Jane Doe Jessica Bailey ENG 102 17 April 2015 Battling Nazi Racism In her book, Diane Ackerman tells the true story of Jan and The Zookeeper’s Wife, Antonina Żabiński, two Polish zookeepers who live in Warsaw, Poland. When Germany attacks and takes control of Poland in 1939, Jews are killed, sent away to work, or forced to live in the Warsaw Ghetto. Although the are Christians, they have Jewish Żabińskis friends who face the wrath of the Germans. In an attempt to help, Jan and Antonina offer their house to any Jew who is lucky enough to escape from the Ghetto. Even though the focal point of is the kind work of the Diane Ackerman Wife The Zookeeper’s Żabińskis, also addresses the effects of Nazi racism in wartime Poland while discretely portraying feminist criticism. To lay some background of German hatred toward Jews, Ackerman introduces the main voice behind this hatred: Adolf Hitler. As the leader of Germany, Hitler dislikes Jews because he believes they make the world racially impure. Hitler, along with the other Nazis, believes that in order to restore purity within the nation, he the must “purify the Jews. The Nazis believe that the purest race is the Aryan bloodline” by exterminating race, and their goal is to fill the world with people of this kind (The Wife). Zookeeper’s Suzanne Antonetta adequately explains this the concept when she says, “Not only did ideology of the Third Reich demand the creation of human racial purity---an Aryan race spilling over into the lebenstraum or by the deaths of millions of “living space” created
Jane Doe Jessica Bailey ENG 102 17 April 2015 Battling Nazi Racism In her book, The Zookeeper’s Wife, Diane Ackerman tells the true story of Jan and Antonina Żabiński, two Polish zookeepers who live in Warsaw, Poland. When Germany attacks and takes control of Poland in 1939, Jews are killed, sent away to work, or forced to live in the Warsaw Ghetto. Although the Żabińskis are Christians, they have Jewish friends who face the wrath of the Germans. In an attempt to help, Jan and Antonina offer their house to any Jew who is lucky enough to escape from the Ghetto. Even though the focal point of The Zookeeper’s Wife is the kind work of the Żabińskis, Diane Ackerman also addresses the effects of Nazi racism in wartime Poland while discretely portraying feminist criticism. To lay some background of German hatred toward Jews, Ackerman introduces the main voice behind this hatred: Adolf Hitler. As the leader of Germany, Hitler dislikes Jews because he believes they make the world racially impure. Hitler, along with the other Nazis, believes that in order to restore purity within the nation, he must “purify the bloodline” by exterminating the Jews. The Nazis believe that the purest race is the Aryan race, and their goal is to fill the world with people of this kind (The Zookeeper’s Wife). Suzanne Antonetta adequately explains this concept when she says, “Not only did the ideology of the Third Reich demand the creation of human racial purity---an Aryan race spilling over into the lebenstraum or “living space” created by the deaths of millions of