By Emily Matis

Markus Zusak Born on June 23, 1975 in Sydney, Australia. His father was a painter. Mother was German, and inspired him to write this book with her stories. Youngest of 4 children. Another famous novel of his is I am the Messenger.

Protagonist Liesel Meminger Profile- Liesel is a tomboyish girl who is on the verge of puberty. She is the main character of the story. Background- Liesel is sent to be fostered by the Hubermanns because her father and mother are communists and were sent to Dachau Concentration Camp. Originally she was suppose to come with her brother, but he died on the train ride there.

Favorite Character Hans Hubermann Profile- his eyes are silver and he is tall and plays the accordion. He helps Liesel transition into her new home, and he teaches her how to read and write. He also comforts her when she has nightmares in the middle of the night. He is also against the Nazi party But he joins so his family doesn’t suffer the consequences.

Most entertaining Character Profile- Lemon blonde hair, wiry and athletic. Rudy is Liesel’s best friend and next door neighbor. He is madly in love with Liesel and always tries to kiss her. They play soccer and go on adventures together. Rudy Steiner

Cool Aspect to the Story Even though this story is about Liesel, she is not narrating. The story is narrated by death. Death is recalling the autobiography that he read written by Liesel telling her story of growing up in Germany.

Exposition The story takes place mainly on Himmel Street in Germany. The book is about Liesel and how she adjusts to her new life with her foster parents. In this book she grows and develops into a better and more educated person.

Rising Action Hans is involved in several occasions in which he is caught helping Jews. The Hubermanns hide a Jew in their basement. Max leaves, because he feels guilty. Hans gets sent away to fight because he hasn’t been devoted to the Nazi party. Liesel sees Max marching through the town heading towards a concentration camp and tries to help him.

Climax Himmel Street is bombed during the middle of the night. No alarms were sounded. Liesel is the only one who survives on her street because she was reading in her basement.

Falling Action The Funeral of the Hubermanns and the Steiner Family after the bombing. Alex Steiner (Rudy’s father) comes back from the war to see his family buried. Liesel is reunited with Max after the war.

Setting This book is set in a fictional town of Molchen, Germany before and during WWII. It is an important setting, because historically a lot of events were occurring during WWII that effected the citizens of Germany.

Resolution Many years later, death comes for Liesel in Sydney and her and death talk. They finally talk about her life and how he followed her throughout the war.

Death - The theme of death is present throughout the novel. First of all, the narrator is Death itself. WWII is also in the background which means that death is all around Liesel. The sources of all of Liesel's and Max's nightmares are the deaths of their family members. Friendship - Much of the plot revolves around Liesel's relationship with Rudy Steiner, which borders on romantic. Hans' loyalty to Max's father leads to hiding Max in the basement, which creates the deep bond between Liesel and Max. Literature – Liesel learns the value of having a voice and knowing how to read from the beginning of the book. She also realizes that words are what hold the country under the power of Hitler and the Nazi party. The theme is recurring: Hans teaches her to read at night, the mayor's wife allows her into the library, and Max gives her two books he wrote himself. Literature becomes Liesel's escape from reality.

Rating  I give this book an 8 ½. It was a really well written and I really enjoyed it. It had an interesting perspective.  I thought the whole book was great, I didn’t feel like it ever dragged.  I was a little surprised about the ending, but I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.

Medical Experimentation I decided to do my social issue on medical experimentation during the Holocaust -Nazi’s wanted to conduct genetic testing to prove they were the superior race. -They also felt they could further scientific progress through their experiments.

Medical Experiment Video 84E - Overview 84E

Experimentation Topics  Who were the experiments performed on?  The freezing/ hypothermia experiments.  The genetic experiments.  Experiments on pregnant women.  Experiments on children.

Who?  Medical experimentation was usually done on stronger men and women.  A majority of the tests were done on twins, pregnant women, and people with usually characteristics.

Freezing and Hypothermia  This was usually done to men, to mimic a soldier in the German Army.  Two methods- icy tub of water, or placing the person naked outside in subzero temperatures.  The icy tub method was the fastest way to drop body temperature. They measured temperature with an insulated probe inserted in the rectum. The probe was held in place by an expandable metal ring. (Korn)

Genetic Experimentation  Genetic experiments were performed to prove that the Nazi's were the superior race.  Basically through these studies they came to the conclusion that gypsies had a different blood and were more inclined to criminal behavior. All of theses experiments were performed in gruesome ways and with out anesthesia. ( Rosenberg)  After the victims were unloaded off the trains and stripped naked and divided into men, women, and children, they would sort through the thousands of people. The twins, dwarfs, and unique physical specimens were selected to be assigned to the experimental blocks. They were used more for the genetic experiments. In many ways the majority who where killed in the gas chambers were much better off than the survivors who went through different horrors.

Pregnant Women  In December 1942, Professor Carl Clauberg came to Auschwitz.  He injected chemical substances into wombs during his experiments.  Thousands of Jewish and Gypsy women were subjected to this treatment.  They were sterilized by the injections, producing horrible pain, inflamed ovaries, bursting spasms in the stomach, and bleeding.  The injections seriously damaged the ovaries of the victims, which were then removed and sent to Berlin. (Tran)

Twins  Blood samples were taken from them daily.  Other experiments involved injecting chemicals into the victims eyes to try and change the color to blue. (resulted in pain, infections, and blindness)  One twin would be experimented on and the other would have nothing done to them. Then the healthy twin would be killed to see what damage had occurred on the dead experimented twin.  Surgeries were often done without anesthesia- organ removal, castration, and amputations. (Rosenberg) (Loft)

Results  Between 1939 and more than seventy medical and research experiments were conducted at Auschwitz, Dachau, and Birkenau.  Over two hundred doctors experimented on 70,000 to 100,000 victims.

What can be done to prevent this from happening again?  We as a society should never let the government or anyone treat any race, culture or religion any differently than everyone else.  If we see discrimination occurring we should take action and stop it.  We need to make sure that everyone’s human rights are protected no matter who they are or where they came from.

Why should you care?  You should care because the victims of the holocaust were human beings just like you.  And they were completely innocent people who were discriminated against because of there culture and beliefs.  As a human, you have a certain rights, and you have the responsibility to make sure people are given those rights no matter the circumstances are.

The End

Bibliography 1.Bulow, Louis. Gate to Hell-Auschwitz Discover, SIRS. Genocide >. 3.Historiography, Holocaust Korn, Joseph. Medical Experiments of the Holocaust and Nazi Medicine. 25 April Loft, Ian. Medical Experimentation during the Holocaust Pisar, Samuel. "Out of Auschwitz." New York Times 28 January Rosenberg, Jennifer. Mengele's Children- The Twins of Auschwitz Tran, Can. Medical experimentation during the Holocaust Zusak, Markus, The Book Thief, published 2006 by Knopf