When I turn 18, I'll be able to vote. To get a job. To seek higher education. To own property.
This is not the case for everyone.
In his novel, The Book Thief, Markus Zusak highlights how the rights and freedoms of Jewish people were stripped away from them in Nazi Germany.
Max Vandenburg, a character in the novel, is a Jew on the run. He was born in Germany. He was raised in Germany. His father fought for Germany in WWI. And yet, they shunned him and called him dirty, the inferior race. He was part of the people group used as a scapegoat for all of Germany's struggles after being cheated by the Treaty of Versailles after the First World War. Max could not vote. Work. Shop. Live. He lost his property, his family, his citizenship, and more, all because of his ethnicity. The discrimination he and many other Jews faced during this time is arguably unmatched, representing a deep, dark stain in our real-life history.
"German children were on the lookout for stray coins. German Jews kept watch for possible capture" (Zusak 169).
Max's struggles barely scratched the surface of what Jews, LGBTQ+ individuals, communists, and more had faced during WWII. He could've been arrested. He could've been beaten on the streets.
He could've been sent to concentration camps. The death camps, specifically. These camps were barely touched on, but we are given an insight by Death, who briefly described the death camps, and how many disasters he found among them.
"They just kept feeding me. Minute after minute. Shower after shower" (Zusak 349).
In the end, it all worked out for Max, but not for many others. Over 6 million European Jews lost their rights. And their freedoms. And their joys and comforts. And their lives.
Never forget that.
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