The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story Characters

The Zoo's KeeperIf we were Antonina Żabińska—girl's name is totally pronounced ahn-toh-NEE-na zha-BIN-ska—we would take issue with this book's title. Although accurate—she is the wife of a...

We Bought a ZooJan Żabiński—that's pronounced Yahn, folks—is the Zookeeper in the title, and although the apostrophe-S implies possession of his wife, he doesn't own her. She is her own woman...

The Zookeeper's SonHave you ever watched a Winnie-the-Pooh cartoon and wondered where all the other humans are? Why is Christopher Robin the only boy in the Hundred Acre Wood? Maybe it's because ev...

Gross ArtMagdalena Gross is a famous artist who sculpts animals. You wouldn't think that would make her a target of the Nazis, but she is also Jewish, so she is totally a target, and her fame makes...

Crazy Like a Fox National Lampoon's Animal House is a confusing title, because it's not about animals or a zoo at all; it's about frat guys acting like animals in a zoo. In The Zookeeper's Wife, on...

Ham Ham HeartbreakMaurycy Pawel Fraenkel is someone for whom "the unbearable weight of ghetto life had physically crippled him" (23.5). That statement could apply to almost anyone who flees the Ghe...

A Snowball's Chance in HeckIf Lutz Heck weren't a Nazi, he'd probably be a nice, loyal guy. But any person about whom you could actually begin a sentence with "if so-and-so weren't a Nazi" probably...

Royal TenenbaumDr. Szymon Tenenbaum—pronounced "SHEE-mon"—is like Santa Claus: he's an important figure we never actually see, and yet he delivers gifts that keep on giving. Kept in the Warsaw...

Axis and AlliesA few other people help the Żabińskis along the way. Most of their allies are the usual suspects. For example, you would expect old ladies to be kind and grandmotherly and help out...