The Book Thief by Markus Zusak takes place in the dark times of Nazi Germany.

Germany was ruled through totalitarianism. Very harsh actions were taken during this

ruling, like censorship. Books were burned to erase any ideologies opposed to Nazism.

The Nazi’s wanted to eliminate any foriegn influence. Books were targeted based on if

they represented a cultural, religious, or political opposition towards Germany.1 These

actions affected society since book represent humanity. Book are essential in order to

have an intelligent society. Humans gain knowledge from books about other people,

history, new ideas, stories, ect. Zusak provides commentary about censorship by

illustrating the power of words through his main character, Liesel. Liesel is referred to as

the book thief, since she constantly finds herself acquiring books that aren’t hers. “When

she came to write her story, she would wonder exactly when the books and the words

started to mean not just something, but everything” (Zusak 30). Zusak anticipates what

the books mean to Liesel to show how significant they are. Liesel found comfort during

this dark time by entertaining herself with books, even though books weren’t a common

thing to obtain in the society she was surrounded in.

In Nazi Germany, the Jewish community was mainly targeted because the Nazi

Party was intimated that they dominate over them. The Nazi’s turned Germans agianst

the Jewish people by making false statements about them to change their outlook.

Germans were discriminating the Jewish based off these lies. Germans soon believed

they were superior over the Jewish.2 Society was affected since not everyone was

treated equally. Although many Germans were brainwashed into believing Jews were

bad, Hans Hubermann had a soft spot for one. Zusak includes commentary on the

1
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
2
The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Nazism.”
discrimination against Jews by incorporating one as an important character. Max, also

known as the hidden Jew in the basement, experiences traumatic things during the war.

Max was forced to hide from the Nazi Party for quite some time to avoid being killed or

sent off to a concentration camp. Hans took the risk of dying to shelter Max because he

saw Jews as ordinary people. Zusak shows another side of Nazi Germany to

acknowledge that not everyone agreed with the Nazi Party. Zusak also incorporates

social commentary to show what the Jewish community went through.

During the time of Nazi Germany, everything was surrounded by war. Whenever

there is a war, there are many casualties that follow. A big issue in Germany’s society in

the twentieth century was the countless amount of deaths. Death is presented a

considerable number of times in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, which takes place in

Nazi Germany. Death narrates a story about a girl who is surrounded by death. “You will

know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables. It

suffices to say at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible”

(Zusak 4). Death indicates that sooner or later, everyone will die. Zusak uses social

commentary to address the issue on death by implying that dying was the norm during

that period of time.