Summary
Authorâs Note
To tell the story of Christian zookeepers Antonina and Jan Ć»abiĆski, Ackerman consulted Antoninaâs memoirs and childrenâs books, as well as Janâs books and recollections. She studied the interviews they gave to newspapers after the war, and used photographs for physical details. She also researched Nazi ideology, particularly their obsessions with zoology and pure breeding.
Ackermanâs interest in the Ć»abiĆskis stems from her Polish heritage: Ackermanâs grandparents fled Poland during the war. They shared Polish tradition and folklore with her, including a remarkably relevant story about a Jewish man who dresses up like a lion in the village zoo.
Chapter 1
Summer, 1935
In the years before the war, Jan and Antonina Ć»abiĆski work as the directors of the Warsaw Zoo, where exotic and native animals live in lush habitats made to recreate their native forests, tundra, or wetlands. Jan is a talented zookeeper, naturalist, and biologist; but Antonina possesses a particular talent with animals, a âsixth senseâ that allows her to connect and communicate with them.
The Ć»abiĆskis live with their young son, RyĆ, in a villa just off the zoo grounds. There, they play hosts to a panoply of guests, human and non-human alikeâincluding an eagle chick, a wolf cub, and two baby lynxes rescued from Polandâs primeval BiaĆowieĆŒa Forest.
Need to Know: The Ć»abiĆskis share an unconventional life at the Warsaw Zoo, filled with the joys, challenges, and surprises of caring for animals.
Chapter 2
While Jan works with the zookeepers to stay up to date on the animalsâ health and behavior, Antonina gives tours of the zoo to visitors. The Ć»abiĆskis have ambitions for the Warsaw Zoo: Jan hopes to one day build a large enclosure for some of the animals to share, emulating their natural habitat. The zoo boasts several prize animals, including the twelfth elephant ever born in captivity.
The Warsaw Zoo is a clamoring bazaar of color and life. The scents and sounds of the animals fill the air, and the Ć»abiĆskis encourage local and visiting groups to hold events on zoo grounds. Antonina believes that the zoo offers visitors a chance to connect with their animalistic nature, and is a way to promote conservation.
Need to Know: The Warsaw Zoo is a nexus between animal and human life, where humans care for and observe animals and animals remind humans of their place in the natural world.
Antonina and Jan befriend Magdalena Gross, a famous Jewish sculptor. The zoo animals captivate Magdalenaâshe spends hours observing them in their enclosures. The animals become her modelsâthe zoo, her art studio.
In the summer of 1939, Antonina takes RyĆ on vacation to rural RejentĂłwka, where they spend idyllic summer days playing with their new pet badger and exploring the forest. Isolated and happy in the little cottage with her animal friends and RyĆ, Antonina feels far away from the political tensions roiling Europe. But when she returns to Warsaw, her sense of peace shattersâthe city is preparing for an imminent German invasion.
Need to Know: The life that Antonina knew before the warâthe life of security and madcap funâhas begun to fall apart.
Chapter 4
Warsaw, September 1, 1939
Germany launches its invasion of Poland on the September 1, 1939. Planes screech overhead; bombs reduce houses to flaming rubble. Antonina flees to RejentĂłwka, where RyĆ and his nanny remain. German aircraft fly low over the road out of Warsaw, strafing the fleeing women, children, and elderly. Antonina arrives safely at the cottage; Jan joins her a few days later. Together, the three Ć»abiĆskis return to Warsaw.
German air raids rend the skies over Warsaw morning and night. At the zoo, the Ć»abiĆskis try to calm the terrified animals. But when a bomb hits the polar bearsâ enclosure and frees the bears, Polish soldiers shoot all of the zooâs predatory and aggressive inhabitantsâincluding a large male elephant. A day later, a Polish soldier knocks at the door. He orders Jan to join the Polish army on the northwestern front and directs all civilians to vacate the zoo. Antonina and RyĆ leave the zoo to stay with Janâs sister-in-law.
Need to Know: The violent wrecking of the Warsaw Zoo mirrors the sudden destruction of everything the Ć»abiĆskis understood about their lives. As the city falls, so do the Ć»abiĆskisâ dreams of a bright future at the zoo.
Chapter 5
Antonina and RyĆ hide and wait in the small fourth floor flat on KapucyĆska Street. Desperate to protect RyĆ in the event that the building collapses, she leaves her sister-in-law and relocates to the ground floor, where there is a lampshade store and workshop. The two elderly storeowners offer food and shelter to those who fled their homes. Theirs is a city under siegeâevery day, Antonina, RyĆ, and the others in the shop face the possibility of their own death. When the French and English declare war on Germany, the Poles rejoice; but the intervention they hope for does not come.
One day, Antonina braves the bombers and heads toward the zoo, determined to save what animals she can.
Need to Know: Faced with the threat of death, Antoninaâs animal instincts kick inâshe does what she can to protect her young and her territory.
Chapter 6
The Nazi bombs devastate the zoo. Flames engulf some of the animal enclosures, animals lie dead or wounded in their cages, and some animals escape into Warsawâs streets. And, somehow, some surviveâAntonina finds the rare lynxes, bison, and Przywalski horses still alive and does what little she can to calm them. Back at the lampshade store, Antonina and the huddled survivors listen for news on the radio; they begin to understand that Warsaw will fall to the Germans.
Then Jan, who had gone off to the war front, arrives at the door of the shop.
Jan left Warsaw weeks before as part of a group of men looking for an army unit to join. After three unsuccessful weeks, they disbanded. While overnighting at the farm of some acquaintances, Jan ran into Dr. Muller, a Nazi zoologist who, by pretending to arrest Jan, was able to bring him back safely to Warsaw.
After Poland surrenders and the bombings stop, the Ć»abiĆskis return to the zoo and salvage what they can. Outside the villa, the German soldiers march in the streets. Hitler installs his personal lawyer, Hans Frank, as ruler of occupied Poland. Jan immediately forges ties with the Polish Underground Resistance. Also called the Home Army, the resistance sabotages and undermines the Nazi occupiers.
Need to Know: Warsaw reels from the catastrophic German invasion. After the surrender, the Polish people piece their lives back together under radically altered circumstancesâand some of them plan how theyâll fight back against the occupying Germans.
Chapter 7
Normally, October would bring quieter days and new animals to the zoo, but in 1939, the zoo is empty and wrecked. Antonina fears the Germans will liquidate the zoo.
Then, the Ć»abiĆskis receive news of a coming visitor: Lutz Heck, a friend from the International Association of Zoo Directors. Keeper of the Berlin Zoo, Heck has become an influential and powerful Nazi. The Ć»abiĆskis donât know whether they can trust him or not. Though heâs always been a little sweet on Antonina (tall and blonde, sheâs an ideal Aryan woman...