I have to start with a statement that “The zookeepers wife” is\u00a0a very emotional and heart-wrenching story…no matter if you are reading a book or watching a movie. So better get a box of tissues ready…<\/p>\n
I have read a book and watched a movie. It is a\u00a0true story of how the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. “When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw\u2014and the city’s zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Janand Antonina \u017babi\u0144ski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen “guests” hid inside the \u017babi\u0144skis’ 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.\u00a0<\/span>Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and itsanimal inhabitants\u2014otters, 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.” (From the publisher)<\/span><\/p>\n