Symbolism In The Nazi Book Thief By Markus Zusak

In the Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, the importance and significance of books plays a central role as a recurring motif. An important scene in the Book Thief occurs at a book-burning rally. In this scene, Nazi book-burning represents both the raw, authoritarian suppression of free speech, while also acknowledging the power and influence of books upon society. Book burning was common in Nazi Germany as a method to censor ideas from people, as books were seen as a possible source of a threat to the Nazi regime, with the potential to spread what the Nazis saw as dangerous ideas among the general population. As such, Nazis often targeted books and writings that could potentially undermine Nazi ideology and ultimately sever the Nazi party’s control

This precedent to the rampant Nazi book burning era came about as a result of the German student associations at the time, or Burschenschaften, which designated the 300th anniversary of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses to hold a demonstration at castle Wartburg in Thuringia, where Luther had previously sought refuge after his excommunication from the Catholic Church in 1521. The activist student groups gathered there burned anti-national and reactionary texts and literature, which they branded as distinctly “un-German”, in order to demonstrate for a unified Germany, as Germany at the time was only just a patchwork of separate, individual states. Although it would take until 1871 for Otto von Bismarck to officially unify the German states, the book burning demonstrations held by the student groups demonstrated an immense nationalist pride for Germany and an ingrained desire to unify and unite Germany. Similarly to this first book burning event in Germany, Nazi Germany also held mass book burnings to capitalize on the inherent nationalistic pride of the German people and unify and align them in a concerted effort to bring the Nazi party’s ideals to

The main proponent of the movement was Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda. To achieve his goal of bringing the vast expanse of German culture in line with Nazi ideology, Goebbels actively purged cultural organizations of Jews and others believed to be responsible for so-called degenerate works of art as seen by the Nazis. In a similar light as the student book burning groups that pushed for a unified Germany, Goebbels also found a devoted coconspirator in the Nationalist Socialist German Student’s Association. These German university students served as early advocates of the Nazi party, and many students proceeded to fill the ranks of various Nazi formations in the late 1920s. Similarly to the past student movements, this new generation of student activists was also extremely impassioned and fervent in their beliefs, and particularly in their support of the Nazi party. After World War I, many students had opposed the newly instated Weimar Republic, which lasted from 1919 to 1933, and they managed to find a supportive platform through which to vent their intense and vocal ultra-nationalism and antisemitism sentiments in Nationalism