Page 101 - The Book Thief

HITLERS BIRTHDAY, 1940

Against all hopelessness, Liesel still checked the mailbox each afternoon,
throughout March and well into April. This was despite a Hans-requested visit
from Frau Heinrich, who explained to the Hubermanns that the foster care office
had lost contact completely with Paula Meminger. Still, the girl persisted, and as
you might expect, each day, when she searched the mail, there was nothing.

Molching, like the rest of Germany, was in the grip of preparing for Hitlers
birthday. This particular year, with the development of the war and Hitlers
current victorious position, the Nazi partisans of Molching wanted the

celebration to be especially befitting. There would be a parade. Marching.
Music. Singing. There would be a fire.

While Liesel walked the streets of Molching, picking up and delivering washing
and ironing, Nazi Party members were accumulating fuel. A couple of times,
Liesel was a witness to men and women knocking on doors, asking people if
they had any material that they felt should be done away with or destroyed.
Papas copy of the Molching Express announced that there would be a
celebratory fire in the town square, which would be attended by all local Hitler
Youth divisions. It would commemorate not only the Fhrers birthday, but the
victory over his enemies and over the restraints that had held Germany back
since the end of World War I. Any materials, it requested, from such

timesnewspapers, posters, books, flagsand any found propaganda of our enemies
should be brought forward to the Nazi Party office on Munich Street. Even
Schiller Strassethe road of yellow starswhich was still awaiting its renovation,
was ransacked one last time, to find something, anything, to burn in the name of
the Fhrers glory. It would have come as no surprise if certain members of the
party had gone away and published a thousand or so books or posters of
poisonous moral matter simply to incinerate them.

Everything was in place to make April 20 magnificent. It would be a day full of
burning and cheering.

And book thievery.