Theme of Courage in The Book Thief Hitler was a terrible person who was the catalyst of the Holocaust. He antagonized and tortured majority of the Jewish population, and it took courage to go against what he wanted. In The Book Thief, characters in the story had enough courage to pursue believing against Hitler; some of which being the Hubermanns and Leisel. One of the central ways in which the Hubermanns and Liesel show opposition to Hitler is through the way that they keep Max Vandenburg hidden in their basement in strict opposition to Hitler's policies and his attempt to destroy the Jewish race. This of course involved massive courage, and of course Hans Hubermann shows this courage elsewhere when he chooses to give bread to a starving