The Accordionist and The Struggler

     The accordion that Hans Hubermann owns played an important part in his survival of the first world war. He began fighting in the army when he was twenty-two, in France, where he was lucky enough to meet a man named Erik Vandenburg. Erik Vandenburg owned the accordion that would eventually belong to Hans Hubermann. He was a German Jew, who became friends with Hans. "The two of them became friends due to the fact that neither of them was terribly interested in fighting." (Zusak, 175). Both men enjoyed gambling, smoking cigarettes, and a love of playing the accordion.
     One day when the men were once again lounging about, their commander came and asked them who had good handwriting. The men had had experience with this type of situation before. The commander would ask them to volunteer for an innocent task, and whoever would volunteer would end up doing the most menial and disgusting chores. The commander then informed them that the person who did this would not go out to fight that day. "If someone stepped forward now, the platoon would make his life a living hell for the rest of their time together. No one likes a coward. On the the other hand, if someone was to be nominated. . ." (Zusak, 177). Erik Vandenburg save Hans Hubermann's life by volunteering him for that job, because the day Hans spent writing letters, everyone in his platoon was slaughtered, including Vandenburg. Hans took Erik's accordion, and eventually found his wife and son in Stuttgart. A promise was made that if they should ever need help, they should contact Hans Hubermann.
     Max Vandenburg shows up on Hans Hubermann's doorstep, because he is a Jew and needs a place to hide from the Nazis. Max knows that if Hans Hubermann still has the accordion then his father's sacrifice must have meant something to him. Max also understands that it is not necessarily luck that saved Hans Hubermann's life, but his father's intuition. Death nearly had Hans Hubermann that day, but it was the intervention of what some German's would call an enemy that saved the life of one of their own. Death says "I've seen so many young men over the years who think they're running at other young men. They are not. They're running at me." (Zusak, 174). Hans Huberman had a mixture of luck, and the strength of a good friendship. I consider myself particularly lucky because I have a knack for finding money, and I also got into the Gateway to College program.