THE BOOK THIEF:FACT AND FICTION

By: Jessica Brunt

MOLCHING OVERVIEW

Fictional place

Located on the outskirts of Munich

Based on Olching and Munich Germany

Bombed in 1943, not all of the characters

survive

MOLCHING-MAIN SETTINGS

Liesel lives on Himmel Street

The Amper River

Grand 8 Strauss, the mayor’s house

Dachau concentration camp

OLCHING OVERVIEW

Real Town

located on the outskirts of Munich

The Amper river runs through it

OLCHING OVERVIEW

Dachau concentration camp was located near by

Had many third Reich and the national socialist

party supporters

Bombed on February 22, 1944

Liesel and Rudy have many

adventures here.

Runs through or around

Molching

Main source of water for

agriculture

Runs straight through the

middle of the town

THE AMPER RIVER

The Book: Molching Real Life: Olching

The Amper river

Coat of Arms

Never fully described

Where one of the

characters is taken

DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP

The Book: Molching Real Life:Olching

First concentration camp

created• Originally a labor camp

Located 10 miles NW of

Munich

Many Medical experiments

took place here

Dachau gates

DACHAU ENTRY REGISTER

The street where Liesel

Lives

Translates to “heaven”

One of the main settings

in the book

A path in The Sobibor

extermination camp

Led from the undressing

area to the gas chambers

Fenced in by camouflaged

barbed wire

HIMMEL STREET

The Book: Himmel Street Real Life: HimmelstrasseHimmel Street in the Movie

HimmelstrasseIn Sobibor

DEATH DESCRIBESHIMMEL STREET

“The buildings appear to be glued together, mostly small

houses and unit blocks that look nervous. There is murky

snow spread out like carpet. There is concrete, empty hat-

stand trees, and grey air.”( page 26)

“Whoever named Himmel street certainly had a healthy

sense of irony. Not that it was a living heck. It wasn’t . But it

sure as heck wasn’t heaven , either.” (Page 25)

Bombed in 1943

The sirens were not a fast

enough warning

Only one survivor

Everything was destroyed

Bombed on February 22,

1944

Mostly destroyed rail yards

22 people died

THE BOMBING

The Book: Himmel Street Real Life:Olching

DEATH DESCRIBES THE BOMBING

“No one wanted to bomb Himmel Street. No one would

bomb a place named after heaven, would they? Would

they?“(Pages 497-498)

“The bombs came down, and soon, the clouds would bake

and the cold raindrops would turn to ash. Hot snowflakes

would shower to the ground. In short, Himmel street was

flattened.”(Page 498)