The Book Thief Essay

The Book Thief World War 2 Bombings In the book The Book Thief by Markus Zusak bombings took a huge part in the timeline which was in World War 2, and eventually ended the war against the Germans. On September 1, 1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt directed to the warring nations to “under no circumstances undertake the bombardment from the air of civilian population.” (PBS.org) Only six years later, the British and American forces carried out a bombing campaign killing more than half a million people. The U.S. wanted to show everybody how powerful they were, but It wasn’t necessary to bomb civilians not taking part in the war. “Over the course of ten days, the RAF and the 8th Air Force devastate Hamburg with heavy bombing. The attack, named “Operation Gomorrah,” will leave more than 13 square miles destroyed and kill more civilians than the Germans’ entire Blitz over Great Britain in April 1942.” (PBS) The operation leveled the city and killed over 40,000 people. The author put me through situations of being the German who is hiding in a basement to be protected from the bombs dropped by the United States. In The Book Thief Part 6: Death’s Diary on May 30, 1942 one thousand bombers drop bombs on Cologne, a city of fifty thousand homeless and killing over five hundred civilians in one raid. …show more content…
“In October, the American’s faith in the daylight bombing strategy began to waver after several air assaults deep into German territory resulted in the loss of more than 200 bombers and hundreds of American airmen.” (Speer) In The Book Thief Part 9: The Bitter Taste of Questions Liesel spots out smoke and fire in a forest and soon realizes that it’s an American Fighter pilot, Rudy gives the pilot his teddy bear and the pilot thanks him as Death arrives to carry the pilots soul