The Holocaust In The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

During and before WW2, a great tragedy occurred: The Holocaust. The Holocaust was a systemised genocide orchestrated by the Nazis and targeted at the Jews, Roma, and other “Undesirables”. An interesting fact is that Germany was a diverse, scientifically advanced country, so how were the Nazi able to take over with all of their talk of “it was all the Jews’ fault” propaganda and racism? It’s an interesting collection of facts, but while researching them, I discovered something that made me sick. Genocides still happen to this day! There is only one way to prevent these genocides, and possible kept the holocaust from happening, is to be an ally to the persecuted and speak up, and never let someone think for you.

The Holocaust was the largest
Markus Zusak's The Book Thief has a good example of this within it’s pages. Alex Steiner, a German shop owner, does not support the Nazis or Anti-Semitism, but still joins the party, so he can get more business, and therefore more food and money for his wife and kids. An even better example of this is derived from Yad Vashem: “the vast majority of people in Germany and occupied Europe were aware, to at least some extent, of how the Nazi regime was treating the Jews. Nevertheless, they took no active position on the matter. They did not openly persecute the Jews but they did not actively help them either. This was sometimes due to anti semitic sentiments but primarily because they felt that it was an assault not on them but on another', even if this other' was a neighbor, partner or acquaintance.”. To further this, a poem written by The Reverend Martin Niemöller, a pastor in the German Confessing Church who spent seven years in a concentration camp. He talks about his lack of resistin or speaking up, until it was too late. “First they came for the communists, and I did not speak