Analysis Of The Zookeeper's Wife By Diane Ackerman

Diane Ackerman’s New York Times best seller, “The Zookeeper’s Wife”, takes place in Poland in the mid-to-late 1930’s, focusing on the main characters, Jan and Antonia Zabinski, and their Warsaw Zoo. Their zoo was a rescue center for orphaned animals, however, when Germany invaded Poland in 1939, they also invaded the zoo, taking some of the animals and killing the rest. When the Zabinski’s are left with an empty zoo, they choose to transform it into a hiding place for the Jews, whom the Nazi’s wanted dead. Jan would sneak people in from the Warsaw Ghetto, hiding them throughout the zoo and Antonia would care for them, as she did with her animals in the zoo. Although the capturing and killing of their zoo animals was unfortunate and heart-breaking,
“Life in the ghettos was usually unbearable. Overcrowding was common…. People weakened by hunger and exposure to the cold became easy victims of disease; tens of thousands died in the ghettos from illness, starvation, or cold.” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). “Some animals, hiding in their cages and basins, became engulfed by rolling waves of flame.” (Ackerman 61). When Antonia heads into the zoo to rescue the animals from the German attack, she thinks, “This is how a hunted animal feels” (Ackerman 60). The scared and defenseless animals are clearly described, symbolizing their similarity to the Jews during this time. "During the Holocaust, Nazis referred to Jews as rats. …these wretched people were treated worse than animals..." (Smith). Like the defenseless animals hiding in their cages, the Jews are also helpless in saving their lives from the Nazi’s. And like the way the animals were killed in their cages, the victims of the Holocaust in the Warsaw Ghetto are locked inside the four walls, completely and utterly defenseless. When the Zabinski’s sneak the Jews food in the Warsaw Ghetto (Ackerman 103), and eventually provide them a way to escape, then do they realize the Jews similarity to the many defenseless and helpless animals that
“As a zoologist, Jan had spent years studying the minutiae of animal behavior-all the fineries of courtship, bluff, threat, appeasement gestures, status displays, and many dialects of love, loyalty, and affection.” (Ackerman 147). This talent of being able to switch between personalities aids him in many ways inside the Warsaw Zoo and saving many Jews. He uses his talent, learned from his observations of animalistic behaviors, to trick people and to aid in the fleeing of the Jews from the ghetto. Ackerman uses Jan’s understanding of animal behaviors and emotions to display that it helps him better rescue the