Product Description

A true story—as powerful as Schindler's List—in which the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands.

When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw—and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants—otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes.

With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonina refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her. 8 pages of illustrations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3437 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Amazon.com Review
Amazon Significant Seven, September 2007: On the heels of Alan Weisman's The World Without Us I picked up Diane Ackerman's The Zookeeper’s Wife. Both books take you to Poland's forest primeval, the Bialowieza, and paint a richly textured portrait of a natural world that few of us would recognize. The similarities end there, however, as Ackerman explores how that sense of natural order imploded under the Nazi occupation of Poland. Jan and Antonina Zabiniski--keepers of the Warsaw Zoo who sheltered Jews from the Warsaw ghetto--serve as Ackerman's lens to this moment in time, and she weaves their experiences and reflections so seamlessly into the story that it would be easy to read the book as Antonina's own miraculous memoir. Jan and Antonina's passion for life in all its diversity illustrates ever more powerfully just how narrow the Nazi worldview was, and what tragedy it wreaked. The Zookeeper’s Wife is a powerful testament to their courage and--like Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise--brings this period of European history into intimate view. --Anne Bartholomew

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Ackerman (A Natural History of the Senses) tells the remarkable WWII story of Jan Zabinski, the director of the Warsaw Zoo, and his wife, Antonina, who, with courage and coolheaded ingenuity, sheltered 300 Jews as well as Polish resisters in their villa and in animal cages and sheds. Using Antonina's diaries, other contemporary sources and her own research in Poland, Ackerman takes us into the Warsaw ghetto and the 1943 Jewish uprising and also describes the Poles' revolt against the Nazi occupiers in 1944. She introduces us to such varied figures as Lutz Heck, the duplicitous head of the Berlin zoo; Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, spiritual head of the ghetto; and the leaders of Zegota, the Polish organization that rescued Jews. Ackerman reveals other rescuers, like Dr. Mada Walter, who helped many Jews pass, giving lessons on how to appear Aryan and not attract notice. Ackerman's writing is viscerally evocative, as in her description of the effects of the German bombing of the zoo area: ...the sky broke open and whistling fire hurtled down, cages exploded, moats rained upward, iron bars squealed as they wrenched apart. This suspenseful beautifully crafted story deserves a wide readership. 8 pages of illus. (Sept.)
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From Booklist
*Starred Review* Jan Zabinski, the innovative director of the Warsaw Zoo, and Antonina, his empathic wife, lived joyfully on the zoo grounds during the 1930s with their young son, Ryszard (Polish for lynx), and a menagerie of animals needing special attention. The zoo was badly damaged by the Nazi blitzkrieg, and their bit of paradise would have been utterly destroyed but for the director of the Berlin Zoo, Lutz Heck, who wanted Jan's help in resurrecting extinct "pure-blooded species" in pursuit of Aryan perfection in the animal kingdom. Resourceful and courageous, the Zabinskis turned the decimated zoo into a refuge and saved the lives of several hundred imperiled Jews. Ackerman has written many stellar works, including A Natural History of the Senses (1990) and An Alchemy of Mind (2004), but this is the book she was born to write. Sharing the Zabinskis' knowledge of and reverence for the natural world and drawing on her poet's gift for dazzling metaphor, she captures with breathtaking precision and discernment our kinship with animals, the barbarity of war, Antonina's unbounded kindness and keen delight in "life's sensory bazaar," Jan's daring work with the Polish Underground, and the audacity of the Zabinskis' mission of mercy. An exemplary work of scholarship and an "ecstasy of imagining," Ackerman's affecting telling of the heroic Zabinskis' dramatic story illuminates the profound connection between humankind and nature, and celebrates life's beauty, mystery, and tenacity. Seaman, Donna

Customer Reviews

Too bad the story is not a story
I am only giving this book 3 stars because the research is fantastic and the story needs to be told. However I put the book down after merely 65 pages. The first chapter was excellent; told from the Zookeeper's Wife's point of view and well written. After that it was a mix of quotes from what I assume are diaries and historical research. I would rather read the diaries than this disjointed tale. Very disappointed as I saved this book to read on vacation.

Important reading
When average people are confronted by extreme circumstances and respond by behaving with extraordinary compassion and bravery, their example challenges us all. The story of the Zabinski family and their efforts sheltering Polish Jews and Resistance fighters in the remains of the Warsaw Zoo during World War II is eye opening. As the Nazi regime and their heinous crimes fade from living memory, it is meticulously documented stories like this that are crucial to keeping the truth alive. The author's style is confusing at times as she begins a story, then diverts to give us a great deal of background information, and then resumes the story pages later. The paperback version is a mere reprint of the hardcover, complete with photographs and consistent pagination.

Polish Christian zookeepers bravely tend to their menagerie and ménage, saving hundreds of Jews from the Nazis
Zookeepers Antonina and Jan Zabinski and their son Rys were three of the many, brave, caring persons who helped Jews survive certain death at the hands of the Nazis. The multi-lingual mom and dad's biggest strengths, beyond bravery, were their abilities to act quickly and correctly during a crisis. Eventually, with most of the animals moved elsewhere, the zoo was set up with the various "guests" being assigned animal names. When the arrival of the authorities was imminent, the resourceful Antonina would play (p 178) `Offenbach's "Go, Go, Go to Crete!"' to warn those in hiding. Through their connections to both unsuspecting bad guys and other good guys willing to risk their lives for the cause, they were able to help in ways that others could not due to their affiliation with the zoo. Author Diane Ackerman's research sources consisted primarily of Antonia's writings as well as interviews of both husband and wife. The writing style she employs to tell their story gives it a very authentic feel and allows the reader to get to know Antonia Zabinski (as much as one can with thirdhand knowledge). For example, on the subject of their varied, harried schedule, "attuned" to the needs of the animals, (p 20) "This brought a slated novelty to each day, and though the problems might be taxing, it imprinted her life with small welcome moments of surprise." Additionally, one learns about both the upside and downside of their decision to help: concerns and worries about each person's safety, as well as anecdotes of the exploits employed to fulfill their mission. One of my favorite examples of the latter is a situation involving the Zabinski's son, Encountering young male "guests" in their hiding place, (p 253) Rys (meaning lynx) states his name. One of the boys, aware of the family's use of animal names, replies that his name is "Pheasant." The Zookeepers Wife provides a well-researched and written look at the lives of an unconventional family in their attempts to help the Jews. Also good: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Life in Auschwitz by Primo Levy and Time's Arrow by Martin Amis.