"The Zookeeper's Wife" by Diane Ackerman tells the story of Jan and Antonina Żabiński and their efforts to keep the zoo they own and Warsaw's Jews safe during the Nazi's invasion of Poland in September of 1939.
Jan Żabiński was the son of a Polish railroad engineer but decided against following in his father's footsteps by becoming an engineer. Instead engineering, he showed an interest and passion for zoology. He pursued his passions and became the director of Warsaw Zoo in 1929. Antonia grew up in slightly more difficult circumstances than Jan, both of her parents were shot and killed as Intelligentsia members during the Russian Revolution. As a young girl, Antonia moved to Warsaw to live with her aunt where she would later become an Archivist
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at Warsaw's College of Agriculture. This where the two meet and would begin their story in 1931 after getting married. Shortly after getting married, Antonia gives birth to their son named Ryszard or "Ryś" for short. The book opens to Antonia waking up and beginning her daily caretake of the animals but mainly the gibbons1 and an elephant named "Tuzinka"2. Throughout the first few chapters, the audience learns about Antonia's love for the animals. In the book it says she "longs for people to connect more with animals and nature" and will often invite artists from around to visit the zoo and "uncage their imaginations". The whole family loves the animals including Ryś who makes friends with a badger inside the zoo and makes him follow them around on a leash. During this whole time the town is preparing for a war by building fortifications. This is where Antonia begins to worry. On September 1st, 1939, sounds of airplanes and loud booms begin to be heard from the zoo. Worried, Antonia and Jan decide to leave the zoo to stay in a nearby village though they don't get very far. On their way, a bomb is dropped onto the street barely missing them so they decide to just head back into the safety of the zoo. After arriving back at the zoo Jan searches for a place to send Antonia that is safe since the zoo won't be safe for very long. He sends her to a resort located in a small village, but once again she won't make it very far because German aircrafts strike again. She stays a few days until Jan comes to tell her that it is completely safe for them to go back to the zoo, but he is completely wrong. Upon arriving at the zoo, they see it has been badly damaged by the attacks, resulting in many of the animals dead or injured. They try to save what animals they can but on September 7th they are forced to heartbreakingly leave. After leaving Jan joins the army and Antonia and Ryś move into a small apartment inside the city. Antonia doesn't really help provide for the two of them but relies on the kindness of the people also living in the apartment complex which isn't a very smart idea. She would sometimes leave the apartments to go back to the zoo to check on the animals since she didn’t believe that the teenage boys in charge wouldn’t take care of them properly. Many people believe that the boys Antonia is talking about are made up and just a figment of her imagination. She compares herself to a "hunted animal" because of having to stay in hiding and safety. Within the next few days, the Germans bomb Warsaw. Antonia is, of course, at the zoo trying to save and rescue animals, but only a few survive. She mainly looks for one in particular which is Ryś pet badger, but it is nowhere to be found. Shortly after the bombing, Warsaw surrenders and Jan arrives unexpectedly at Antonia and Ryś apartment. He had bumped into a German officer named Dr.Muller who had also been a member of the "International Assoc iation of Zoo Directors".
Dr .Muller helped Jan escape and return home by faking his arrest and bringing him back to Warsaw as a prisoner but releasing him upon their arrival. Jan and Antonia go back to the zoo to find even more injured animals. After Warsaw officially surrenders3, Germany takes over and Antonia and Jan return to the zoo permanently. During this, a Polish resistance is on the rise and Jan is interested in becoming a member in it, but before he can deal with that, they have bigger issues. The two are visited by a representative for Lutz Heck, the director of Berlin Zoo. Heck wants all of Warsaw Zoo's animals since he knows that the zoo is in massive danger from the war and the fact that it could be liquidated any day. Heck is obsessed with the idea of "animal purity". An idea that would later carry over into the human race and Hitler's idea of an Aryan race. …show more content…
4 The next morning, Antonia wakes to darkness, the windows have been boarded shut. Later that day Heck will visit and come off as a nice and friendly person. He explains to them that in exchange for the animals, he will persuade Germans high commands to be lenient towards the zoo. They both feel that they have no choice but to agree and give him the animals, but it turns out Heck isn't all he seemed to be. When Heck returns to the zoo, he is accompanied by very high-ranking SS5 friends for a "big game hunt". In other words, they came in and shot the animals while they were still in the cages. This worries Antonia because if they’ll do this to animals, what won't they do to humans? The zoo is then turned into a pig farm. German officers lock away over 400,000 Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. Two of Antonia and Jan's friends named Adam and Wanda Englert decide to fake a divorce so Wanda can escape from Warsaw. Before she goes they decide to have a "going away" party but Jan and Antonia won't make it there peacefully, more German aircrafts are dropping bombs. They barely miss the bomb only because they stopped to smoke. They feel that everything is fine until they hear word of another bomb dropping near Ryś school. Luckily, all the children are safe and Ryś is unharmed. Wanda escapes but somehow ends up back inside the zoo as Ryś tutor. As a child, Jan went to a mostly Jewish school so he feels a "moral indebtedness to the Jews". In order to repay his "debt", him and Antonia secretly use the zoo to hide refugees. Jan begins working with the Underground and takes on the name of "Francis" after Francis of Assis6. To help "camouflage" the Jews, they keep the zoo populated with many legal visitors, they basically hide them in plain sight. They all take on "roles" such as Antonia becoming the hostess doing chores and finding a way to come up with all the food needed to feed everyone. The biggest challenge they face is not hiding them but making sure that Ryś stays quiet about them. They know if anyone were to find out about all of their "guests" that they would definitely be questioned and most likely caught and killed. Jan and Antonia then face a major setback. The Germans shut down the pigfarm at the zoo. This takes away meat from what they were using to feed all the Jews and takes meat away from the Nazis. This makes Jan even angrier. The pigfarm was his excuse to go into the Ghetto for supplies, now he will have to find another way in without getting caught. Apparently, shutting down the pig farm wasn’t enough to satisfy the Nazis. They began to cut down many of the plants and trees in the zoo and start planting German ones. Jan then meets with Warsaw's Polish vice-president7 who helps Jan get a Ghetto pass. The job is connected to Warsaw's Parks and Gardens Department. The job introduces Jan and Antonia to a famous entomologist8 named Dr. Syzmon Tenenbaum. Tenenbaum later on authorizes a German man named Ziegler to inspect his insect collection that he left with Jan. Jan begins to fear that Tenenbaum has turned them in but Ziegler was actually just a German who was interested in insects, Ziegler wants Jan to become a liaison9 for him and Tenenbaum. This would allow Jan to have access to the Ghetto at all times and the ability to sneak people out because of his disguise as a beetle expert. As winter comes, Tenenbaum dies and Ziegler leaves his dog Zarka under Antonia's care. Jan begins to come up with a plan for Tenenbaum's widow to escape. Jan's plan is to sneak Lonia Tenenbaum out of the Ghetto and into the zoo as a guest. They almost make it out of the ghetto but are stopped by the guard on duty. After arguing for a while, the guard reluctantly lets them through. Lonia stays at the zoo only a couple weeks before moving to the countryside in a safer town. This part of the book is where stuff starts to get really bad. Hitler begins doing what they done to the zoo (killing the animals in their cages, weeding out the ones they didn’t like, replacing local plants with German ones, etc.), to the world. It's also winter during this so the guests can no longer stay at the zoo. They are moved to warmer safehouses but will be moved back to the zoo in the spring. The only ones left in the zoo were Antonia, Ryś, Wicek10(a rabbit), and Kuba11(a chicken). Wicek and Kuba become Ryś pets in order to help him live a somewhat normal life. In the summer of 1942, the Polish Underground receives letters warning them that the mass execution of Jews is happening. The Ghetto would soon become liquidated, just as she feared would happen to the zoo. During the fall of that same year, Antonia is stricken with a disease that causes her legs to be inflamed12 causing her to be bedridden, leaving her unable to help with the zoo and its guests. Ackerman hints that this could be a result of her pregnancy with Ryś. A new Underground group named Zegota is formed.
The Zegota are loyal to "rescue, not sabotage or fighting, and, as such, it was the only organization of its kind occupied in Europe during the time of the war." Jan and Antonia become a part of Zegota and help save many Jews which of course become guests in their zoo. The zoo soon becomes home to a Nazi fur farm where they raise foxes and other animals simply for their fur. The Żabiński house becomes known as a "Noah's Ark" due to all the animals and people living there. In December of 1943, Antonia bleaches some of the guests hair in order to make them appear more Aryan. A woman named Dr. Mada Walter will then open an institute to help many more Jews pass as
Aryan. In Spring of 1943, the president of Warsaw comes to Jan saying he wants to rebuild and restore the zoo but then sadly tells Jan that he can no longer be the zoo director. In June of this same year, Antonia gives birth to a daughter named Teresa. By 1944, most guests had left to join the army or escape. In the fall, bombs continue to fall so Antonia and Ryś hide in the back of a truck as a man known by "fox man" smuggles them to a a nearby village. The book ends with the zoo reopening in 1949 complete with sculptures and thirty bison that Lutz Heck brought back. Antonia goes on to write children's books but dies in 1971, Jan dies three years later. The Nazis never succeeded in creating the perfect race of humans or animals. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about the Invasion of Poland and the Holocaust while also hearing a good story. "The Zookeeper's Wife" is a great read and is a book you definitely won't want to put down.
This poem, Sarajevo Bear written by Walter Pavlich, addresses one of the most important themes, the struggle to keep humanity strong and stable. To begin with, this poem is discussing the sniping campaign that took place in Sarajevo in 1993 and how civilians were the targets of these attacks. During this time people faced a dilemma: they could either stay in hiding forever or until the war ended, or they could do something that would get their mind off the war and relieve some of their stress. People knew though the risk of leaving the security and safety of their home as they could be shot and killed at any time without warning. But still this did not stop the people working at the zoo and feeding the bear to stop their job. Furthermore, the first verse of this poem states that this is the last animal at the zoo. This illustrates that just as many people were dying, many animals were dying as well illustrating that our actions not only affect us but they also affect things around us, and in this poem it was the zoo animals. In a zoo the animals are contained within a certain area an...
The term self-control, tends to be associated with behavior and emotions. Most would think of controlling behavior caused by emotion. They think of punching the wall because of anger, or not wanting to cry in public. In chapter 8 of the book “The Social Animal” by David Brooks. Brooks confronts misconceptions in the way people view self-control. Specifically, Brooks argues that self-control is more about what the mind gives attention too than about the controlling the emotion or action. Brooks uses the character of Erica and her tennis career to explain how to have self- control. Brooks explains, “She was reminding herself that she had a say in triggering which inner self would dominate her behavior. All she had to do was focus her attention
In the novel “The Secret Life of Bees”, which is surprisingly not an informative book talking about bees, the main character Lily Owens is set out to be the victim because of her parents. The novel first tells the reader that Lily accidently kills her mother when she was a toddler, and goes on to explaining how her father, whom she calls T-Ray, is an abusive man. He punishes Lily very often in many ways, like making her kneel in grits and speaking to her in an offensive manner. We later find out that Lily’s mother, Deborah, suffers from depression, partly because of the dominance coming from T-Ray, and learn the harsh truth of her leaving Lily. The author, Sue Monk Kidd, gives the vision of T-Ray being a bad father and Deborah being an ethical
They all had to live in the Warsaw ghetto (“Children’s Diaries”). Halina, another child survivor, tells us what happened to her while in hiding. Halina and her family went into hiding with a friend of her mother in a basement (“Peabody”).... ... middle of paper ...
Botwinick, Rita Steinhardt. A History of the Holocaust. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004.
In October 1939, the Nazis established the first ghetto in Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland. During the course of the holocaust, the Nazis set up over one thousand ghettos. All Jews were forced out of their homes, leaving most of their possessions behind, and put into ghettos where they were held prisoners. Some ethnic groups w...
. Eventually, the Germans found out about her activities and she was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death, but managed to evade execution and survive the rest of the war. The Konrad Zegota Committee was a code name for the Polish Council to Aid Jews and was an underground organization of Polish resistance in German occupied Poland, which was active from 1942 to 1945 ( Jewish Virtual Library, 2015 ). Zegota helped Jewish Poles find safe places for them in Poland.
This book left me with a deeper sense of the horrors experienced by the Polish people, especially the Jews and the gypsies, at the hands of the Germans, while illustrating the combination of hope and incredible resilience that kept them going.
On February 1, Harvey Woodley, a five year old boy visited the local zoo, “Randolph’s Zoo”, in Elgin, Illinois, with his father Ralph. Towards the end of their trip they decided to visit the last exhibit. The building looked like the rest of the exhibits and there was no demarcation or any sign that indicated that the premises were privately owned and not for the public to venture. While walking towards the front door, they encountered a large German shepherd which appeared to be friendly. As it was snowing, the plaintiff innocently made a snowball and directed it towards his father, in response the father ducked and the snow got sprayed over the dog, startling it. The throw was of mild velocity and incapable of causing any injury. The dog
My intended audience is anyone who is passionate about gender inequality or interested in that type of topic, the purpose of my piece was to inform people about a issue which is everywhere is this modern day world, As you can see my piece is a informative essay about gender inequality I have chosen this form because I believe it has a major part in the novel animal farm, the nature of the link is when the pigs (Napoleon, Squealer and Snowball) decide that they want the milk and apples to themselves so they tell the other that the milk and apples is good for there health this represents a strong link with gender inequality, the language I am using is informative and persuasive, it is appropriate/relevant to how the pigs in animal are not being
Do all life choices escort to unsystematic consequences? Why or why not? In the "Lady or the Tiger" by Frank Stockton, The Princess's lover, was forced to decide between two doors, and the consequence was mysterious. In addition, he did not recognize where the tiger or the lady was hidden. Even though, it was an alternative between life and death, nevertheless it was unidentified. This essay will debate regarding the foremost theme for "The Lady or The Tiger", upon which it discusses how decisions are tremendously significant, albeit they sometimes do not appear akin it.
During the Holocaust in Poland, thousands of Jewish people were taken out the comfort of their homes and even their cities. They were separated from their loved ones and taken away to places completely foreign to them. The Nazis reduced the Jewish community during the Holocaust drastically by killing anyone that produced the slightest amount of trouble or if they didn’t contribute in the camps as productively as others due to health or old age. All of the old customs and traditions that the Jewish people used to have were all stopped. All the money, food, and even the homes they used to own were all taken away from them. Without their approval, the Nazis went in and practically took all the valuables that they could find inside the homes. There are many movies and books that try to explain the brutality of this event but the high majority underestimate how terrible this event is. The Pianist, directed by Roman Polanski shows the event in the eyes of a famous Jewish pianist named Wladyslaw Szpilman.# This movie accurately portrays the the extreme differences of the Polish town...
Every heart stopped beating, every breath was held, every eye was fixed upon that man. Without the slightest hesitation, he went to the door on the right and it opened. They boy had already known that the lady was on the right side of the door because the loyal princess had gave him sign language signals. Knowing the boy, as he didn't always remember things,the princess had told him several times about the right door. The rules in the story states, “he would either be dead or married.” His head going crazy from contemplating about which door he should open, he grasped the handle of the right door knob and quickly opened the door. Once the right door had opened, a princess appeared at the blink of an eye.
In the novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell, a question that is raised is if the human race is as cynical and indifferent as they are in the novel. Are the humans described in Animal Farm, an accurate representation of the behavior and attitude of humans today? Animal Farm is a satirical novel in which the issue of abuse of power in totalitarianism governments is discussed. By giving each human the traits that he did, Orwell leaves the reader curious as to whether it is in the human nature to be cynical or not. Is being motivated purely out of self interest and encouraged by only self gain just one of the instincts that connect mankind to animals? There are many examples in the novel where Orwell makes apparent comparisons to the real life attitude
People all around the world love visiting the zoo - especially the kids! To be able to see their favorite animals playing around or just admiring the beauty of these creatures makes their eyes sparkle. Although seeing the animals is truly amazing, a question that is frequently asked is: “How do they manage in captivity? Are they happy living in here?” Merely looking at the animals may not reveal much about how they feel or manage in captivity, unless someone could speak to the animals but that’s not likely. Therefore, this topic requires some research. So let’s grab some thinking helmets. First, we will explore the history of zoological gardens or zoos in general.