Laws In The Book Thief

Law, a system that is enforced by the government which determines what is right and what is wrong; crime or virtue, is enforced for a better society. When someone commits a crime, they are then to face the consequences of it, or meet punishment. Markus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief, is a memoir that has many instances that exemplify crimes being committed. These crimes consisted of being a member of the Jewish population, attempting to help the Jewish people, and going against the government. Nazi-occupied Germany enacted many of these new laws for a "better" society. However, evidence in The Book Thief suggests that these laws are not just. This proposes that the law is not always righteous, as the government could go corrupt at any time and

The act of antisemitism is a major theme in The Book Thief, as Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Germany, is one of the crucial antagonists in the story. Hitler enforced laws into the country that forced the Jewish people to live in both fear and suffering. His reign has completely and utterly stripped the Jewish of their every human right. He deemed the existence of the Jewish people a crime and committed mass genocide against them. This resulted in forcing the Jewish to seek refuge in their own country; “Max made his way to Munich and Molching, and now he sat in a stranger’s kitchen, asking for the help he has raved and suffering the condemnation he felt he deserved” (Zusak 196). Max is a Jewish boy who was forced to hide in the main character’s basement for survival. Him being pushed to the point of requiring to seek refuge to escape from his

Considering the circumstances of the mass amounts of lives that he stole, it would be more than reasonable to question whether or not he truly cares for his country. He had ordered all those he believes to be criminals to be executed or punished in the most barbaric ways possible, yet those decisions are arguable to be unrighteous. A leader that has high expectations to bring the best and only the best has only brainwashed his people, creating even more crimes in his society. This could be seen by Fraud Diller’s corner shop’s rule that, “If you walked into her shops and didn’t say ‘heil Hitler’ you wouldn’t be served” (Zusak 50), assuming that she regarded those who did not respect the leader, were against Hitler, or in other words, people suggestive of treason. A world where a single person’s name is considered being more significant than the lives of millions is more than exemplary of the tyranny that hailed Germany. The people had lost their ability to speak out freely, and the ability to hold personal beliefs, considering the words, “‘I hate the Fuhrer” (Zusak 115) was more than enough for Hans to slap his foster daughter across her face and order her to “Don’t ever say that!” (Zusak 116). If such words are powerful enough for a father to feel the need to sternly lecture his daughter, there is no doubt that the