Summary Of The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

Eleven million people murdered by Hitler and his Nazi’s. Of that six million were Jewish, five million were not. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak touched on topics about what it was like for most Non-Jewish Germans and their experiences during WWII. Night by Elie Wiesel talked about the scenarios that Jews faced during the Holocaust in a concentration camp. In fact, Night is an autobiography of Elie's experience in the concentration camp, Auschwitz, during 1944-1945. Five million people were killed during WWII that weren't Jewish. Many different non-Jewish groups were killed including homosexuals. There are countless lessons that can be learned about the Holocaust and WWII from The Book Thief, Night, and Homosexuals.

The Book Thief by Markus

Most people think of the six million Jewish people that were killed by Hitler and his Nazis. As a result, most forget about the other five million other, non-Jewish, people that were killed during the Holocaust. For example, one of the groups of non-Jews that were killed were Homosexuals. Hitler had the idea of a "Master Race" and there was no room in it for homosexuals. The Homosexuals persecuted were mostly male because the female homosexuals (lesbians) weren't seen as a threat to the "Master Race". Presently, male homosexuals, gays, were seen as weak and a threat to Germany's reproductive potential. For this reason, many homosexual males were persecuted, tortured, and executed. Ultimately, between the years 1933-1945, roughly 100,000 male Homosexuals were persecuted, 5,000-15,000 were sent to concentration camps where as many as 60% were killed. In addition, the gays in concentration camps were forced to wear pink triangles, similar to the Jews wearing gold stars. Generally, it was rare for the Nazis to persecute non-German homosexuals unless they were active with German partners. Similarly, one account is from a man named, Pierre Seel who said, “It happened in front of me and 300 prisoners. 300,” he said. “The death of Jo, my friend. He was condemned to die, eaten by dogs. German dogs. German shepherds. And that, I can never forget,” (huffingtonpost.com). Hitler was so concerned about homosexuals that he even interrogated his own SS officers and Nazis. Therefore, homosexuality was taken very seriously and was a severe