The picture above shows a real life Death March of some Jewish Germans as they were passing through Dachau, Germany. This can relate to The Book Thief, as Max Vandenberg was also a part of a Death March in the novel. These Death Marches were brutal sightings and it showed humanity and its worst. To treat fellow human beings like prisoners is absolutely wrong and I still cannot fathom that such events occurred. Zusak evidently used Max to show the struggles of Jewish Germans at the time and it became extremely graphic to read about and to watch during the film.
The Book Thief 