The Book Thief

Has the author altered your perspective on the average German of WWII era, and if so, how? If not, why not?

We are introduced to many German families, beliefs, and traditions.

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Here in North America I have grown up seeing Germany largely through a lens of WW2. Movies and television frequently use German era WW2 as the status-quo for "evil" personified. As a child I wondered how all of Germany could have been as evil as the Nazis. I suspected that there had to be "good Germans" and, in time, I realized I was right. There were plenty of "good Germans" as part of the resistance or simply non-compliant with the Nazi regime. Unfortunately we don't get much of their stories in popular culture. The Book Thief just reinforced what I had known using vivid characters like Hans and Liesel. The book gave a face to the people I knew existed.