The Zookeeper's Wife Analysis

1. Jan and Antonina Zabinksi were Christian zookeepers of a zoo located in Warsaw. Their villa would always be filled with animals, which Jan and Antonina loved. However this changed in 1939. In 1939, Germany invaded Poland and Warsaw was bombed numerous times. As a result of this, parts if the zoo were destroyed and many animals were killed or shipped away. Antonina was in disbelief and was even outraged by the Nazi treatment of Jews. There were 400,000 Jews locked away in the Warsaw Ghetto, and would receive only 184 calories per day. She even asked herself, “How can this barbarity be happening in the twentieth century?!!!!!!” (Page 103). Both Jan and Antonina found Nazi racism inexplicable, devilish, and “a disgust to the soul,” (page 112).
In “The Zookeeper’s Wife,” the author, Diane Ackerman, is talking about the rescue and resistance aspect of the Holocaust. To a Jew, resistance could be considered as smuggling a loaf of bread, or rescuing a Torah, which might not be exactly what one might think of by “resistance” during the Holocaust. Resistance is a conscious act whose aim is not to fulfill the oppressor’s intentions, in spite of the danger involved. For Jan and Antonia Zabinksi, the danger that came with rescuing Jews was death, and their form of resistance was more than smuggling a loaf of bread. In fact, they smuggled people to bring back to their zoo to hide and keep in safety, which they had to be extremely careful about, since the only result of being caught was death. The Jews were taken from the Warsaw Ghetto. On October 12th, 1940, Germans commanded the creation of a ghetto in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. This required all Jewish residents of Warsaw to move into this designated area that was sealed off from the rest of the city. The ghetto was soon enclosed by a large 10 feet high wall, which was topped with barbed wire. It was also closely guarded. However, there were ways around this, such as Jan’s job, which allowed him access. Jan was also heavily involved with the Polish Underground Resistance. This group consisted of thousands of people who were working together to oust the Nazis from Poland. To accomplish this goal, members would bomb railways, destroy weapon caches and help Jews
This book is a valuable teaching tool because it is truly inspiring and moving. It teaches readers a story of heroism, in which the Zabinski’s risked their lives, as well as their family’s’, to save over 300 Jews. It represents a story much larger than just a rescue story. It shows how humans are the dominant force for change in the world. There was chapter in the book, in which the Nazis destroyed the zoo’s rose garden and the large beautiful bushes and replaced them with seeds of their own. This idea of the Nazis replacing the crops with German crops, are what the Nazis start doing to the world. The Nazis attempted to eliminate all of Europe Jew’s, to replace them with a “master race.” However, numerous people, such as Jan and Antonina find this great compassion and kindness within themselves to overcome this horrific evil. Therefore, showing future generations, that humans as a whole are this dominant force and if we disrupt such disposition, as Nazis have done, we will only hurt