SPOILER WARNING

Most steal to survive in life, however some steal to escape it.  In The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, a little girl in Nazi Germany by the name of Liesel Meminger stole for that exact purpose, and what she stole was books.  Liesel used these books to escape the chaos and deaths of the Holocaust, but escaping Death is no easy task, especially if he is the one telling your story.  Liesel and Death both steal distractions to escape the Holocaust, Death staring at the various “colors” of the world and souls of people, and Liesel with her affinity with books. Both of their chosen distractions, however, affect the ones around them, and both, along with others, come together in the end to grasp the one distraction that they all have in common: The Book Thief.

The first time Death encountered Liesel was the first time she began her career.  With a simple spurt of coughing, Death entered the carriage of the passenger train and Liesel lost a dream and a brother.  The two childrens’ destination was Munich with the purpose of beginning a new life with their foster parents.  Their true mother was asleep when her son Werner died, and no one noticed except Liesel.  The filling of a grave and occupation occurred two days afterward, when her brother was buried, and a book was stolen.  “…Only the girl saw it. She bent down and picked it up and held it firmly in her fingers.  The book had silver writing on it.” ( Zusak, page 24)  The book was entitled The Grave Digger’s Handbook and it became her first stolen book.  Soon after, Liesel’s destination was reached and after tears, resistance, and constant goodbyes, Liesel’s foster parents dragged her to her new home on Himmel Street, in the town of Molching, on the outskirts of Munich.’

Liesel knew a word that was alien to her, but answered the reason as to why she had to leave her mother. “Kommunist,” (Zusak, page 31) she had heard this word before, but hadn’t yet grasped what it meant. Liesel’s new parents were quite different from each other and it seemed impossible to figure out how they found love in the first place.  They were the Hans and Rosa Hubermann.  They’re house was like other houses on Himmel Street, slightly poor but still manageable, with a shallow basement and a spit stained door, due to a feud with their neighbor. Liesel’s new mother, Rosa Hubermann ruled her house with an iron fist, and the texture of her tongue wasn’t very different either.  She was short and plump, with a face similar to cardboard. Almost every sentence in her vocabulary consisted of a variation of pig, and a collection of swears.  Her job was washing and drying for the locals, and she always had something to say about them.  Her weapon of choice was a wooden spoon that was used for a “Watschen” (Zusak, page 75), or beating.  Her husband, however, was quite different.  Hans Hubermann served in the Great War, and he was a painter, not an artist, but a painter.  His real art, however, was in the accordion.  As time grew on, he often played for Liesel with a cigarette pinched between his lips (smoking was almost a hobby to him) and paint drying on his clothes.  In the night, Liesel’s nightmares of her brother were soothed by the accordion and soft voice of her father, and once he discovered her stolen book, their relationship only strengthened as Hans taught Liesel to read and write the words on the basement walls.  Liesel came to love her new father to great extent and came to learn to love her new mother’s hard ways of loving Liesel back.  Another character on Himmel Street was Rudy Steiner, a little lemon haired boy (Zusak, page 48 ) that became Liesel’s best friend.

Rudy Steiner was a boy with a head filled of hot air and confidence.  His favorite sport was soccer and he “..was obsessed with the black American athlete Jesse Owens.” (Zusak, page 46)  So obsessed infact that he charcoaled his body black and ran through the 1936 Olympics, Hitler’s games ( Zusak, page 56).  This became known as the Jesse Owens Incident.  Liesel first met Rudy due to soccer, and after their meeting they were best friends until death.  One problem with Rudy, however, was his confidence, especially with women.  Rudy secretly loved Liesel, however, he showed it quite clearly when he made a bet over a race that if he were to be the victor, Liesel would have to kiss him.  Rudy lost, and made a promise that one day, she would be dying to kiss him.  Over the years, Rudy kept asking at every opportunity for that kiss, until at one day, that request ended.  “In truth… [he] was afraid.  Rudy Steiner was afraid of the book thief’s kiss.  He must have longed for it some much.  He must have loved her so incredibly hard. So hard that he would never ask for her lips again, and would go to his grave without them.” (Zusak page 303)  Rudy never received that kiss.  His dead body did.

 The other characters in Molching perfected the atmosphere of a town in Nazi Germany. There was “Frau Diller – the staunch Aryan corner-shop owner.” (Zusak, page 45)  To be served in her shop, one had to say “Heil Hitler” in order to pass her wrath.  There was also “a man known primarily as ‘Pfiffikus’- whose vulgarity made Rosa Hubermann look like a wordsmith and a saint.” (Zusak, page 45)  The spit stains on the Hubermann’s door were the work of Frau Holtzapfel, who had been in an argument with Rosa for who knows how long and about who knows what.  There was also Tommy Muller, a sickly boy that accompanied Liesel and Rudy at times.  Lastly, there was the mayor’s wife, who grieved over the past death of her son.  During Liesel’s second book thievery, a book entitled The Shoulder Shrug; it was she who had witnessed the crime and later invited Liesel into her library to read.  After an argument however, Liesel started to steal the books from her library which often had its window left open.  She was usually accompanied by Rudy.  However, out of all of these characters, there is one that has yet to be mentioned:  a Jewish man by the name of Max Vandenburg.

His story began with his father which dates back many years, to World War I. (Zusak,  page 174) Hans Hubermann had been doing his best to avoid Death, but the real man who gave him that chance in this game of hide and seek was Erik Vandenburg.  Both cared little for fighting, so in the end they became good friends.  They smoked to their hearts content while gambling, and it was this German Jew, that became Hans’ music teacher.  Lessons halted however, when they were called to duty.  Death found Erik, but Hans apparently still had a good hiding spot.  All that Erik left behind was his accordion which remained with Hans, for he was the only survivor. “He survived like this.  He didn’t go into battle that day.” (Zusak, page 176) Before they entered battle that day, a sergeant required a soldier with excellent handwriting.  Erik nominated Hans for the job.  While Hans wrote letters, Erik wrote his last will.  Hans went back to the Vandenburg’s house after the war and offered his help to the family if ever they needed it.  Years later a Vandenburg did indeed need help.

“Max Vandenburg was born in 1916.  He grew up in Stuttgart.  When he was younger, he grew to love nothing more than a good fistfight.” (Zusak, page 187)  He had been living in secrecy with the book Mein Kampf .  It was Novermber 1940, and in the kitchen of an iron fisted woman, Max Vandenburg asked Hans for his help.  Liesel listened in her bed.  After arguments and many worries, it was settled.  They would help this Jewish man.  They would hide him. Room was made in the basement and he lived for many months, disguised behind paint cans and cloth.  The nightly reading lessons too place in the basement from then on.  As more books were stolen, the more Liesel learned, and the more Max listened.  Life went on as usual.  Rudy and Liesel began to steal food, but Liesel continued to focus of the robberies of the mayor’s library.  Max and Liesel talked about their nightmares.  Liesel and Rudy continued in their programs of Hitler Youth.  Max began writing a story for Liesel called the Standover Man using paint and the pages of Mein Kampf .  Max had started having dreams of boxing against the Fuhrer (Hitler).  In the winter, Liesel brought down a snowman into the basement for Max.  He had been asking what the weather was like for some time.  The cold of the snowman made Max sick and Death almost came to Max too soon.

 One day, fear struck the house when basements were being inspected and approved to function as bomb shelters.  Liesel ran to her father, injuring herself to escape the soccer game, and warned him when she saw the men walking from house to house.  Max hid as the Nazis walked down the basement steps.  “Papa sat at the table.  Rosa prayed in the corner, mouthing the words, Liesel was cooked:  her knee, her chest, the muscles in her arms… They had to survive the inspection…” (Zusack, page 344 )  They did survive due to their shallow basement.  Another house was appointed as a bomb shelter, thus when a warning of a raid occurred, Liesel brought her book and the Hubermanns and they ran to the shelter.  All were afraid until Liesel began to read.  Her voice calmed the children and even the adults inside the shelter.  When the sirens finally stopped they all went back home.  Max disappeared, but when found, he said he was busy looking into the sky; later that night he wrote “From a Himmel Street window… the stars set fire to my eyes.”

When Max truly did disappear, he left a new book for Liesel.  It was a fairy tale containing Liesel, the Fuhrer, and himself.  Months later, during a march of Jews, Liesel looked for him but did not find him.  She sneakily gave bread to some of the Jews, but she was spotted and chased away.  Soon after, Rudy’s father Alex Steiner and Hans Hubermann were sent to the war.  Hans worked as a pick up crew after raids, searching for any survivors and remains.  A few more of these marches and searches for Max happened.  After a few months, Hans was injured and sent home.  The Hubermanns rejoiced.

 In the last march of Himmel Street, Liesel saw Max.  They grasped each other and cried, the crowds of Germans watched as both were whipped down.  Liesel tried to run after Max, but Rudy stopped her.  Max was being marched from one of the many concentration camps to a death camp.

 After Germany’s annexation of Austria in March 1938, the Nazis arrested German and Austrian Jews and imprisoned them in camps.  There were three different types of camps:  forced labor camps mostly known as concentration camps, transit camps, and execution for mass murder, or death camps. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)

One such concentration camp, similar to the one Max had been in, was Dachau. Established in March 1933, it was the first regular concentration camp established by Nazi government.  During the first year, there were forty-eight hundred prisoners, ranging from communists, such as the word concerning Liesel’s parents, social democrats, trade unionists and other political enemies.   “Heinrich Himmler, in his capacity as police president of Munich, officially described the camp as ‘The first concentration camp for political prisoners’.” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) Others were later added, including:  Jehovah’s Witnesses, gypsies, Jews, and homosexuals.  Prisoners were used for labor and medical experiments. These experiments included tests of new medication, fatal experiments with disease, and stretching human limits. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)

The camps had little concern for hygiene and very poor care for their prisoners. Millions died in these camps and it wasn’t until the end of the war (during the Death Marches from the concentration camps) that the prisoners were liberated.  (Leonard ) One such liberated man was Max Vandenburg.

But before the reunion of Max and Liesel, there would be a lot of bombing. The bombs dropped as Liesel finished revising her biography entitled “The Book Thief.”  The bombs were welcomed by silence, for the sirens were too late.  In an instant, the bombs collided with the ground, and Death began his work.  In a matter of seconds, Himmel Street was rubble and the sky was red.  It was a common distraction of Death’s – the color red.  He had seen the same hue of sky all throughout World War II but Liesel was seeing it for the first time.  Only she survived as she was pulled from the remains of her house.  The street was alien to her, for nothing of the old Himmel Street remained.  She ran to a man as he found an accordion, she took it and began searching for her father.  Both Hans and Rosa lay motionless in the rubble.  A few meters away, a boy laid in the same manner.  Liesel bent down upon Rudy and cried, and it was only then, after death, that Rudy Steiner received his kiss.  The people of Molching were in the past, leaving only Liesel and a little book entitled “The Book Thief”, and of course Death, to tell their story.

The war ended and Max and Liesel were reunited.  Both eventually came to meet Death. All three had lived through the war, all experiencing different parts of it, but also, experiencing similar aspects of it.  They had all experienced the chaos of the war and had all found a way to escape it with different distractions.  In the end, they all had one similar distraction in common, one that affected the life of Himmel Street, and even Death himself: The Book Thief.