The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

The Man Who Ruled Germany
The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel written by Markus Zusak, in which it is narrated by Death, who states “It’s just a small story really, among things: A small girl, some words and accordionist, some fanatical Germans and a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery” (Zusak 5). Although the novel is more than that, Zusak was able to make a personal connection to the events that occurred in the novel, being inspired by his parents’ childhood stories and the events that they have overcome. Death narrates the horrible events that where committed by Hitler, such as the Nazi party, the Hitler youth and the concentration camps.
The Nazi party was a group of German men that was led by Adolf Hitler, which
The concentration camps were meant to detain and confine the Jewish population, usually under harsh conditions, with the main goal of eliminating their culture (Holocaust Encyclopedia). Zusak first presented the concentration camps in the novel when he had them marching through the streets of Molching; having death narrated “I have no idea where the convey had traveled from, but it was perhaps four miles from Molching, and many steps more to the concentration camps at Dachau” (Zusak). Liesel, Rudy and Hans were all present during this long walk to Dachau, observing as they watched the brutalised Jews walk down the street. During this time Hans goes to one of the Jews that have fallen and hands him a slice of stale bread; a Nazi who witness’ the act, whips them both. The Jew moved on leaving the bread, as Rudy and Liesel help Hans up (Zusak). A scene further on in, The Book Thief, where a similar situation occurs. A group of Jewish people are walking to Dachau once again outside of Molching, although this time a young teenage girl is walking with them. Liesel is observing each and every face hoping to see Max’s, and then she spots him, because he is the only other one searing the faces of the Germans. She goes amongst the Jews calling his name until she is close enough to take his hand in hers. Max tells her to stop holding on before they are seen, but she is much too strong for him, a soldier sees them and throws her to the ground, she gets up and quotes a passage from the word shaker, she approaches him and touches his face, the soldier comes with the whip and hits Max with it in the face. Liesel jumps in to intervene and gets hit herself (Zusak). Marcus Zusak was able to achieve the historical accuracy in The Book Thief, from the stories of his parents’ experiences, his mom a German women (Hudson,