Importance Of Life In Markus Zusak's The Book Thief

The first lady, Michelle Obama says this, “You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not be able to solve all of life’s problems, but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.” Many people wonder what importance life has and this quote answers it all. Everyone is so important because everybody has the potential to do incredible things. Markus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief shows us this. It is told from the perspective of Death and set during the time of the Holocaust. The story follows a German girl, Liesel, who moves to live with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Huberman. It tells her story while she lived in Germany during
Hans was serving in WWI when he met Erik Vandenburg, a Jewish accordion player who he becomes friends with. Erik saves Hans by volunteering him to mail letters while the others have to go fight. (177) Erik and the rest of the soldiers they were with die, except for Hans, who did not have to fight. All of the people who died had families and had so much potential. Hans then sees how significant life is and then vows to protect Erik’s family whenever they are in danger. It is because of Erik that Hans does not have a prejudice against Jews. Later, when the Jews are experiencing hate and it is not safe for them in Germany, Hans takes in Erik’s son, Max. Hans sees how important it is to save as many people as he can, even if it is just one person. Every life is crucial and he sees this through the deaths of the soldiers in his unit. He wants to save Erik’s son Max because he wants a better future for him because his dad died so young. Someone else who saved Jews was Oscar Schindler. He saw the horrors of the concentration camps and wanted to save as many people as possible. He used every resource he could to save them. In an article about his story it says “Oscar Schindler spent millions to protect and save his Jews, everything he possessed. To more than 1200 Jews Oscar Schindler was all that stood between them and death at the hands of the Nazis.” (Louis Bülow 1) Before he was saving Jews he had a job of war profiteering. After he saw how many innocent lives were being taken by the Nazi’s he saw how valuable those lives are and promised to save them. Those Jews whose lives he saved were now able to go on and do great things. They were able to live and that is the best gift Schindler could have given