In The Book Thief, the protagonist is Liesel Memminger. This is because she is a good little girl who challenges Hitler's wrath by taking in a Jewish man and stealing the things she loves in order to learn in her brainwashed country; books. Then there is Hitler, the antagonist of the story. He is the leader of Germany and the one enforcing all of the new anti-Jewish laws, all of which affect Liesel and her family. These effects cause struggles and life to be difficult. The Book Thief takes place in Munich, Germany during the World War Two era (1939-1943). In the novel, in one of the first chapters "Arrival on Himmel Street," it states that the book thief and her brother were "traveling down toward Munich, where they would soon be given over to their foster parents." This is the exposition.