The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story

Diane Akerman's work of non-fiction was awarded the 2008 Orion Book Award, which is

conferred annually to a book that deepens our connection to the natural world, presents new ideas about our relationship with nature, and achieves excellence in writing.

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story is about one of the most successful hideouts during WWII. At the beginning of WWII, almost 400 thousand Jews lived in Warsaw, most did not survive. The Villa at the Warsaw Zoo, also the Zabinski's home, helped to protect at least 300 Jewish Polish citizens during the German occupation of the city.

I am particularly interested in the way animals, both the zoo animals and the family pets, played essential roles in lives of humans. As the Nazi's dehumanized the Jewish people, the Zabinski's hid them in empty zoo cages to save their lives. Antonina Zabinski, the Zookeeper's Wife, had a gift for working with animals, and was often called upon to calm animals in times of distress. The Nazi's behaved like beasts, and there were countless instances where Antonina, and Jan, were able to use their skill for working with animals to keep SS soliders tamed and at bay through subterfuge and lies in order to save people.

"Why is it, she asked herself, that "animals can sometimes subdue their predatory ways in only a few months, while humans, despite centuries of refinement, can quickly grow more savage than any beast"?

-Antonina Zabinski

Ackerman, a nature writer and an acclaimed author, enshrines the courage and spirit of the Zabinski's (and the "hidden" Villa Guests) using Antonina's writings. Although Ackerman is writing about a chapter in the world's history that is bleak and where destruction reigns in every corner, it is not the main focus of her work. She reminds us that humans are capable of horrendous ills, and yet we are also bound by our human condition that gives us the capacity to have compassion, forgiveness, and the strength to rebuild. This book celebrates this side of the human condition, the enduring spirit, and the Zabiniski's are a true example of this.

Antonina and Jan Zabinski

While Jan and Antonina served as beacons of hope during the occupation, Ackerman does not fail to position them within the web of the thousands of other courageous members of the underground network and Home Army who saved thousands of people. Figures like Janusz Korczak, who was an advocate for orphaned children, and who, when the Warsaw Ghetto was being liquidated, accompanied his children to the camp in order to "comfort" them. Janusz refused many opportunities to escape into hiding because of his dedication to the orphaned children he served and cared for even until the very end. Read more about this man here, and more about the Warsaw Ghetto here.

Jonusc Korczak and his children

Mrs. Zabinski's life, and the individuals in it, offer us an affirmation of hope and human decency. This is a story about animals, war, and the strength of the human spirit. It was often difficult to read about the terrible circumstances that serves as the backdrop for the Zanbinski's life, but it was also a true pleasure reading about the spirit they kept alive.

Rating: **** of *****