Diane Ackerman’s book
The Zookeeper’s Wife
— which details how Jan and Antonina Zabinski, who ran the Warsaw Zoo, hid Jews during WWII — has been getting very good reviews. And they’re well-deserved.
I read very little non-fiction and virtually no Holocaust literature (though, God knows, publishers send me a lot of it), and this book made me revisit both of these biases.
The relationship between the Zabinskis and animals — and the Nazis and animals — actually provides a new way into the story of the Holocaust, which given all the volumes devoted to the subject is no easy task.
For those of you in New York, I’ll be discussing The Zookeeper’s Wife with Ackerman at the 92nd Street Y this Monday night.
If you’re interested, you can get tickets here.
