Diane Ackerman's book, "The Zookeeper's Wife," tells the story of a Polish women living in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. The book was very well organized and it was able to use memoirs and historical research to tell a very powerful and touching story. Ackerman uses Antonina's diary entries to give a real life and very personal view of life in Warsaw. Ackerman also uses a lot of historical information to give a larger picture of life in Warsaw. In the book it talks about Antonina Zabinski and her husband Jan Zabinski owning a zoo and protecting it from the Germans while also they letting the Jews hide in their zoo. .
Jan Zabinski was born in a polish engineer and went to a Jewish school. He is very scientific and tries to find solutions for different problems. This is why when the Nazi took over Poland, he knew he had to do something to resist and protect his country. Antonina is the caretaker and acts like a mother to the animals in the zoo. She is able to relate to people at a personal level. Since the story takes place around a zoo, Ackerman often uses animals as an analogy. In the book it relate many of Zabinskis experiences to situations regarding animals and their deep connection to the larger animal world. As a caretaker from the beginning Antonia "reigned as a mammal mother herself and protectress of many others" (Ackerman 247). There were many animals in the zoo like: elephant, links, zebra, pig, horse, cheetahs and badgers. Antonina not only give each one a name but she also understood their personalities. When the Berlin zookeeper Lutz Heck started shooting the animals he did not need for a New Year's "hunting celebration," Antonina saw how they were able to kill so many animals for sport and wrote in her diary that "how many humans will die like this in the coming months?" (Ackerman 1062). .
Ackerman gives a very clear view of how horrifying and terrifying it was in Warsaw.
