‘The Book Thief’ is a fictional book but it has numerous elements of truth to it as a lot of the events in the book are based on true events such as the air raids on Germany, the book burnings and people hiding jews in their houses. 

Munich/Molching:

The reason some events in the novel might not be true is because there are a few features in ‘The Book Thief’ that aren’t real such as the setting. The town of Molching, where the characters live, is actually just made up. However it is easy to believe everything in the book as it is surrounded by bits of truth.

Jews:

In the book thief Liesel and her family hide Max Vandeburg in their basement as he was Jew and would be sent to a concentration camp otherwise. This was a reality in the time of world war 2 as many people throughout Germany did hide jews in their houses. Jewish shops were also destroyed just like in ‘The Book Thief’. The death marches also took place in world war 2 as well as the novel.

Jesse owens:

Hitler was criticized for only congratulating certain athletes by Henri de Baillet-Latour, who was the head of the IOC (International olympic committee). He told Hitler that he was to congratulate all gold medalists or none at all. Hitler chose none.

The day after (August 3rd) Jesse won his first gold medal, and Hitler didn’t meet or shake hands with him.

Hitlers bday:
So in the book thief, the town decorates the streets with their german flags and nazi swastikas. Rosa starts to stress when they can’t find their flag, and worries that the Nazis are going to come and take them away. But finally the flag is found just in time for the parade. Hitler’s birthday was also a big celebration in  real life.
Air raids:
Air raids were common throughout world war 2 and occured in Germany. In the book thief during the air raids the characters would shelter in basements just like people would in world war 2. The town called Munich was bombed during world war 2 in real life.