007/16chong/uyede/book_cover.jpg
After reading this book, it made me curious to find out a little bit more about the setting of the book which in this case was Germany during the World War II; so I did some research. For one thing I found out that Adolf Hitler gained power of Germany in 1933. From then on Germany went down the hill because of the commands they chose to abide from Hitler of course. The World War II really began once Germany invaded Poland, France, and Russia. It appears that Germany was the one most responsible for the start of the war but their Nazi leader at the time Adolf Hitler is the person who made it all happen. The World War II is the most horrific and dreadful war ever over 50 million people had lost their lives because of it. Although Germany had won a couple of battles at the beginning, they still ended up losing at the end of it all, and they had to pay a heavy price for this disastrous conflict they started which only caused them problems at the end of it all. Some of the German leaders of the World War II include: Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, Speer (the good Nazi?), and other German leaders.
ReplyDeletehttp://vanrcook.tripod.com/
When I read about Liesel being put in the Band of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Madchen (BDM)) I was curious about it. This is what I found.
ReplyDeleteThe BDM was founded in 1930 and places for girls were limited because they wanted to keep it open for boys. Then in 1936 it was made compulsory for both boys and girls to join at the age of 10 and went to 21 years. Their activities were completely different. Boys to join the army, and girls to raise families. The girls were involved in arts, crafts, child care, cooking, sewing, theatre and various other activities. Here is a picture of a girl in uniform for BDM.
http://histclo.com/imagef/youth/nat/ger/hitler/org/bdm/bdm03s.jpg
Although I already knew that the Jews were treated severely and savagely from the novel, I still wanted to learn a bit more about the way the Jews and other groups of people that the Nazi disliked were treated, so I did a little bit of researching. What I found out was pretty much ten times worse with more detail. I found out that the Nazi sent people that they thought were "undesirable" to concentration camps, which were located mostly in Germany, such as Dachau and Bergen-Belsen. The people who the Germans considered undesirable or unworthy were groups of people such as: Communists {for example Liesle's mother}, Democrats, Socialists, political prisoners, homosexuals, and Jews {for example Max Vandenburg}. "During the war, these camps also held Soviet prisoners of war and slave laborers" and execution was defiantly common and most people at these camps worked to death. But however the death camps were intended especially for the Jews. As the Nazi's control grew between 1939 -1941 the death camps and deportation of Jews increased. Jews were treated like filthy useless creatures, and the way they were treated was way more brutal than what was described in the novel. In fact being called "filthy, swine!" is nothing compare to the savageness and brutality they had to deal with. "During the years that Hitler ruled Germany; over 100 concentration camps appeared all over Europe. Although not used strictly for extermination purposes, the living conditions at the concentration camps were brutal and the death rates were extremely high." To most Nazi prisoners the Jews lives were worthless, so they would kill them with no hesitation. I found out that some "death camps" were the following: Auschwitz, Birkenau, Chelmno, Treblinka, and Sobibor,I noted that these are just some of the "death camps". Items or tools they used the death camps included: gas chambers. for example camp Auschwitz-Birkenau used twin chambers that killed around 4000 Jews at a time, this camp was considered the largest death camp. Before getting rid of the Jews’ bodies was stripped of any remaining valuables such as gold in their teeth, and of course their jewelry. After finding out about how Jews were treated I thought that being called filthy was nothing in comparison to the savageness and brutality they had to put up with for no explainable reason.
ReplyDeletehttp://ca.dummies.com/how-to/content/understanding-the-treatment-of-jews-during-world-w.html
Almost all the young boys in this novel were a part of the ‘Hitler Youth’ group, including Rudy, so I decided to do some research. The Hitler Youth group (also referred to as The Hitler Jugend) officially was formed in 1926, and I found that the Nazis had enrolled German youth into this program at the age of 10, and by 1935, almost 60% of German youth were part of this group. The young boys were educated in the form of Nazi Ideology, including racial concept, physical training, and “absolute obedience to Hitler and the NAZI Party”. All boys were required to attend Hitler Youth, because Hitler wanted a group of men who would be strong soldiers, brain-washed into following everything he said, and boys who were "victorious active, daring youth, immune to pain." Hitler knew that if he started educating the children at a young age, they would be more likely to serve him in the future. There was also a program for the young German girls, where girls were taught the values of home and family life.
ReplyDeletehttp://histclo.com/Youth/youth/org/nat/hitler/hitler.htm
Mein Kampf or in english My Struggle was a book written by Adolf Hitler. Hitler wrote this book while in prison for political crimes. Hitler originally wanted to call his book Viereinhalb Jahre (des Kampfes) gegen Lüge, Dummheit und Feigheit, or Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice but his publisher suggested to make it much shorter. In his book he announces his hatred towards Jews, he stated how he wanted to completely destroy the parliamentary system. There are fifteen chapters in this book plus an intro and conclusion.
ReplyDeleteI didn't understand what a air raid shelter was, so I decided to search it up and this is what I learnt...
ReplyDeleteAir raid shelters or bomb shelters were to keep people safe during World War two against sky bombings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air-raid_shelter
Throughout the book, The Third Reich is referred to. I've heard this before, I'd hoped it referred to a certain group in the Nazi party or a part of the axis forces, and not just yet another word for the Nazi forces, so I googled it.
ReplyDeleteI was disappointed to find that the Third Reich refers to the Nazi party, just yet another name for it ontop of "NSDAP" Nazi party, Axis forces, Germany, Deutsches Reich, Großdeutsches Reich, etc.
The Third Reich, in translation to English, means The Third Rule/power/empire. The first two being the Roman Empire and the more recent German Empire. The German Empire lasted about 50 years, and the Third Reich lasted around 10 years; I don't see how those are in any way comparable to the Roman Empire which lasted about 900 years.
Correction:^
ReplyDeleteRoman Empire lasted between 1400-1500 years.
Rudy is always complaining about his Hitler group. While I was reading I was curious as to what activities they do. This is what I found.
ReplyDeleteThe boys group was called “Deutche Jugernd” (DJ), and their activities were very different from the girls. They mostly trained for the military, but the child and the parents were not informed of that. When the boy was old enough, the idea was that he would go straight into the army. They did not just train physically for war, but for the emotional impact too. The groups also did firearms training, laying communications cables, and went camping to enforce survival skills. Younger boys were given weapon demonstrations and exposed to military personnel, while the older boys were given instructions in weapon handling and did armed military exercises. Hitler made there groups mostly for boys and the intention was that they would join the army at the end of their training.
“He alone, who owns the youth, gains the Future!” Adolf Hitler said this in a speech at the Reichsparteitag, 1935. He had the youth and he was planning on gaining the future.
I looked up Jessie Owens to see if he was an acutal person and he was, He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin,and he won four gold medals one in the 100 metres, one in the 200 metres, one in the long jump, and one in the 4 x 100 meter relay team. He was seventh out of elven children. He was born on September 12, 1913 and died March 31, 1980.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to know what the punishment was for hiding a Jewish person in your house during the war. Gennerally the punishment was that a german family (husband and wife) would be sent to a concentration camp themselfs technically branded as a Jew. a more severe punishment often given to people hiding many Jews was of course death. Also I found out that often when people were caught hiding Jews the only reason they were caught is because of nieghbors ratting them out. Also often times larger amounts of Jews hiding were caught easily but Nazis doing routine checks.
ReplyDeleteThe book Hitler wrote Mein Kampf which when translated in English is "My Struggle" this book was very common in Nazi Geramny seeing as they had to show support for thier glorious leader "The Fuhrer" what better way to do this other than having the book he wrote. Being a book about Nazism it is sold in Canada but Chapters has banned the book from being sold in any of thier stores.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about the books that Lisel read, for example, The shoulder shrug, The Grave Digger's Handbook, The Dream Carrier, so I searched them up and it turns out that they are all fake, I was suprised that the author made up books to write about in his book.
ReplyDeleteIn the book it mentions Rudy going to the hitler youth camps alot, I wanted to learn more about what the camps were about, and what they did there.
ReplyDeleteI found out that the Hitler Youth program was like a summer camp, they were designed to toughen the boys mentally and physically,there were alot of military excersises.The boys wore standard Hitler Youth uniform,brown shirts and black short pants.
In the book Rudy talks about how he wants to be like Jessey Owens and that he wants to win a gold medal in the 100 meter sprint like him. All the information about this event in the novel are true. Although I don't know if the "Jessey Owens incident" actually happened. It's really doubtful, but the facts about Jessey Owens winning gold and the Olympics being ran by hitler since it was in Berlin was true.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens
I did some research on Jesse Owens because I did not know who he was. The first thing that shocked me was that Jesse Owens was a African American. Rudy looked up to him and that means that Rudy did not discriminate against colour or race of a human. Jesse Owens was a participant in the Summer Olympic's in 1936. He did track and won four gold medals from 100m run, 200m run, long jump and a relay. He portraited the United States in the olympics. Later he was a sponsor for Adidas shoes and was asked to wear them in the Olympics. As he got older he started running his own dry cleaning buisness and found himself working as a gas station attendant. In 1966 Owens died of lung cancer from smoking for 35 years in Tucson, Arizona. He was only 66 years old.
ReplyDeleteI did not know about the book Mein Kampf so I decided to research about it. Mein Kampf which is also known as My Struggle is a book that is written by Adolf Hitler. Volume 1 was published in 1925 and volume 2 was published in 1926. He started writing the book while he was in prison for political crimes. He wanted to name the book originally Viereinhalb Jahre (des Kampfes) gegen Lüge, Dummheit und Feigheit, or Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice. But his publisher thought it would have been a better idea to keep the title short and name it Mein Kampf. In his book he talks about not having met a Jew but has hatrid towards them all. He also announces that he wants to destroy the parliamentary system. This book grew very popular all over Germany and Hilter was able to afford a mercedes benz whie he was still in prison.
ReplyDeleteI researched the gas chambers where the Jews died to find out exactly how that would work. Auschwitz became the largest killing centre during the Holocaust after an experimental gassing of 850 malnourished and sick Jews. After that time (September 1941), there were daily genocidal gassings. However, gassings weren’t the only way they executed the Jews. By mid-1942, up to 3 million people had eventually died through gassings, starvation, disease, shootings or burning. 90% of these people were Jews, but there were also gypsies, Soviet POWs and other prisoners sentenced to death. Gassings usually use hydrogen cyanide, carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide, and Zyklon-B (made of Hydrogen Cyanide) was used in Auschwitz.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.auschwitz.dk/Auschwitz.htm
@ Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteIn the book it says that he is African American. That's the reason why Rudy covers himself in charcoal. Rudy's father tells him that he doesn't want to be like Jesse because he Jesse not one of "them"."Them" being German. Rudy didn't understand this but that's because he didn't understand racism yet because he was too young.
When the Jesse Owens incident was mentioned in the book I wanted to know more about him. This is what I found.
ReplyDeleteJames Cleveland Owens was black, born September 12, 1913 in Oakville, Alabama USA. He was the seventh of eleven children. Jesse was an American track and field athlete and participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. He won the 100 meter, 200 meter, long jump, and he was part of the 4 x 100 meter relay. Jesse Owens was given many awards for his Olympic fame and other life achievements. He married his high school love and they were together until he died. He had three girls, Gloria born in 1932, Marlene born in 1939, and Beverly born in 1940. Jesse Owens died at the age of 66 on March 31, 1980, but him memory lives on.
I knew prior to reading the novel, that Mein Kampf was a book that Hitler wrote, and that it meant “My Struggle” in German, but I didn't know exactly what it was about. Mein Kampf had two volumes, one written in 1925, and the other in 1926. Hitler wrote that he wanted Germany to overrule the Treaty of Versailles and break international law. He describes his hatred for Jewish people and Communists. He also discusses plans to invade other countries and gain new territory for Germany. This novel sold nearly 240,000 copies before 1933, and over 10 million by the end of the war.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=32043&amid=30237234
As I was reading the last few pages of the book, I noticed that Death said “When the war was over and Hitler had delivered himself into my arms...” I was wondering what this means. It sounded like Hitler killed himself. I wasn’t sure if this was true so I researched it and found out that Hitler and his wife Eva had killed themselves. Hitler and Eva bit into vials of cyanide, and at the same time Hitler shot himself. He used a 7.65 Walther pistol. They had left in his will that they wanted to be burned immediately. Hitler’s death was what ended the six years of war. I found this very interesting because I didn’t know how Hitler had died.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.auschwitz.dk/Will.htm
Jesse Owens, a track and field athlete, as well as Rudy's idol, participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics that took place in Berlin, Germany. Hitler himself hosted these games. For the German side, only Aryans were allowed to compete in order to promote his belief of racial supremacy. During this time, the Nazis tried to mask the racism and discrimination by temporarily removing anti-Jewish signs and propaganda in order to give a false look of a peaceful Germany for international viewers.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?ModuleId=10005680
I wanted to know more about the Hitler Youth Schools because i had never heard of it before. I found out that the girls not only had to be taught about motherhood but they also had to be physically able to do a list of things such as:
ReplyDeleterun 60 metres in 14 seconds, throw a ball 12 metres, complete a 2 hour march, and swim 100 metres.
I also found this quote from Hitler.
"The weak must be chiselled away. I want young men and women who can suffer pain. A young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as Krupp's steel."
I was going to research Molching to find out more about the town, and I came to realize there is no town called Molching in Germany. In the book it describes Molching as very close to the concentration camp of Dachau, the town closest to the death camp is called Olching. Which is very close to the name of the fictional city of Molching. As well if you try and Google map Molching Germany, it directs you to Olching, Germany.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Gestapo was mentioned in the book I wanted more information about them, so I did some research. This is what I found.
ReplyDeleteThey were the secret police of Nazi Germany, and the group was started in April 1934. The Gestapo was also in concentration camps. They did not wear uniforms but wore plain clothes to mix in with the citizens, but in the early 1940’s they wore grey security service uniforms. There were very strict protocols to keep the identity of the Gestapo a secret. They succeeded until 1945 when they dissolved to citizens.
Throughout the book Hans and Rosa Hubermann vaguely talked about what wuld happen if they were caught with Max in the basement. I researched what the punishments were for helping a Jew in that time. The punishments were a bit in different places. In Poland the consequence was death. Helping a Jew was considered: taking them in for the night, giving them a ride in a vehicle, feeding them or even selling them stuff. This means that Hans Hubermann could have been killed for throwing bread into the street during the parade of Jews. You could also be sent to the concentration camps for helping a Jew because you were now considered "one of them". This just proves to you of how much the Jewish people were hated. Even by association with a Jew you were hated just as much.
ReplyDeleteI decided to do some research on the infamous Jesse Owens, because he seemed like an important part of Rudy's life in the beginning of the novel. Jesse Owens was an African American man who was a track and field star athlete, and he competed in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. He won four gold medals, and set a couple of Olympic records, which would have been a big deal at the time. But Adolf Hitler, who attended the games as a world leader, would not shake Jesse Owen's hand after his winnings because he was African American. These medals for Jesse Owens were not part of Hitler's plan to show the world the superiorty of the Ayran (and German) races during the Olympic Games.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I think Rudy was so inspired and intruiged with Jesse Owens, was because Jesse Owens defied Hitler's expectations, and did what he knew he was possible of. Rudy knew that if he set his mind to it, he could win the races at the Hitler Youth carnival, and prove to his old abusive Hitler Youth leaders that he was capable. These two people, one real and one fictional, are very alike in their desire to succeed, and to prove to the people with power over them that they are capable of succeeding if they try.
I found this information at the following site:
http://www.biography.com/articles/Jesse-Owens-9431142
"Papa's copy of the Molching Express announced that there would be a celebratory fire in the town square, which would be attended by all local Hitler Youth divisions. It would commemorate not only the Fuhrer's birthday, but the victory over his enemies and over the restraints that had held Germany back since the end of World War 1. "Any materials" it requested. "from such times - newspapers, posters, books flags, and any found propaganda of our enemies should be brought forward to the Nazi Part office on Munich Street"" (Zusak, 102)
ReplyDelete'Book burning' refers to the ritual destruction by fire of books or other written materials. The first book burning event was organized by German universities students on May 10, 1933. I could not find any facts on book burning celebration of Hitler's 51st birthday. In fact, Hitlers birthday on 1940 was not as a big of a celebration than the year before on his 50th birthday. However, the book burning celebration did in fact consist of burning of all newspapers, posters, books, flags and any propaganda that had any signs of Un-German Spirit.
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/bookburn.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings#The_book-burning_campaign
I was really interesting about the Hitler Youth program so I decided to do a little research about it. It began in 1922. The Hitler Youth were officially formed on July 4, 1926. After seizing power in 1933, the Nazi’s broke in to the German Youth Ministry and explained that the workers were now employed by the Hitler Youth. Most of the existing German Youth organizations were either banned or incorporated into the Hitler Youth. Most boys had to join the Hitler Youth, although membership was not officially compulsory until 1939. In 1942, physical training became more rigorous. Many basic military skills were incorporated such as camouflage, crossing rivers, digging fox holes laying down, etc. The Nazi’s by 1935 had enrolled 60 percent of Germany's youth into their youth movement. There were programs for both boys and girls, but they were very different given Hitler's concept of the proper role of women. Joining at the age of ten, boys were indoctrinated in all aspects of Nazi ideology, and particularly brainwashed in anti-Semitism. Encouraged to translate ideas into action, many later became active participants in the Nazi’s mass murder of European Jews and other groups they considered undesirable.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGurdeep, I too was interested in researching Hitler Youth. I found the same information as you and would like to add some. Hitler believed that the children were Nazi Germany’s future and made it clear by saying, "The weak must be chiselled away. I want young men and women who can suffer pain. A young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as Krupp's steel."
ReplyDeleteThroughout the book I have been wondering if where the story was set was actually a real place. After doing some research i found that Molching is a real city in Germany. There is also a a City called Munich.
ReplyDeleteSomething that i also wanted to know was if Himmel street actually existed also. Sure enough it does exist! It is in the same place as the story says. When I started reading the book i knew that the settings were supposed to be real but i had my douts and thats why i researched if the streets were real or not.
ReplyDeleteSomething I found interesting about this book was that it had said that on the radio the sound of a cuckoo would play right before the air raid sirens were to go off to give people even more of a warning that was silent to the allies. So I decided to do some research on this because it seemed important, the Hubermanns went out and bought a second hand radio to listen for it instead of relying on the air raid sirens. On the website I found all my information on it didn't mention anything about the sound of a cuckoo. It says that in WWII the country was divided into air districts labelled as I, II, III, IV etc. and listening devices were placed on the coast to detect the motor sound of an Enemy plane up to 175 miles away. When the sound of the motor is received by the device they put the districts which the plane is heading towards into the first state of alarm. Which includes factory lights being shut off, radio stations go off air, and the crews of antiaircraft guns man their stations. The second state of alarm occurs when the planes reach the coast of the district, that district then sounds the air raid alarms, everyone goes to their designated air raid shelter and all lights are turned off. All districts bordering that district are then placed into the first state of alarm. When the attacking plane reaches the district it is put into the third state of alarm known in German as "Hoechstalarm" or maximum alarm in English. This means the enemy planes are attacking and antiaircraft gunners fire at will and pursuit planes take off and attack the bombers. As the plane exits that district and enters a bordering district, the new district is immediately placed into alarm state 3 and the previously attacked one is placed back to alarm state 2. As the plane continues it's journey all the districts around and in the path of the plane are placed into state of alarm 1, to warn of possible attacks. If the cuckoo sound mentioned in the novel is correct than it would occur during the first state of alarm before all the radio stations go off air. The only time the districts are relinquished from their state of alarm is when the plane exited Germany and German occupied territory and the attack is considered to be terminated.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lonesentry.com/articles/ttt07/air-raid-warning-system.html
The Concentration camp that was mentioned a few times to have been close to the town of Molching which the Hubermanns resided in was called Dachau. I did some research to find out about the concentration camp of Dachau. Here is what I found:
ReplyDeleteThe concentration camp of Dachau was the first concentration camp formed in Germany by the Nazi Party. It was located on the grounds of an old Munitions factory. The Dachau camp was a prototype for the concentration camps in Germany and soon became the model that they formed all of the other concentration camps off of. It opened in March of 1933 and was used for "political prisoners." Over 200,000 people were taken to the camp before it was liberated, of those 200,000 one third were Jews and the rest "political prisoners," and of that 200,000 25,613 people died, the causes of death are believed to be disease, malnutrition, and suicide. Dachau and Auschwitz are the two major camps that are used to symbolize the concentration camps of WWII. Dachau was the second Nazi concentration camp to be liberated by Allied forces and the secrets of what was going on inside the camps were spread world wide by journalists firsthand accounts and news reel.
Whoops I forgot to include that I got my information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_concentration_camp
ReplyDeleteand here are two pictures of the camp:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KZDachau1945.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Prisoner%27s_barracks_dachau.jpg
When reading i was always wondering about Auschwitz the Jewish concentration camp. Heres some exciting info that i got from wikipedia
ReplyDeletethere is just tons of interesting information on it, so if you would like to know more about auschwitz concentration camp go to:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp
I did some research on Jesse Owens because I did not know who he was and this is what I found: Jesse Owens (1913-1980) was a black American athlete and a record-breaking runner who achieved worldwide fame after winning four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Hitler was reportedly embarrassed by the victory of a black athlete, which served to counter Nazi propaganda claiming the superiority of the white "Aryan" race Juden
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gradesaver.com/the-book-thief/study-guide/glossary-of-terms/
The word Kommunisten were introduced a couple of times in this book, so I decided to look it up. Kommunisten means Communists in German; advocates of the communal ownership of property in a classless and stateless society, an ideal first described in 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; the Soviet Union. Which Nazi Germany was at war from 1941 onward, was a nominally Communist nation, and German Communists were persecuted nearly as badly as the Jews by the Nazis
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gradesaver.com/the-book-thief/study-guide/glossary-of-terms/
In the book thief, Kristallnacht was mentioned so I decided to research on it. This is what I found: Kristallnacht is Crystal night in germen. Kristallnacht is a coordinated nationwide attack on all Jews in Germany involving lynchings and mob violence against Jews. The reason why they called it Kristallnacht is because of the broken glass of shops owned by Jews
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gradesaver.com/the-book-thief/study-guide/glossary-of-terms/
One thing I really wanted to learn a little bit more about after reading this novel was the Hitler youth because it was intriguing to think what they would have to do to prepare themselves to go out and start killing hundreds upon thousands of people. This is what I found out: it is a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ (Hitler-Jugend) {German for Hitler Youth} was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung (the SA).
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Youth
James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 metres, the 200 metres, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay team.
ReplyDeleteThis is a short description of Rudy Steiners idol
Death explains the future of Hans Hubermann's son and talks about his life eventually coming to a tragic hault at Stalingrad.(Pg.106)
ReplyDeleteIn 1942, the city of Stalingrad became the site of one of the pivotal battles of World War II. The Battle of Stalingrad saw perhaps the greatest casualty figures of any battle in warfare (estimates are between 1,250,000 and 1,798,619). The battle began on 17 July 1942, and on August 23 the city suffered heavy aerial bombardment that reduced most of it to rubble. By September, the fighting reached the city center. The fighting was of unprecedented intensity