UC Santa Barbara > History Department > Prof. Marcuse > Courses > Hist 133D Homepage > 133D Book Essays Index page > Student essay
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“Resource and Risk during War” Book Essay
on:
Diane Ackerman,
The Zookeeper's Wife:
by Taylor Bloom for Prof. Marcuse's lecture course |
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& Abstract |
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Bibliography |
Plagiarize! |
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About Taylor Bloom I am a senior graduating in June with a political science major, a history minor, and my technology management program certification. My family is Jewish and my relatives left Kiev shortly before Hitler’s reign and were safe in America. My family was lucky; however the majority of Eastern European Jews were not. I am interested in the people who helped the Jewish People during war despite the extreme risks. Abstract (back to top) In The Zookeeper’s Wife, the author Diane Ackerman tells the narrative of the Zabinski family, Jan and Antonina and their son Rys, who risked their own well being and safety in order to protect hundreds of Jewish people from death. The Zabinskis were Polish zookeepers who shielded Jewish people during the Holocaust. The family harbored over 300 Jewish people during the course of the war and were an indispensible help to many Jews in need. The Zabinskis used the zoo as a resource to hide people in animal cages and in their villa. In addition, they had an intricate tunnel system and codes to protect their family and the Jews who desperately needed assistance at the time. The Zabinski family had many reasons why they assisted Jewish people during the Holocaust, such as their family background, personal relationships and networks, Christian ideology, and compassion for humankind. However the most significant reasons the Zabinski family helped Jews during the Holocaust were because they were risk takers and took advantage of their resources, namely the zoo and their professional relationships.
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Essay (back to top)
In the novel The Zookeeper’s Wife, the author Diane Ackerman tells the narrative of the Zabinski family who risked their own well being and safety in order to protect hundreds of Jewish people from death. This is the true story of the survival of human spirit in the face of annihilation. Ackerman utilized Antonina’s diaries, existing sources and her own research in Poland to compile the remarkable story of the Zabinskis and the feats they accomplished. The decision to risk one’s own life to help others takes courage and faith which not all people posses. This story is remarkable because the Zabinskis were practicing Christians and generally safe from Nazi persecution, yet they took many risks to provide shelter as compassionate humans would. The Zabinski family had many reasons why they assisted the Jewish people during the Holocaust, such as their family background, personal relationships and networks, Christian ideology, and compassion for humankind. However the most significant reasons the Zabinski family helped Jews during the Holocaust were because they were risk takers and took advantage of their resources, namely the zoo and their professional relationships.
The Zookeeper’s Wife tells the amazing story of Jan and Antonina Zabinski and their son Ryszard and their life at the Warsaw Zoo. Jan was the director of the zoo and together with his wife Antonina showed immense courage and resourcefulness in sheltering over 300 Jewish people and Polish resisters during the Holocaust. They carried out these dangerous missions in their villa and in animal cages and sheds. The novel is set during World War II and delves deep into the Warsaw Ghetto, the Jewish uprisings, and the Polish revolts against the Nazis during the war. The Zabinskis’ role as zookeepers allowed made their shared appreciation for animal and human life adjust their ways and to formulate ingenious ways to shelter Jewish people from the mass executions at the hands of the Nazis. The Zabinski family led an extraordinary and unique life in which animals and humans lived interconnected in one menagerie at the villa. This made it possible for the Zabinskis to cleverly interconnect new faces into the life at the zoo while concurrently protecting the Jews that who were hiding. When Hitler took over Poland the Zabinskis devised clever ways to turn the zoo and their personal villa into a protected asylum for their Jewish friends who were facing increasing threats of extermination. Jan and Antonina were able to maintain the zoo as a shield against occupying Germans by playing into the German interest in animal studies in their quest for purification. This meant the Zabinskis could gather food in the Jewish Ghetto for the animals, and this which made it possible to gather enough food for their many Jewish guests. This access to the ghetto allowed Jan to obtain documentation for Jews to escape from Poland if they chose to do so. Even after the war ended the Zabinskis continued to open their hearts and home to the Jewish Polish community whose lives had been destroyed during the German occupation of Poland.
The Zookeepers Wife is just one story of many courageous acts of humans while under attack. The differentiating factor between the Zabinskis and others who did not take a stand to help those suffering beside them is the way they responded when faced with life threatening circumstances. People were motivated by many factors, such as religious ties, access to resources and willingness to take risks. Overall, the Zabinskis were willing to act regardless of their situation because they were compassionate risk takers. This compassion was not just for animals, it carried over to people as well. Jan exhibited very risky behavior in order to help Jewish people in need. This started with Wanda, a family friend who was Jewish and married to a Christian. The Zabinskis saved their friend by taking her in as Ryszard’s new nanny after “Wanda’s disappearance.””. Wanda was the first risk the Zabinski family took which would endanger their lives and their son, however they valued their friendships and knew they could make a difference. The next serious risk the Zabinskis took was taking in Magdalena Gross, a renowned Jewish artist and close friend of Antoninas. The whole entire family and all visitors were also subject to the grave consequences of these risks, such as Rys.
Rys was young during the war; however he played a crucial role in helping the many people in hiding at the zoo. Rys knew the code names of their visitors which the Zabinskis organized the names by animals to avoiding arousing suspicion from anyone who could overhear. At one time Rys warned his mother that Magdalena had arrived by saying “a sparrow, a sparrow”. Sparrow was Magdalena’s secret name and this was imperative to all hiding visitor’s survival. The code names were just one way the family reduced risk. The Zabinskis reduced their risk in various ways. At the outset, the family maintained a beneficial relationship with people who could be advantageous to the zoo. Since the zoo was the means to hide the visitors, it was crucial to maintain that cover. The Zabinskis guaranteed the survival of the farm from their connection the German Zoologist Lutz Heck as well as many others. The Zabinskis used their connections to establish uses for the zoo so it would not be destroyed. The Zabinskis also reduced their risk by appearing to support and assist the Third Reich, first from the pig farm and secondly from the vegetable garden.
The Zabinski family also had access to space and materials as the zookeepers of Poland. The zoo and their villa provided many rooms in which visitors could be concealed and the animal cages were the perfect hiding spots for their Jewish guests. The resources available to the family and the high degree of resourcefulness they possessed were key aspects thatwhich enabled them to help so many people. The Zabinskis employed many different tactics that which helped them to succeed in hiding the visitors. Jan developed a strategy in which the villa and zoo would always have constant guests and activity occurring so that an extra face or two would not be deemed suspicious by the Nazis. Jan’s mother was a recurring guest and frequent face one would recognize at their home, and she was one of many who made the villa a common residence. Jan also disguised the zoo as something the Third Reich would find valuable. Jan approached Lutz Heck, a the renowned German zoologist, about starting a pig farm utilizing old zoo buildings that were not in use. Jan knew that raising the pigs in the harsh Polish winter would guarantee that they would have well maintained buildings and grounds and even income for the zoo staff. Jan was so creative he even used the ruse of collecting food for the pigs to bring notes, food, and messages to Jewish friends in the Ghetto.
Jan managed to maintain access to the Ghetto from a man named Ziegler who was interested in the insect collection belonging to the friends of the Zabinskis, the Tenenbaums. The relationship with Ziegler, who was the director of the Warsaw Ghetto’s Labor Bureau, would prove very valuable. Jan visited Ziegler’s office and was introduced to the guards who were stationed at the Ghetto’s entrance access and was granted authority for open access into the Ghetto by Ziegler. Jan told Ziegler that access to the Ghetto would be necessary for him to guarantee the survival of the insect collection during the war. This enabled Jan to continue to help many Jews in the Ghetto and even allowed Jan to smuggle out five Jewish people with this assumed authority. Jan’s involvement in the Polish resistance took courage and ingenuity. At one point Jan was stopped by a guard for bringing another man back with him out of the Ghetto and Jan bravely feigned offense and yelled “I told you that this man is with me!” (Pg. 143). The Polish Resistance sabotaged German equipment, derailed trains, blew up bridges, printed secret periodicals, and made radio broadcasts. Jan was an extremely brave man who was not afraid to take risks in order to help the Jews in Poland. Jan had a penchant for risk and was quoted saying it was “like playing chess – either I win or I lose” (Pg. 71).
While the resourcefulness and risk taking qualities the Zabinskis held were central to their motivations for helping the Jewish people other factors came into play as well. The childhood of both Jan and Antonina would be an influence into their willingness to help during the Holocaust. Antonina’s father and stepmother were both shot as members of the intelligentsia during the Russian Revolution and Antonina was not afraid to stand up for what she believed in. She helped many Jewish people survive during the war with her courage and determination. Jan, had a different childhood, but also one which would influence his decisions during the Holocaust. Jan grew up with many Jewish friends and was taught as a child by his father the principles of humanity and this would be crucial to the Warsaw uprising Jan helped to lead. In an interview Jan stated that “From childhood my father used to play with Jewish children in the streets, treating Jews as equals. And I was influenced by him” (Pg. 112). Jan and Antonina found the Nazi racism incomprehensible and evil. They pledged to help the Jews and their friends inside the Ghetto regardless of the consequences because of Jan’s upbringing childhood memories and the compassion they had for others.
Jan and Antonina considered themselves good Christians and this religious tie would also influence them. A good Christian is taught to help others in need and try to stop evil around them. The Zabinskis realized they could not call themselves Christians if they were not willing to help others in need. The Zabinskis stepped up and risked their own well being to help people suffering around them. While there were motivations to help the Jewish people there were also grave consequences for their actions if they were ever caught doing so, and many were caught. In Poland, people would be killed along with their families for having anything to do with a Jewish person. More so, it was punishable by death for withholding information about helping a Jewish person and not reporting it to German authorities. This did not thwart the Zabinskis and they continued their efforts throughout and following the war. However, this argument for the family’s motivations is not as strong as their resourcefulness and risk taking. The majority of Poles who were not Jewish were Christian, yet only a small minority actually helped the Jewish people. The Zabinskis were in their own category because they held to their religious beliefs during war, as many did not and they were willing to help regardless of their situation. Many Christians during the Holocaust aligned with the Nazis and believed it was their Christian duty to turn Jews and their rescuers into the Nazis instead of helping. The Zabinskis were not only compassionate ChristiansChristians; they utilized all possible available resources, created new ones, available and took extreme risks to help others.
During the Holocaust there were people who risked their lives in order to assist the Jewish people avoid Hitler’s violent reign. The Zabinskis were motivated to help Jewish people because they believed in the compassion of mankind. Although the Zabinskis faced grave consequences for their actions, they continued to persevere and assist others. The story of the Polish zookeepers Jan and Antonina and their son Rys is a remarkable account which should never be forgotten. The family helped over 300 Jewish people and Polish resisters to escape death at the hands of the Nazis by harboring them at the zoo, smuggling them out of the Ghetto and even obtaining false paperwork for them. The Zabinski family took full advantage of the resources available to them and saved many lives by doing so and they will never be forgotten. The Zabinski family acted heroically during a time when many did not and their resourcefulness would save over 300 lives during the Holocaust.
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Annotated Bibliography and Links (back to top)(links last checked 3/23/10) Book Reviews
Books and Articles
Relevant Websites
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Any student tempted to use this paper for an assignment in another course or school should be aware of the serious consequences for plagiarism. Here is what I write in my syllabi:
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