The Zoo Keeper's Wife

While reading the end of The Zookeepers Wife, I was stunned by how quickly the Zabinskis returned to their previous lives. Soon after the war ended, Antonina brought Rys back to the zoo, and Jan returned from battle. They start up the zoo again, and it seems like everything is back to normal. I don't think that everything is back to normal though, people have horrible memories of the war, no one will ever be exactly the same. Antonina is described as, "Antonina wasn't involved in politics or war, and was timid, and yet despite that she played a major role in saving others and never once complained about the danger"(314). Antonina I believe was a very strong character throughout this book. She saved many people and was confident about what she did. When German officers would challenge her, she would confidently reply and they would back off. Antonina also kept her son save from all harm. In some ways one could say that being a "housewife" during this time was braver than going to war. She kept the underground railroad going and kept her family undercover.

This book really uncovered the holocaust for me. I never realized that it was this brutal. Because I read World War II from an actual perspective of the victims, the war became more real. To be in the Zabinski's shoes when bombs are going off all around the zoo, was breathtaking. All of the tough situations the Zabinskis went through. I was very pleased by this book and it makes me want to learn more about World War II. The book ends with a happy ending, Jan retires and to make a living writing books on zoology. Antonina becomes a children's book writer. The book ends with a poem describing Warsaw, Poland after the War. It describes how life goes on after the war, "Spring through fall, the horses live unaided by humans, wading in the ponds and grazing on bushes, tree branches, algae, and grass. Snow falls in mid-October and remains until may"(316). This quote I believe is showing that the seasons past and nothing changes. Life is still again. Poland went from intense chaos to slow moving, normal life again.

The Zookeepers Wife

The German forces continued to advance and a German officer assured Antonina that they needed their valuable fur farms and they should prepare to pack their animals and move them to safety. As bombs started landing closer and closer to the zoo, Antonina planned to move her family too. Choosing pets to leave behind tortured Antonina and Rys. They traveled light and Antonina, Rys, Jan's mother, two girls and fox man left for Lowicz on August 23. About a week before they left, Russians intruded the zoo looking for anything worth stealing. Antonina approached them hiding all of her fear and used her best Russian and commanded, "Not allowed! Your mother! Your wife! Your sister! Do you understand"(283)? She placed her hand on one of the men's shoulder and the "manic fury drained from his eyes"(283). Suddenly the man's attitude changed dramatically. He then gave the baby candy and smiled at Antonina offering her a ring from his own finger. Then the man unexpectedly ordered his soldiers out of the house leaving all they had. It seems to me that when Antonina shouted at them about their mothers and wives and sisters, that meant something to one of them, and touched his heart. He might have thought about his mother and sisters and his love for them. I think that by shouting this, Antonina made a connection to the Russians. By slightly touching the officer's shoulder, I believe she comforted him, which he probably doesn't get alot of. He quickly relaxed. I was surprised by the severe change in attitude of the man. He went from getting ready to steal everything in sight, to giving Antonina a ring and leaving everything behind. This shows that that war didn't make everyone evil and proves that there is no such thing as pure evil.

Later that week another officer appeared in the house. Antonina heard the squeak of the kitchen door and hurried downstairs to find a German officer in her living room. He wandered over to the piano and looked through the music. He demanded that she play for him so she started to play a German favorite song. The German officers shouted, "No, not that! Not that! Why are you playing that"(286)?! Antonina pulled her hands away from the keys confused and pulled out a different book. The officer pointed at "The Star- Spangled Banner" she played and he sang along. He then saluted her and left. This confused Antonina, she couldn't understand why he would want the American anthem played and why he was so fluent in music. Later the read the lyrics to the German song she had been playing, "They understand the bosom's yearning, they know the pangs of love, They can touch every tender heart with their silvery tones. Let them move your heart also; beloved, hear me! trembling, I wait for you; come, give me bliss"(286)! This makes more sense because the song is about a broken heart and a broken heart can rattle anyone's emotions. When someones heart is broken, one will never forget it, so when Antonina played this song, I am guessing the German officer was reminded of his broken heart and then demanded a different song. Love has the ability to relate to anyone and can rattle anyone's emotions.

The Zookeeper's Wife

The Polish people start to realize that surrendering to Germany and Adolf Hitler was a bad idea. The zoo is bombed and the surviving animals are sent off to another zoo. This devastates Antonina and Jan because the zoo and it's animals are their life. Jews are soon sent off to concentration camps and mass killings start. Hitler wants to purify the human race by killing off people that don't have the right features. Jan grew up in a Jewish school so he is good friends with many Jews. The underground housing of Jews is in desperate need of space. The zoo is perfect for this, because of the lack of animals the Zabinski's have a lot of extra space. Housing Jewish people is very risky, at times the Zabinski's would have 300 people hiding in the zoo until they get the right documents for them to live somewhere else. One suspicious footstep could lead to an immediate death to everyone living in the zoo. This puts the Zabinski's and everyone living in the empty animal cages in grave danger. Adolf Hitler commands the Nazis to kill every Jew they see. This is proof that when people get in a killing mood they can become savage. Hitler will do anything do get what he wants. It was hard for people to know who to trust and who not to trust. Heck, a zoo owner himself was interested in rescuing many of the Zabinski's animals. He repeatedly swore to the Zabinskis that he would take care of their animals, Antonina and Jan weren't convinced"(94). Antonina suspected he was lying, that he wielded enormous influence with higher-ups, and he might even be personally responsible for their fate"(93). Heck assured them that he had nothing to do with the closing of their zoo but no one can be fully trusted in times of war. Mostly people working for Adolf Hitler. Antonina writes in her journal, "We knew that Heck was a liar and with great sadness we understood that now there was no hope for saving our zoo;Germans were not interested in keeping them alive." Germans didn't care who lived and who died, as long as they got done what needed to be done according to them.

When one's life is in danger, they will go to extremes to survive. Killing became a sort of game to the Germans. One day Heck and his friends arrived drunk and armed to the zoo, "suddenly gunshots broke the winter silence, each one followed by its echo, as rifle fire crackled across the grounds, loud enough to hear through shuttered windows." Heck and his friends killed many of the zoo animals only for their own pleasure. Antonina and Jan valued the lives of their animals, on the other hand the Germans put very little value on life. The Germans increase in killing for fun worried everyone in danger. Antonina wrote in her journal, "Beyond politics or war, of sheer gratuitous slaughter, the savagery didn't serve hunger or necessity, it wasn't a political gambit, the doomed animals weren't being culled because they'd become too abundant in the wild... the brief frisson of killing outweighed the animals' lives. How many humans will die like this in the coming months"(96)? It was easy for the Germans to go around killing aimlessly for the fun of it. They were in power so they could do whatever they wanted. Another time the book demonstrates a time when the Germans portrayed death as a joke. One day a couple of Germans showed up at the zoo and implied that they were planning on killing Antonina and her two kids. Antonina used her best German and pleaded,"Calm down! Calm down" The Germans laughed and kept their guns aimed in her direction. They ordered Rys to walk around to the back of the shed and one of the Nazis followed him with a gun. "Antonina saw her son's face shriek with fear, the blood drain out of it, and his lips turn a light purple. She couldn't move and risk their killing her and Teresa, too"(280). She heard a gunshot come from the back of the shed. Then the man shouted, "Hey , boys! bring me that rooster! Get him from the bushes"(280). Rys then walked out from behind the shed, shaking with fear holding a dead chicken. The German soldier exclaimed, "We've played such a funny joke"(280)! The Germans faked that they had killed the young boy, and laughed about it. This shows that the Germans take death as a joke. They then ran away laughing. Antonina had been sure the gunshots had killed her son and was horrified to find it was just an evil prank. Many Germans took life as just a joke.