Minority Social Groups In The Book Thief By Markus Zusak
1270 Words6 Pages
With almost 8 billion people in almost 200 countries, our world is a perfect environment for new and old social groups to flourish. Now, with even more acceptance to emerging groups, like LGBTQ+, the number of groups is bound to grow even further and at a faster rate just as our population will too. About 80 years ago, our population was smaller, the number of social groups was smaller, and so was the acceptance and approval of many social groups. WWII highlights the most severe oppression of minority social groups during the era; it was then, when Nazi Germany emerged from the ashes of WWI and ordered the extermination of millions of Jews, Gypsies, and other “unwanted” social groups and oppressing others. However, not all Germans showed unflinching support to the Nazis. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak describes the story of Liesel Meminger and her family who are non-Nazi Germans, a social minority in Germany at the time. They passively resist, until Liesel realizes the actions of Hitler and his government and begins to actively confront them in small but meaningful actions. Minority social groups are usually unrecognized while their perspectives are even more unheard during times of conflict, especially the perspectives of those who were in the losing country of the war when biases filter many of their…show more content… Non-Nazi Germans are represented in The Book Thief as a social group that is large in number, deeply restrained and oppressed/requires perseverance and coping, and as a source of hope to show the reality/real presence of non-Nazi Germans and their struggles