Max and Liesel: A friendship because of circumstances

Although one might think that nothing good came about because of Nazi Germany, Liesel and Max's friendship disproves that. Liesel and Max find themselves living together because of terrible events that have occurred to their families.

Liesel's father has been taken away and killed or imprisoned by the Nazis, which cuts off at least half of her family's income. The family's poverty was so extreme that the mother had to send her to a foster family. Max's father had been killed during World War I, and the rest of his family has been recently taken away by the Nazis.

One example of why Max and Liesel are so valuable to each other is that they can talk about the terrible nightmares they both have. Since Max and Liesel have similar problems they are lucky to have found someone who can relate to these problems. Liesel's other close friend, Rudy, would not understand how painful her nightmares are, and therefore Liesel does not tell Rudy about these problems.

It's clear that Max and Liesel both need each other a lot, and their friendship is very special to both of them, as Max shows in his book: " The best standover man I've ever known is not a man at all..." (235).