Class Session Summary: Thursday, January 26

We opened class on Thursday with a discussion on World War 2-era Germany. The discussion centered on how, after the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to pay a large amount of reparations; this in turn led to economic hardship, made worse by a great deal of inflation due to the Depression, which left Germany vulnerable. In response to this hardship, the German authorities established Jews as a scapegoat for the country's difficulties. Hitler then rose to power with the support of the people; he was appointed chancellor, but took over when the president who appointed him died. We discussed how Anti-Semitism was not a new idea, but had been around during the Middle Ages, when Jews were blamed for the Black Death. Hitler turned the religious identity of "Jew" into a nationality, and blamed the problems that Germany was facing on the Jews.

We then looked at a timeline of Hitler's rise to power and the factors that made it possible, beginning in 1918 when Germany lost WWI. This loss was a great injury to German national pride. The German Workers' Party, primarily made up of demobilized soldiers when the army was disbanded in 1918, was founded; this group later became known as the Nazi party. In 1923, Hitler was arrested for treason, sentenced to three years in jail, and spent his first year writing the first volume of Mein Kampf. After that first year, he was released. Meanwhile, the GWP targeted the disadvantaged and unemployed members of society, a number that increased exponentially during the Depression. In 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor. Within his first year as chancellor, he established the first concentration camp ad Dachau in response to a fire that was blamed on Communists. In 1939,  he invaded Poland, breaking a treaty made after WWI.

Our discussion then turned to The Book Thief itself, beginning with an introduction to Markus Zusak, the author, who was Australian but had German and Austrian parents, both of whom grew up during WWII and experienced first-hand the horrors described in the book. We next discussed the narrator of the book, Death, and how we knew that the narrator was, in fact Death. We talked about the characterization of Death, with his own personality, preferences, and opinions; sense of humor; sensitivity, which makes him likable; self-critical nature; and his sympathy for and caring towards the people who survive. We also discussed the way Death talks about colors, and what colors mean to him.

Next, we split into small groups to discuss individual characters on our own. We only got through three characters during the class period:

Liesel:

• She has a brother who dies
• Referred to as "the Book Thief" until page 20; not developed as a young girl at first
• The older sibling of the two
• Not well-educated, but determined to learn how to read
• Skinny and pale--indicative of malnourishment
• Pages 19-24 contain most of her initial characterisation.

Rudy:

• Attractive
• Likable
• Comic relief
• Naive and innocent
• Likes Liesel

Rosa:

• Rough (p.32)
• Foul-mouthed
• Blunt and direct
• Opinionated
• Critical