When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

Anna must choose only one stuffed toy to bring to Switzerland. Her mother assures her that they can have more toys sent to Switzerland once they are settled, and Anna chooses to bring a new stuffed dog with her, rather than her beloved Pink Rabbit. She is confident that Pink Rabbit can be sent later. However, shortly after Hitler’s election, Anna’s family’s home and possessions are seized by the Nazi party: “Anna tried to Imagine it. The piano was gone…the dining-room curtains with the flowers…her bed…all her toys which included her stuffed Pink Rabbit” (47). Anna and Max cry over their lost possessions, but also laugh at the image of Hitler playing with their toys: Max remarks, “Hitler’s probably playing Snakes and Ladders with it this very minute” while Anna adds, “and snuggling my Pink Rabbit!” (47).

Anna never sees Pink Rabbit again; the loss of Pink Rabbit (referred to in the novel’s title, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit) symbolizes all that the Nazi party took from Anna and her family, including their possessions and home, but also their German identity and many of their friends and family, who lost their lives through the Nazi’s genocide of Europe’s Jewish peoples.