The Book Thief Chapter 79 Summary

The War Maker

• Earlier on July 27, 1943, Liesel watches the Jews being made to walk back to Dachau.
• Before this, she reads to Frau Holtzapfel, after Hans walks the mourning woman home.
• It's a really busy day for Death:
  
  The Allies bombed Hamburg […] and it's lucky I'm somewhat miraculous. No one else could carry close to forty-five thousand people in such a short amount of time. (79.3)
  
  
• (The July bombing campaign of Hamburg is knows as Operation Gomorrah. Read a fascinating and brief article about it here.)
• This is bad news for Hitler, who is actually becoming afraid.
• Yet, he doesn't cut down on his "war-making" and he doesn't cut down on "the extermination and punishment of a Jewish plague" (79.7).
• Death tells us that while the majority of the concentration camps are outside of Germany, in various European locations, some German ones are still intact and running.
• Max is a person being made to live in one of the camps inside Germany.