Courage In The Book Thief

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it."

Courage is the ability to do something that frightens one. Courage is strength in the face of pain or grief. Throughout the course of World War 2, there were many people who acted in a courageous manner, as portrayed by Markus Zusak in his novel 'The Book Thief'. Weather it was putting their entire life on the line just to save some strangers from possible torture, hiding illegal people in their own houses with the possibility of being killed or smuggling thousands of people out of the Ghettos and into hiding places at the risk of death, there were some extraordinarily courageous humans in World War 2 who not only saved other people lives, but they did it all at

the risk of their own.

One person who had shown outstanding amounts of moral and physical courage was Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, as he risked his respectable title and his life to save other people. Duckwitz was a Danish man who was part of the Nazi Party and managed to save 99% of Denmarks Jewish population. When the war began, he felt bad about how the Nazi's were treating Jews, and did not feel proud of the fact that he was part of the Nazi Party. He almost felt responsible for the actions against the Jews, but he knew that at that point of time, when the war was just beginning, it would not be a smart or safe move for him to leave the party. So instead, he took it upon himself to rescue as many of the Danish Jews as he possibly could. He started out by taking a secret trip to Sweden to meet with their Prime Minister so he could seek refuge for the Jews of Denmark. Sweden was not heavily involved in the war so he thought that it would be a wise place to transport the Jewish people. It was eventually set up for the Jews to travel to Sweden by boat to escape the wrath of the Nazis. In the end Duckwitz managed to save 99% of all Danish Jews. He then died in 1973.

Another majorly courageous person from World War 2 was Johanna Eck. A woman who illegally harboured and saved 4 people that were being targeted by the Nazis, 2 of which were Jews. The first Jew that she saved was Heinz Guttmann. Eck had previously known the Guttmann family, and when they were all deported Heinz had managed to escape. He sought refuge from many people, but knowing the dangers of harbouring a Jew, everyone declined him. Eventually he came across Johanna Eck, who was willing to have him hide in other house. After a while of Heinz staying there, there was an air-raid, which destroyed Johanna's house. She was allocated a replacement apartment but it was impossible for her to hide Heinz there without being caught, so instead of just throwing him out, she found a new place for him to hide, and occasionally gave him food rations. This was not her only act of courage though, later she harboured another Jew. Through Heinz's land lady, Ms M, she met Elfriede Guttmann, (Elfriede and Heinz have no relation) another Jew in which she had harboured. Previously Elfriede was hiding in Ms M's house, but her house was raided by the Gestapo. One day when Elfriede and Johanna were in line at a bakery they came across Erika Hartmann, a German lady who offered Elfriede her Aryan documents. Eventually Elfriede was registered as Erika Hartmann and she lived with Elfriede for a while until she passed in 1946. Johanna was tremendously courageous to harbour 2 Jews and save 2 other non-Aryans. "The motives for my help? Nothing special in a particular case. In principle, what I think is this: if a fellow human being is in distress and I can help him, then it becomes my duty and responsibility."

The courageous behaviour displayed by all of these people was then fictionalised in Markus Zusak's 'The Book Thief'.

There was one character which showed extravagant amounts of courage, and gave a Jewish man refuge in his own home. This character was Hans Hubermann. He had met someone in World War 1, who he had become great friends with, and who had even saved Hans' life. This man was Erik Vandenburg. After Erik died Hans payed a visit to his family to return some of his belongings. As we was talking to Erik's wife, "he slid a piece of paper with his name and address on it across the table". He had offered them any kind of help they could need, in order to return the favour of Erik saving his life. And with that, he left. Many years later, when World War 2 was beginning, there was a knock on his door. It was a Jewish man, by the name of 'Max Vandenburg'. He was Erik's son and he was seeking a hiding place from the Nazi soldiers. Hans let him stay, just like Johanna Eck did, sacrificing his food, his life, and even his families life. There was an incident where Nazi soldiers were checking basements, Hans didn't try to get rid of Max. No, he simply just hid him and hoped for the best. Hans later died in an air-raid, and if it weren't for him, Max would have to. Well, he probably wouldn't have even made it to that point of time alive it it weren't for Hans. Max survived the entire duration of World War 2, in its fictionalised version by

Zusak.

A third heavily courageous being during World War 2, was Irena Sendler, a woman who saved 2,500 Jewish children from their death. In 1942 when the Warsaw Ghetto was built, Irena saw the condition in which it was and how the people inside it were suffering and was absolutely appalled. So she joined Zegota, the Council for Aid to Jews, where she was recruited to enter the Ghetto in order to rescue children. Irena was a nurse at the time, so she managed to smuggle children out of the Ghetto, whether they were in bodybags, or in the back of an ambulance. All of the children she saved were given false identities and were adopted by Aryan families. Disregarding the incredible amount of people she saved, Irena still was very humble. "Heroes do extraordinary things. What I did was not an extraordinary thing. It was normal." Putting her own life, and the life of all the other members of Zegato was an enormously courageous and definitely extraordinary move from Irena.

Courage was a very important thing during World War 2. It was commonly shown by people who put the lives of others' in front of their own, and risked their reputations to keep other people alive. Many forms of courage were shown during that time, and without the risks these people had made, so many more innocent people would have unnecessarily came to their death.