Part 4 Chapters 1-8

   The first chapter of part four was two things; first, about Hans’ history, and second, about Liesel seeing the man for the first time. The history of Hans starts dating back from World War One when he met Erik at the base camp. Hans was twenty years old at the time. They became close friends at first simply due to the fact that both of them were not interested in fighting like the other men were. They would roll cigarettes together, and Erik would even teach Hans to play the accordion. However, on the day of the battle, Hans was able to survive, thanks to Erik. That day, a sergeant came into the room and asked for a person with neat handwriting to stay there, as the captain needed them to help him write letters. Erik called out Han's name, and so everyone else except for Hans went to the battle, and no one came back. Later, when he tracked down his house to give the accordion back to his family, he was said to keep it from his wife. There, Hans met Erik's son too, Max, and played the accordion for them. Fast-forwarding to 1937, Hans finally applied to join the Nazi Party. (He put a lot of consideration into this because he did not hate Jews at all, after all, Erik was a Jew man.) However, he no longer could keep up with their harassments to Jews, and so one day violated the rules. He was erased from the list and was seen as strange from the people in Molching. Two years later on June 16th, 1939, on his way to work, he was asked by a man named Walter Kugler, if they could meet up and talk together later that day.

   The second chapter was about Liesel seeing Max for the first time. Max stood shaking on the doorway, and asked Hans “Do you still play the accordion?” The question was really, “Will you still help me?” When Max resized he was in a safe place, he crouched down and clasped his hands, not being blue to bear it anymore. Liesel was standing in the hallway watching the man, and Hans told her everything’s fine, and that she should get back to bed. When she stopped and stole one last look at the foreigner, she could decipher out the outline of a book on the table. (Mein Kampf) For the next hour, she would lay wide awake in bed, listening to the quite fumbling of sentences in the kitchen.

   The third chapter was on the history of Max. He was born in 1926 and grew up in Stuttgart. When he was younger, he loved a good fistfight and had his first one when he was only eleven years old. The boy he used to fight all the time was Wendell Gruber. When he was little, his father Erik had died in the war and her mother was completely broke by the time Max was nine. She sold the music studio that doubles their apartment, and they moved to his uncle’s house. There, he grew up with six cousins. His uncle was the kind of person who worked quietly away for the very little award. He sacrificed everything for his family—and died of something growing in his stomach. From his uncle’s death, he started to fight with greater regularity. Over the next few years, Max fought Wendell. They fought each other until 1933 when they were seventeen. Grudging respect turned to genuine friendship, as the urge to fight was no longer there. One day when the Nazis broke into his house, his mother handed him a note and told him to leave the house. For the next two years, he remained in hiding in an empty storeroom. It was a building where Walter had worked in previous years, and there was very little food. One afternoon, Max heard the news that his family moved out. It broke him. Halfway into 1939, just over six months of the hiding, they decided that a new plan needed to be made. Max opened his note he received from his mom, and it said “Hans Hubermann Himmel Street 33, Molching”. Walter went to Himmel Street and asked Hans if he could take care of Max. He agreed, and that was how he ended up in Himmel Street. When they met, Hans Hubermann shook his hand and introduced himself. He made him some coffee in the dark.

   The fourth chapter was about Rosa meeting Max. It was basically Rosa giving him her infamous pea soup. She asked him if he wanted more but declined, and instead went to the sink and vomited. Turning around, Max apologized, saying “I’m sorry. I think I ate too much. My stomach, you know, it’s been long since ... I don’t think I can handle such—“. And Rosa ordered him to move, as she cleaned the scene up.

   The fifth chapter was about Hans telling Liesel about the man, and that the man was a secret. First, she wakened up at eight-thirty in the morning and told that she wouldn’t be going to school that day. The first thing she noticed was the man in the bed across her room. Then, Hans, Rosa, and Liesel had breakfast together. When they were done, Hans took her down to the basement and although it took a few minutes to start, he started explaining about his accordion, Erik Valdenburg, and then the visit to the fallen soldier’s wife. When he was finished, he made her stand up and held her hands. He told her that if she ever told anyone about Max, there would be consequences waiting. He told her a list of things that would happen, such as burning her books and even being taken away. He made sure she understood how bad it would be if she were not to keep the secret. Liesel started crying, but the lecture continued for a while.

   The sixth chapter was about the Liesel meeting Max. Although Max had been in the Hubermann’s house for three days now, he was asleep most of the time, and so Liesel had not formally met him yet. On the course of the three days, Liesel would watch the man asleep, hoping that he would not wake up out of nowhere and catch her looking at him. Sometimes, close to the end of the marathon sleep, he spoke. There was a recital of murmured names; Isaac, Aunt Ruth, Mama. Hitler. It was family, friends, and enemies. At one point, he even seemed to be struggling with himself. “Nein,” (“No.”) he whispered. It was repeated seven times. Watching the man, Liesel already noticed the similarity between this stranger and herself, they both arrived in a state of agitation on Himmel Street. They both nightmared. Suddenly, he woke up and caught Liesel watching him. “Ay!” A patch of voice had escaped his mouth. As a reflex action, Liesel backed away, but the stranger caught her arm in time. “Please,” he said. Liesel was now screening for Hans and when he arrived, he said: “I see you two have met,”.

   The seventh chapter was about Liesel and Max getting closer and building a friendship. Max’s new room was the basement, and he was given a mattress, a drop sheet, and a few paint cans. (The cans acted as a toilet.) Max would apologize Hans and Rosa a lot, saying that he will stay down hear not making a sound, and also asked Rosa to bring him only scraps of food, or only when they were not wanted. Rosa assures him that she will feed him as best as she can, but all he felt was guilt. Now talking about Liesel’s first visit to the basement, it did not go as expected. She wanted to ask the man if the book Mein Kempf was good, and had practiced it in front of the mirror, but failed to say it in front of the man. There were a few days until the next visit. During the time though, she realized Rosa was calm and kind towards the man even in such a crisis. Also, the visits to the mayor’s house were still continuing at the time. Recently, she found a book she was really interested in, The Whistler. Back to Max, time for another meeting with Max had come. Hans invited her into the basement, telling Liesel to bring one of her books. When they were both down there, Hans whispered to Max, asking to bring the lamplight to him. Max did as he was asked to, and went back on his bed. However, Hans wanted him to stay so that they could all read the book together. So Max brought himself closer to them, and Hans gently pulled his arm so he could be closer. However, touching his arm he noticed that the young man was freezing cold, and so told Liesel to fill the bathtub with warm water. From that night, Max would come up to Hans’ and Rosa’s room every night to sleep by the fire. Christmas cake and Trudy came, but as expected, Han Junior did not. Trudy was not told about Max, and she left without suspicion. A few weeks later in front of the fire each night, Liesel finally stood up the courage to ask Max “Is it—good?” (Referring to the book Mein Kempf) There, they had their first conversation, and Liesel asked some questions about Walter Kugler and his fights, or about his family. Hans joined their conversation too, and they were in a good mood. Another night, she had a conversation with him asking each other about their nightmares. One afternoon, she was walking home with an empty washing bag, and she found the weekly edition of Molching Express. She took it home and gave it to Max. They were becoming really close. In February 1941, Liesel’s twelfth birthday, she received a used book, titled The Mud Men. She was thankful for it. When Max wished her birthday too, she hugged him. He said that he would give her something if he knew it was today. (Which was a complete lie, except maybe Mein Kampf, and there was no way he’d give such propaganda to a young German girl.)

   The eighth chapter was about Max making a gift for Liesel. For a week, Liesel was kept from the basement at all cost, and Hans and Rosa was the one delivering the food. During that week, Max had been making something down in the basement. He would rip a few pages from the book Mein Kampf, and painted the papers white. Then, hung them to dry and when they did, he took another paintbrush and dipped it in black paint. When that was dry too, he used a knife to pierce the pages and tied them with strings. It was a story of his life, and meeting Liesel. It was a thirteen paged book with big drawings on each of them. In late February, he gave it to Liesel at night and told her to read it the next morning. The next morning she received the book, she read it and went down to the basement. Max was still asleep, and so she sat down next to his bed, sleeping too.