Input: When was the death penalty abolished in the country near the country where the writer of The Book Thief is a citizen of?

Context:
Passage 1:
1958 Asian Games
The 1958 Asian Games, officially the Third Asian Games (Japanese: 第3回アジア競技大会) and commonly known as Tokyo 1958, was a multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 May to 1 June 1958. It was governed by the Asian Games Federation. A total of 1,820 athletes representing 20 Asian National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in the Games. The program featured competitions in 13 different sports encompassing 97 events, including four non-Olympic sports, judo, table tennis, tennis and volleyball. Four of these competition sports – field hockey, table tennis, tennis and volleyball – were introduced for the first time in the Asian Games.
This is the first time that Japan hosted the Asian Games.

Background
The Asian Games is a multi-sport event, much like the Summer Olympics (albeit on a much smaller scale), with participation exclusively for Asian countries. The first edition was held in the capital city of India, New Delhi, in 1951, attracting 489 competitors from 11 nations.

Sports
The programme for the Tokyo 1958 Games included 13 different sports divided into 97 events. Four of these sports – judo, table tennis, tennis and volleyball – were not on the official Olympic sports programme at that time. Badminton was added as a demonstration sport, which, from 1962 onwards, became a regular competitive sport in the Asian Games. Judo was another demonstration sport.

Torch relay
The tradition of torch relay, inspired by the Olympic Games, was introduced for the first time in the Asian Games in 1958. The relay officially began from the main venue of the Second Asian Games, Rizal Memorial Coliseum, in Manila, Philippines. In the host nation, Japan, it was relayed from Okinawa to Kyushu Island. Okinawa was under the United States administration at that time. At the opening ceremony, the Games cauldron was ignited by the first Japanese Olympic gold medallist and the first Asian Olympic champion in an individual event, Mikio Oda.

Participating nations
A record total of 1,820 athletes representing 20 member nations of the Asian Games Federation participated in the Games. The number of participating countries was also greatest in comparison to the first two editions of the Games.
The Thai delegation held a meeting on 22 May 1958 in Tokyo, and invitations were sent to the representatives of Malaysia, Burma and Laos. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the possibility of forming a regional multi-sport event on the lines of Asian Games for the countries of Southeast Asia. This way the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games (SEAP Games), which later became the Southeast Asian Games, were established and the first SEAP Games were held in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1959.

Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the Tokyo 1958 Games was organised on 24 May 1958 at the National Olympic Stadium. The ceremony, among other dignitaries and guests, included the Emperor of Japan Hirohito, crown prince Akihito and Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Around 70,000 people attended the opening ceremony.

Calendar
In the following calendar for the 1958 Asian Games, each blue box represents an event competition, such as a qualification round, on that day. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport were held. The numeral indicates the number of event finals for each sport held that day. On the left, the calendar lists each sport with events held during the Games, and at the right, how many gold medals were won in that sport. There is a key at the top of the calendar to aid the reader.

Medal table
Athletes from 16 countries won medals, leaving four countries without a medal, and 11 of them won at least one gold medal. Afghanistan, Cambodia, Nepal and North Borneo did not win any medal. The Japanese 4 × 100 metres medley relay team of Keiji Hase (backstroke), Masaru Furukawa (breaststroke), Manabu Koga (freestyle) and Takashi Ishimoto (butterfly) won the gold medal with a time of 4:17.2 and broke the world record.The ranking in this table is consistent with International Olympic Committee convention in its published medal tables. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won (in this context, a nation is an entity represented by a NOC). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next, followed by the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given; they are listed alphabetically by IOC country code.
The top ten ranked NOCs at these Games are listed below. The host nation, Japan, is highlighted.

  *   Host nation (Japan)
Passage 2:
Capital punishment in Illinois
Capital punishment has been repealed in the U.S. state of Illinois since 2011.
Illinois used death by hanging as a form of execution until 1928. The last person executed by this method was the public execution of Charles Birger the same year. After being struck down by Furman v. Georgia in 1972, the death penalty was reinstated in Illinois on July 1, 1974, but voided by the Supreme Court of Illinois in 1975. Illinois officially reinstated the death penalty on July 1, 1977.
On September 8, 1983, the state adopted lethal injection as the default method of execution in Illinois, but the electric chair remained operational to replace lethal injection if needed.
In 1994, the state executed serial killer John Wayne Gacy by lethal injection, who sexually assaulted, tortured and murdered at least 33 teenage boys and young men between 1972 and 1978 in Cook County (a part of metropolitan Chicago). The last man executed in Illinois was Ripper Crew member Andrew Kokoraleis in 1999. Another man condemned in Illinois, Alton Coleman, was executed in Ohio.
On January 11, 2003, the Republican Governor George Ryan blanket-commuted the sentences of all the 167 inmates condemned to death, and pardoned four of them, a gesture that his opponents attribute to the fact that he was rendered ineligible by his unpopularity and charged with conspiracy, racketeering and fraud.Democratic Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation on March 9, 2011, to abolish the death penalty in Illinois to go into effect July 1, 2011, and commuted the death sentences of the fifteen inmates on Illinois' death row to life imprisonment. Quinn was criticized for signing the bill after saying that he supported the death penalty during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign, after which he defeated the Republican candidate with 46.8% of the vote.In 2018, then Republican Governor Bruce Rauner called for the reintroduction of the death penalty for those convicted of killing police officers. This was opposed by state lawmakers and Rauner was subsequently defeated by Democrat J. B. Pritzker.

See also
List of people executed in Illinois
Crime in Illinois
Law of Illinois
Passage 3:
Somalia at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Somalia sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The country's participation at Beijing marked its seventh in the Summer Olympics since its debut in 1972 Games. The delegation included two track and field athletes: sprinter Samiya Yuusf Omar and long-distance runner Abdinasir Said Ibrahim. Neither athlete progressed past the first round of their respective competitions. Omar's story, having trained in Mogadishu during the Somali Civil War, was covered by the media at the time, and later featured in a graphic novel following her death.

Background
Somalia participated in seven Summer Olympics between its debut in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The highest number of Somalis participating at any single Summer Games was seven at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, United States. No Somali has ever won a medal at an Olympics.Abdinasir Said Ibrahim was chosen to compete in the Men's 5000 metres and Samiya Yuusf Omar in the Women's 200 metres. Somali official Duran Farah was chosen as the nation's flag bearer for the Parade of Nations.

Athletics

Somalia was represented by one male athlete at the 2008 Games in athletics – Abdinasir Said Ibrahim, a 5000 metres runner, an 18-year-old. He competed in the third and final heat of the first round, with a time of 14:21:58. This placed him in 12th and final place, over sixteen seconds behind Abdelaziz El Idrissi of Morocco in 11th position. However, there were two runners slower than Ibrahim in other heats; Nader al-Masri of Palestine and Soe Min Thu of Myanmar.At the age of 16 years old, Samiya Yuusf Omar was the only female athlete competing for Somalia at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Prior to the competition, she trained at the Mogadishu Stadium on a gravel track pitted by mortar craters. She explained that she would be routinely harassed while training by local militia groups, fighting in the Somali Civil War, and both friends and family had been pressuring her to stop training. She explained, "Traditionally Somalis view the girls as corrupted if they join in with things like sports and music. It's because they sometimes wear transparent clothes or shorts. Therefore I have been coming under pressure from all different sides." She continued to practice following encouragement from her mother, although had not expected to be chosen for the Games due to her age and as she was from a minority ethnic group.She competed in the fifth out of six heats of the women's 200 metre competition on 19 August. She finished in a time of 32.16 in eighth and last place, nine seconds behind South African Isabel Le Roux in seventh position. Having had no funding, Omar competed in loose fitting equipment donated by the Sudanese team, but despite finishing in last place, the media coverage of her meant that she was cheered loudly by the crowd as she finished.Following the Games, she received death threats upon returning to Somalia, and after being confronted by Al-Shabaab, she began to deny that she was an athlete. The organisation banned woman from participating in sports, and Omar eventually made her way to Ethiopia in order to pursue the hope of competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics. She attempted to make her way to Europe, travelling to Libya in September 2011. Alongside other refugees, she attempted to cross the Mediterranean by sea in 2012; she drowned while attempting to board an Italian naval vessel when the boat she was on was intercepted off the coast of Libya. Omar's life story was later dramatised as the graphic novel An Olympic Dream: The story of Samia Yusuf Omar by German artist Reinhard Kleist.

Track events
Passage 4:
Capital punishment in New Zealand
Capital punishment in New Zealand – the process of sentencing convicted offenders to death for the most serious crimes (capital crimes) and carrying out that sentence, as ordered by a legal system – first appeared in a codified form when New Zealand became a British colony in 1840. It was first carried out with a public hanging in Victoria Street, Auckland in 1842, while the last execution occurred in 1957 at Mount Eden Prison, also in Auckland.  In total, 85 people have been executed in New Zealand. Capital punishment was first abolished for murder in 1941 by the First Labour Government, with all death sentences commuted to life imprisonment. However, the succeeding First National Government reinstated it in 1949, following which eight more executions took place in the period up to 1957. Subsequently, public opinion turned against the use of capital punishment, and it was once again abolished for murder in 1961, and abolished for all crimes, including treason, in 1979.

Method
The method of execution was always by hanging. At first, there were many possible execution sites all around the country, but later, the only two cities where hangings were carried out were Wellington (the capital) and Auckland (now the largest city).
Initially, there was no professional hangman employed—the executioner was simply chosen from among any who were deemed qualified. On occasion, convicted criminals were employed as hangmen, often in exchange for reduced sentences or monetary reward. In 1877, the sheriff of Blenheim recommended that a professional executioner be hired. Tom Long, an Irishman who claimed to have been an executioner in Australia, was hired as the official hangman. He was the only official hangman to be publicly known; others remained anonymous.

History At the time of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 when New Zealand became a British colony, the most current legislation governing capital punishment in England, and henceforth New Zealand, was the Punishment of Offences Act (1837), which had abolished the death penalty for a number of statutory offences, including cattle stealing, and replaced it with penal transportation for life. However, some capital crimes remained on the British law books, including murder, treason, espionage, arson in the royal dockyards, and piracy with violence.All those executed were convicted of murder, with the exception of Hamiora Pere, who was convicted of treason in 1869. All bar one were men; the exception being Minnie Dean, who was found guilty of infanticide in 1895. However, before Dean's trial, imprisonment and execution, several other women had been found guilty of Infanticide in nineteenth-century New Zealand, but had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment. These were Caroline Whitting (1872), Phoebe Veitch (1883) and Sarah-Jane and Anna Flannagan (1891).

Public executions
The first eight executions were carried out in public, from 1842 to 1858; five outside the gate of the Auckland Gaol on the corner of Queen Street and Victoria Street West in central Auckland; one on King Edward Parade on the waterfront at Devonport; and two outside Mount Cook Gaol in Wellington, which is today the site of the Dominion Museum building and National War Memorial on Puke Ahu.At the first execution, on 7 March 1842, approximately a thousand people gathered at the corner of Queen Street and Victoria Street West, now the centre of the Auckland CBD, to witness the hanging of Wiremu Kīngi Maketū. He had been found guilty of murdering five people on Motuarohia Island, in the Bay of Islands. The people killed were Thomas Bull, employed by Elisabeth Roberton, who was also murdered along with her son aged eight, her daughter of two, and a girl of nearly three named Isabella Brind, the natural daughter of one Captain Brind by a Māori woman, the daughter of Rewa, chief of Ngapuhi in that area. Mrs Roberton's husband, Captain John Roberton, had drowned prior in Paroa Bay, just opposite the island. Thomas Bull had a reputation for strength and brutality. He seemed at all times to have made a set at Maketū and had on several occasions struck, thrown, or otherwise maltreated him. Maketū was unable to defend himself against such an opponent; nor indeed did it conform with his notions of dignity to do so, he being (by virtue of his chiefly rank) above combat with one who was a servant and whom he therefore regarded on the same plane as a slave. Maketū, therefore, bided his time for revenge. Maketū then killed Thomas Bull in the night with an axe; he then brutally murdered Mrs Roberton, who was shouting abuse at him and then went to murder the two girls (ransacking the house and then burning Mrs Roberton and the two children within it). The boy ran up Pa Hill, where Maketū chased him and threw him off the 200-foot (60 m) cliff. He was sentenced to death by an all-white jury (his defence had wanted a half-white, half-Māori jury) in an Auckland court, and executed on 7 March 1842.

The second execution in New Zealand was the public hanging of Joseph Burns on 17 June 1848. On the day of his execution, he was paraded down Auckland's Queen St, seated in a coffin, and taken by boat across the Waitemata Harbour to the Devonport waterfront, where he was hanged on King Edward Parade, not far from the scene of his crimes. Burns was the first European settler to be executed in New Zealand.The third execution in New Zealand, and first in Wellington, occurred on 19 April 1849. Maroro of Ngāti Kahungunu descent was hanged outside Mount Cook Gaol in front of approximately 500 people, following his conviction of the murder of John Branks and his three children.The fourth execution occurred in the same location in Wellington on 17 June 1850, in front of a similar sized crowd, when William Good was hanged for the murder of John Ellis. The scaffold was "erected on Cook's Mount, immediately in front of the brick wall of the gaol."The fifth execution was that of escaped Australian convict, William Bowden, on 27 April 1852. He was hanged on the scaffold erected outside the entrance gate of the Auckland Gaol, on the corner of Queen Street and Victoria Street West, in front of approximately 300 people.The sixth execution in New Zealand, and the third public hanging to take place outside the Auckland Gaol on the corner of Queen and Victoria Streets was that of Charles Marsden on 12 February 1856. It took approximately 14 minutes for Marsden to die, with accusations that his execution was "clumsily performed".The seventh execution took place in Auckland at sunrise on 11 July 1856 with the public hanging of John White. In a sign of changing attitudes to the spectacle of public executions, the Superintendent had ordered that the scaffold be erected after dark the previous evening, and the front of the scaffold, under the drop, be partially boarded up. Due to the early hour of the execution, no more than twenty to thirty people witnessed the event on the corner of Queen Street and Victoria Street West.The last public execution was that of John Killey, who had been found guilty of murdering John Butler in Whangarei on 17 December 1857. At his later sentencing in Auckland, the judge, Sir George Alfred Arney, was "said to have been moved to tears" in passing sentence, while Killey "fell down in the dock in a fainting fit". He was hanged on 18 March 1858, also outside the gate of the Auckland Gaol.

Move to abolish public executions in the British colonies of Australasia
Throughout the British colonies of Australasia public hangings came to be seen as "barbarous spectacles". The last public hanging in Sydney took place outside Darlinghurst Gaol on 21 September 1852, in which local press noted disapprovingly the "extraordinary attendance of children, upon whose tender minds the shocking spectacle of a fellow creature dangling at the end of a rope, had no other more serious effect than that of eliciting from them three cheers for the hangman". New South Wales, where public executions were also "associated with the hated convict era", became the first of the British colonies in Australia to abolish public executions, when the Act to Regulate the Execution of Criminals 1855 (NSW) came into force on 10 January 1855.Victoria and Tasmania followed shortly after with the Private Execution Act 1855 (Vic) and the Criminals’ Execution Act 1855 (Tas) respectively. When the Moreton Bay settlement separated from NSW to become the self-governing colony of Queensland in 1859, the New South Wales legislation automatically applied.While South Australia and Western Australia abolished public executions in 1858 and 1870 respectively, both colonies subsequently passed amendments which allowed for the hanging of capitally convicted Aboriginal Australians at the scene of their alleged crimes: the Act to Amend an Act to Regulate the Execution of Criminals 1861 (SA) and the Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1871 Amendment Act 1875 (WA).In New Zealand, public executions were abolished under Section 1 of the Executions of Criminals Act 1858, which specified that executions had to be carried out "within the walls or the enclosed yard of some gaol, or within some other enclosed space". The Act came into force on 3 June 1858, three months after the country's last public hanging in central Auckland.By way of comparison with other English-speaking countries which share an historical legacy of English common law, the last public execution in the United Kingdom was the hanging of Michael Barrett outside Newgate Prison in London on 26 May 1868, in front of a crowd of approximately 2000 people. Canada's last public execution occurred on 7 December 1869 when Nicholas Melady was hanged in front of "a few hundred spectators", outside the Huron County Gaol, now called the Huron Historic Gaol, in Goderich, Ontario. The last judicial execution carried out in public in the United States was the hanging of Rainey Bethea in a parking lot in Owensboro, Kentucky on 14 August 1936, in front of an estimated crowd of 20,000.

Executed out of public view
In 1862, in Wellington, James Collins became the first person in New Zealand to be executed out of public view.In 1866, the site of the old Auckland Gaol was made ready for a temporary market. The Sheriff approved the removal of the graves of the five executed criminals, to respect "public decency". The bodies were reinterred in "a remote and unused spot" of the Symonds St Cemetery.The last person to be executed was Walter James Bolton, for poisoning his wife, on 18 February 1957.

Abolition: 1949–1961
When the Labour Party formed its first government following the 1935 general election, it commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment. The Crimes Amendment Act 1941  changed the penalty for murder from death to life imprisonment with hard labour. The only crimes for which the death penalty still applied were treason and piracy.
The Labour Party lost power to the more conservative National Party, which had pledged to reintroduce capital punishment, in 1949. During that earlier period, support and opposition for capital punishment were clearly delineated on partisan grounds. The National Party supported the restoration and maintenance of the death penalty, while the Labour Party opposed it. During debate over the Capital Punishment Act 1950 (which exempted expectant mothers and young persons under the age of 18 years), Labour expressed concern about the constitutional implications of the concentration of executive power in this context (although Labour had used this power from 1935 to 1941), while National Party Attorney-General Clifton Webb referred to the alleged "deterrent" value of the death penalty as potential threat and punitive severity. However, Webb was relatively sparing in his use of the death penalty, while his successor, Attorney-General Jack Marshall (1955–1957), was a hardliner on that issue and the number and pace of executions accelerated, arousing debate.
During the time that the National Party was in office (1949–1957), 36 people were convicted of murder, and 22 of those were sentenced to death (George Horry was convicted of murder in 1951 but not hanged because the death penalty was not in force in 1942). The final decision on executions rested with Cabinet, and only eight of the condemned were executed. The rest were commuted to life imprisonment. Even then, professional opinion was divided. Film censor Gordon Mirams did not regard spectacles of hanging as appropriate content within crime dramas and western films and excised such content and dialogue on the basis of family propriety.According to Department of Justice historian Pauline Engel, the British Royal Commission on Capital Punishment (1953) may have heavily influenced the rise of abolitionism, as did the controversies that surrounded the executions of Harry Whiteland and Edward Te Whiu, which raised questions about post-war trauma, intellectual and developmental disability as factors for leniency.
Social historian Redmer Yska has argued that such concern arose much earlier. When the National Party restored capital punishment in 1950, it became an administrative ordeal for civil servants involved, particularly those within correctional facilities like Mount Eden Prison in Auckland, law enforcement and the judiciary. Corrections staff needed to maintain suicide watch for the convicted felon, conduct regular health checks and provide pastoral care for the condemned individual's relatives, as well as insure prison security during executions.Official requirements mandated the presence of a magistrate, doctor and sheriffs. During the late fifties, Attorney-General Jack Marshall accelerated the pace of executions and post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism and duodenal haemorrhaging developed amongst two of the three staff obliged to participate during execution procedures. In cases of political import, prudent reprieves and commuted penalties did occur, as happened when three Niue Islanders were sentenced to death after killing a manifestly brutal and oppressive Resident Commissioner (and were reprieved only after New Zealand prison officials had reached Niue to carry out the hangings). On that occasion, the Public Questions Committee of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand became involved in strenuously lobbying against the verdict.Class differences were also seen to affect the verdict. Dr. Senga Wintringham was convicted of manslaughter, rather than murder, in February 1955, after shooting and killing Dr Bill Saunders. Wintringham claimed that she had only meant to intimidate him, rather than kill him. The Peoples Voice, newspaper of the Communist Party of New Zealand, criticised the perceived "double standard" in this context, as the courts had just convicted and sentenced 26-year-old British migrant and itinerant labourer Frederick Foster to death, despite questions about mental illness and intellectual impairment in his context, as well as appeals from his mother. Foster had shot and killed Sharon Skeffington, his former girlfriend. Although Foster was sentenced to death and executed, defence counsel Dr Martyn Finlay succeeded in raising questions about the limited intellectual capabilities and mental health of the condemned person in this context. Similar questions would arise in the trial, conviction and execution of Albert Webb. The New Zealand Listener editorialised against the death penalty in July 1955, and received supportive feedback from its letters page correspondents.Eddie Te Whiu was hanged in August 1955, after he had killed an elderly widow in Ngararatunua, near Kamo, when an attempted burglary went wrong. Abolitionist sentiment grew again, as, with the Foster and Black cases, there was perceptible anxiety about the failure of "deterrence" value in the context of violent homicides, and whether Te Whiu should have been convicted of manslaughter instead, due to his dysfunctional family origins and limited intellectual capabilities. As a result, a National Committee for Abolition of the Death Penalty was formed in November 1956, with branches in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
Engel and Maureen Garing have drawn attention to the involvement of Protestant Christian opposition to capital punishment. In 1941 and 1951, the Christian Social Justice League, Christchurch Anglican Diocesan Synod and Methodist Public Questions Committee supported abolition, as did individual Catholics, although their hierarchy remained neutral in this debate. The New Zealand Theosophical Society also opposed capital punishment, and the Churches of Christ and Baptist Union declared its opposition in the late fifties. As religious opposition grew, it provided opponents of capital punishment with an organisational base that was used to good effect. Redmer Yska notes that clergy often refused to participate in legitimising executions through their presence, of whatever denomination.As a consequence of controversy over the perceived escalation in use of capital punishment, abolitionist petitions started to circulate as well. In 1956, a proposal for a referendum on capital punishment was put forward by the Minister of Justice, Jack Marshall. This referendum was to be voted on during the 1957 general election, but the proposal was defeated.Meanwhile, Walter James Bolton (1888–1957) was executed at Mount Eden Prison in Auckland in February 1957, after he had allegedly poisoned his wife with arsenic. Given that the National Party lost that election, there were to be no further executions within New Zealand. However, while the election saw a short-lived Labour government elected, capital punishment was not debated in Parliament again before the National party regained power after the 1960 election.
In 1961, the National Party reaffirmed its support for the death penalty, although restricted its use to premeditated murders, and those committed during another crime or during an escape from custody. The issue of capital punishment generated intensive debate within the National Party—the Minister of Justice in the Second National Government, who was responsible for introducing the Crimes Bill 1961, Ralph Hanan, strongly opposed the death penalty, while Jack Marshall, the Deputy Prime Minister, had supported its use while serving as Minister of Justice and Attorney General, as noted above.

Abolition and its aftermath: 1961 onwards
Aware of growing public opposition to capital punishment, the National Party allowed its MPs to exercise a conscience vote in Parliament, and ten National MPs subsequently voted in favour of abolition. The result was a majority of 11 against capital punishment, 41–30. The ten National MPs were Ernest Aderman, Gordon Grieve, Ralph Hanan, Duncan MacIntyre, Robert Muldoon, Lorrie Pickering, Logan Sloane, Brian Talboys, Esme Tombleson and Bert Walker. The death penalty was therefore abolished for murder, being retained only for treason and other similar acts in theory. In principle, this meant that de facto abolition had occurred from that point onward.These last theoretical vestiges of capital punishment were abolished under the Palmer Labour cabinet in November 1989 with the passage of the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act 1989, and there were no further executions during the interim period. Passage of the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act ended all capital punishment in New Zealand in 1979. The Cook Islands, which based its statutes on New Zealand law, formally retained the death penalty for treason until it was abolished in 2007. The death penalty was never used in the Cook Islands.Occasional calls to reinstate capital punishment still occur, but no major political party has made capital punishment an element of any of their election manifestos since the 1989 Abolition act. As for minor political parties, the solitary exception was the fundamentalist Christian Heritage New Zealand, which has been defunct since 2005.
A 2004 1 News Colmar Brunton  poll found 28% were in favour of bringing back the death penalty, 67% did not want to bring the death penalty back, and 5% were undecided. In a 2013 Curia poll for TV3's The Nation, 38% of New Zealanders were in favour of the death penalty—a nominal increase from the 28% in 2004—while 55% were opposed it, and 7% were undecided. Also in the poll, 35% of Labour voters favoured the death penalty and National voters' support polled at 44%. Least likely to be in favour were Green Party voters at 19%, but the strongest support came from New Zealand First voters at 84%.

See also
Capital punishment in the Cook Islands
List of people executed in New Zealand
Passage 5:
1952 Winter Olympics
The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games (Norwegian: De 6. olympiske vinterleker; Nynorsk: Dei 6. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, was a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 1952 in Oslo, the capital of Norway.
Discussions about Oslo hosting the Winter Olympic Games began as early as 1935; the city was keen to host the 1948 Winter Olympics, but that was made impossible by World War II. Instead, Oslo won the right to host the 1952 Games in a contest that included Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy and Lake Placid in the United States. All of the Olympic venues were in Oslo's metropolitan area, except for the alpine skiing events, which were held at Norefjell, 113 km (70 mi) from the capital. A new hotel was built for the press and dignitaries, along with three dormitories to house athletes and coaches, creating the first modern athlete's village. Oslo bore the financial burden of hosting the Games in return for the revenue they generated. The 1952 Winter Olympics was the first of the two consecutive Olympics to be held in Northern Europe, preceding the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.
The 1952 Winter Games attracted 694 athletes representing 30 countries, who participated in four sports and 22 events. Japan and Germany made their returns to Winter Olympic competition after being forced to miss the 1948 Games in the aftermath of World War II. Germany was represented solely by West German athletes after East Germany declined to compete as a unified team. Portugal and New Zealand made their Winter Olympic debuts, and women were allowed to compete in cross-country skiing for the first time.
Norwegian truck driver Hjalmar Andersen won three out of four speed skating events to become the most decorated athlete of the 1952 Winter Olympics. Germany resumed its former prominence in bobsleigh, with wins in the four- and two-man events. Dick Button of the United States performed the first triple jump in international competition to claim his second consecutive men's figure skating Olympic title. The popular Nordic sport bandy featured as a demonstration sport, but only three Nordic countries competed in the tournament. Norway dominated the overall medal count with 16 medals, including seven golds. The Games closed with the presentation of a flag that would be passed to the host city of the next Winter Olympics. The flag, which became known as the "Oslo flag", has been displayed in the host city during subsequent Winter Games.

Host city selection
Oslo had unsuccessfully bid to host the 1936 Winter Olympics, losing to Germany, which had hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics. At that time, the nation that hosted the Summer Olympics also hosted the Winter Olympics. After the 1936 Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to award the Winter and Summer Games to different countries, but the Games were suspended during World War II. London hosted the first post-war Games, the 1948 Summer Olympics, and recommended Oslo as the host city for the 1948 Winter Games, but the city council declined. Instead, the 1948 Winter Olympics were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland.Norwegians were undecided about hosting a Winter Olympics. Culturally, they were opposed to competitive winter sports, particularly skiing events, despite the success of Norwegian athletes at previous Winter Games. But the organizers believed the 1952 Games could be an opportunity to promote national unity and to show the world that Norway had recovered from the war. Vying with Oslo for the right to host the Games were Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, and Lake Placid, New York, United States. The IOC voted to award the 1952 Winter Games to Oslo on 21 June 1947 at the 40th IOC Session in Stockholm, Sweden. Later, Cortina d'Ampezzo was awarded the 1956 Games, and Lake Placid—which had hosted the 1932 Winter Olympics—was chosen to host the 1980 Winter Games. Norway became the first Scandinavian country to host a Winter Olympics, and the 1952 Winter Games were the first to be held in a nation's capital.

Results
Organization
A special committee was assigned to organize the 1952 Games, which consisted of four Norwegian sports officials and four representatives from the municipality of Oslo, including mayor Brynjulf Bull. The committee was in place by December 1947. The city of Oslo funded the Games entirely, in exchange for keeping all the revenue generated. To accommodate the influx of athletes and coaches, quarters for competitors and support staff were designed and constructed, with three new facilities (forerunners of the athlete's villages of later Games) built. The city of Oslo paid to have a new hotel constructed, the Viking, used for IOC delegates, out-of-town dignitaries, and as the communication hub of the Games. For the first time in a Winter Games, an indoor ice hockey arena was constructed, which hosted the eight-team tournament. Oslo's existing central arena, Bislett Stadium, was used for the opening and closing ceremonies, and for speed skating events. Improvements to the arena included better sound and lighting systems, remodeled club house and press rooms, and the addition of a medical center.

Politics
In the aftermath of the German occupation of Norway during World War II, anti-German sentiment began to affect preparations for the 1952 Olympics. Discussions were held to consider whether Germany should be allowed to participate in the Games. When in 1950, the West German Olympic Committee requested recognition by the IOC, it raised the question of whether their participation would cause political boycotts in the upcoming Games. Once the IOC recognized the West German Olympic Committee, West Germany was then formally invited to compete at the 1952 Winter Games. East Germany was invited to participate with West Germany, as a unified team, but they declined.At first Norway was reluctant to welcome German athletes and others considered Nazi sympathizers. For example, Norwegian speed skater Finn Hodt was not allowed to compete in the Norwegian speed skating team because he collaborated with the Nazis during the war. Eventually, despite the concern, Norway agreed to allow German and Japanese athletes to compete. The Soviet Union sent no athletes to Oslo, despite being recognized by the IOC.

Events
Medals were awarded in 22 events contested in four sports (eight disciplines).

 Bobsleigh (2) ()
 Ice hockey (1) ()
Skating
 Figure skating (3) ()
 Speed skating (4) ()
Skiing
 Alpine skiing (6) ()
 Nordic skiing  ()
 Cross-country skiing (4) ()
 Nordic combined (1) ()
 Ski jumping (1) ()

Demonstration sport
Bandy (1) (details)

Opening ceremonies
The opening ceremonies were held in Bislett Stadium on 15 February. King George VI of Great Britain had died on 6 February 1952 with his daughter Elizabeth II taking the throne as Queen, eight days before the start of the Games. As a result, all national flags were flown at half-mast, and Princess Ragnhild opened the Games in place of her grandfather, King Haakon VII, who was in London attending the state funeral. This was the first time an Olympic Games had been declared open by a female official. The parade of nations was held according to tradition, with Greece first and the rest of the nations proceeding by alphabetical order in the Norwegian language, with the host nation last. The British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand teams all wore black arm bands at the opening ceremonies in memory of their monarch. Following the parade of nations, the Olympic flame was lit. On 13 February, at the start of the inaugural Winter Olympics torch relay, the torch was lit in the hearth of the Morgedal House, birthplace of skiing pioneer Sondre Norheim. The torch relay lasted two days and was conducted entirely on skis. At the opening ceremonies the final torch bearer, Eigil Nansen, received the Olympic torch and skied to a flight of stairs where he removed his skis, ascended, and ignited the flame.The bobsleigh and alpine skiing events were held the day before the opening ceremonies. Competitors in these events were unable to attend the festivities in Oslo; consequently simple opening ceremonies were held at Frognerseteren, site of the bobsleigh events, and Norefjell, site of the alpine skiing events.

Bobsleigh
After a 16-year hiatus from the Olympics, Germany made a triumphant return to the bobsleigh competition, winning the two- and four-man events. The results for both bobsleigh events were the same, with the United States and Switzerland taking silver and bronze respectively. Fritz Feierabend from Switzerland competed in both the two- and four-man competitions. His two bronze medals were the fourth and fifth in an Olympic career that spanned 16 years and three Olympics. There were no weight restrictions on the bobsleigh athletes, and the average weight for each member of the winning German four-man team was 117 kg (258 lb), which was more than the Olympic heavyweight boxing champion in 1952. Seeing the undue advantage overweight athletes brought to their teams, the International Federation for Bobsleigh and Toboganning instituted a weight limit for future Olympics.

Speed skating
All of the speed skating events were held at Bislett Stadium. Americans Ken Henry and Don McDermott placed first and second in the 500-meter race, but Norwegian truck driver Hjalmar Andersen electrified the partisan crowd by winning the 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000-meter events; his margins of victory were the largest in Olympic history. Dutchman Wim van der Voort placed second in the 1,500 meters and his countryman Kees Broekman placed second to Andersen in the 5,000 and 10,000-meter races, becoming the first Olympic speed skating medalists from the Netherlands. Absent from the competition was former world champion Kornél Pajor. The Hungarian-born speed skater had won both long-distance races at the World Championships held in Oslo in 1949 and then defected to Sweden, but was unable to obtain Swedish citizenship in time to compete in 1952.

Alpine skiing
There were three alpine skiing events on the Olympic program: the slalom, giant slalom and downhill. Both men and women competed in all three events, held at Norefjell and Rødkleiva. The giant slalom made its Olympic debut at the 1952 Games. Austrian skiers dominated the competition, winning seven out of a possible 18 medals, including Othmar Schneider who won gold and silver in the men's slalom and downhill. Norwegian Stein Eriksen won gold in the men's giant slalom and silver in the slalom. Greek slalom skier Antoin Miliordos fell 18 times on his run and crossed the finish line backwards. American skier Andrea Mead Lawrence was the only double gold medalist, winning the giant slalom and the slalom. She was the first skier from the United States to win two alpine skiing gold medals.

Cross-country skiing
All the cross-country events were held next to the ski jump hill at Holmenkollbakken. As had been the case in 1948 there were three men's events: 18 kilometers, 50 kilometers, and a relay. Added to the Olympic program for the first time was a ten-kilometer race for women. All the cross-country medals were won by Nordic countries, and Finnish skiers won eight of the twelve possible. Lydia Wideman of Finland became the first female Olympic champion in cross-country skiing; her teammates Mirja Hietamies and Siiri Rantanen won silver and bronze respectively. Veikko Hakulinen won the 50-kilometer men's race to begin an Olympic career that would culminate in seven medals, three of them gold. Hallgeir Brenden won the 18-kilometer race and helped Norway take the silver in the 4 × 10-kilometer relay. Brenden went on to win another gold in the men's 15-kilometer race in 1956, and a silver in the relay in 1960.

Nordic combined
The nordic combined event was held at the cross-country and ski jump venues. For the first time, the ski jump part took place first with competitors taking three jumps from the Holmenkollbakken. The 18-km cross country skiing event took place the next day. Results were tallied by the best two marks were scored, along with the results of the cross-country race, to determine a winner. Norwegians Simon Slåttvik and Sverre Stenersen won the gold and bronze respectively. Stenersen went on to win the gold at the 1956 Games in the same event. Heikki Hasu from Finland won the silver, preventing a Norwegian sweep of the medals.

Ski jumping
Crowds in excess of 100,000 greeted the ski jumpers as they competed at Holmenkollbakken. In 1952 there was only one event, the men's normal hill, which was held on 24 February. The King, Prince Harald, and Princess Ragnhild were in attendance. The Norwegian athletes did not disappoint the crowd, as Arnfinn Bergmann and Torbjørn Falkanger placed first and second; Swedish jumper Karl Holmström took the bronze. Norwegian athletes won the ski jumping gold medal in every Winter Olympics from 1924 to 1952.

Figure skating
There were three events in the Olympic figure skating competition: men's singles, women's singles and mixed pairs. The events were held at Bislett Stadium on a rink constructed inside the speed skating track.Dick Button of the United States won the men's singles event. Helmut Seibt of Austria took silver and James Grogan of the United States won bronze. Button became the first figure-skater to land a triple jump in competition when he performed the triple loop in the men's free skate. British skater Jeannette Altwegg won the gold medal in the women's singles, the silver was won by American Tenley Albright, who went on to win gold at the 1956 Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo, and Jacqueline du Bief of France won the bronze. The German husband and wife pair of Ria and Paul Falk won the mixed pairs competition. They defeated Americans Karol and Peter Kennedy, who placed second, and Hungarian siblings Marianna and László Nagy, who won the bronze medal.

Ice hockey
A majority of the ice hockey matches took place at Jordal Amfi, a new hockey stadium built for the Olympics. Nine teams played in the tournament and Canada again won the gold medal. Canada had won all but one Olympic hockey tournament thus far, but in 1956 the Soviet team began to compete and ended Canadian dominance. Canada was represented by the Edmonton Mercurys, an amateur hockey team sponsored by the owner of a Mercury automobile dealership. Canada played the United States to a three all tie on the final day to clinch the gold, and the Americans won silver. The official report of the USOC for the 1952 Olympics covers the game in great detail. According to the report, by the end of the game against Canada, the Americans were mentally and physically exhausted and after scoring the third goal and tying the game they decided to focus on defense in order not to lose silver. It is important to note that Canadians at the time were considered unbeatable and even tying that team was almost impossible. Sweden and Czechoslovakia ended up tied for third (Czechoslovakia defeated the Swedes in the head-to-head game, but according to the rules at the time they had to play a tiebreaker game because they were tied in points). Sweden won that game and avenged the loss in the round-robin. The Czechs believed they had already won the bronze when they defeated the Swedes in the round-robin, calling the decision to play a tie-breaking game a "plot of the capitalist countries". Canadian team was criticized for its rough play; although body checking was legal, it was not often used by European teams, and opponents and spectators alike took a dim view of that style of play.

Bandy
The IOC lobbied the organizing committee to host either military patrol or curling as a demonstration sport. The committee instead selected bandy, which had never been included in the Winter Games. Popular in Nordic countries, bandy is played by teams of eleven on an outdoor soccer field-sized ice rink, using a small ball and sticks about 1.2 m (3.9 ft) long. As it was a demonstration sport, the players were ineligible for medals. Three nations participated: Finland, Norway and Sweden. Each of the three teams won one game and lost one game; with Sweden winning the competition based on number of goals scored, followed by Norway in second place, and Finland in third place. Two of the games were played at Dæhlenenga Stadium and one at Bislett Stadium.

Closing ceremonies
At the 1952 Winter Games, the closing ceremonies were a distinct program listing, unlike previous Winter Games when the closing ceremonies were held directly after the final event. The closing ceremonies were held in Bislett Stadium, on Monday evening, 25 February. The flag bearers entered the stadium in the same order they followed for the opening ceremonies. That evening four medal ceremonies were also held for the women's cross-country race, the men's cross-country relay, the ski jumping competition, and the ice hockey tournament.Since 1920, the "Antwerp flag" has been passed from host city to host city during closing ceremonies for the Summer Games. The city of Oslo gave an Olympic flag to establish the same tradition for the Winter Games. Brynjulf Bull, Oslo's mayor, passed the flag to the president of the IOC, Sigfrid Edström, who declared the flag was to pass from host city to host city for future Winter Games. The flag, which came to be known as the "Oslo Flag", has since been preserved in a display case, with the name of every Winter Olympics host city engraved on brass plaques, and is brought to each Winter Games to be displayed. A replica is used during the closing ceremonies.After the flag ceremony the Olympic flame was extinguished, a special speed skating race was held, and the figure skating competitors gave an exhibition, followed by 40 children dressed in national costumes performing an ice dance. For a finale, to the close the Games, the lights were extinguished and a 20-minute fireworks display lit up the night sky.

Venues
With a seating capacity of 29,000, Bislett Stadium became the centrepiece of the Games. It was the venue for the speed skating events and the figure skating competition. Bislett was large enough for a 400 m (1,300 ft) speed skating track, and a figure skating ice-rink of 30 by 60 m (98 by 197 ft); a snow bank separated the track and the rink. Because Bislett was an outdoor arena, the organizing committee chose Tryvann Stadion and Hamar Stadion as secondary alternative skating venues to be used the case of bad weather. In 1994 Hamar became the venue for the speed skating events at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.The Oslo Winter Games were the first to feature an Olympic ice hockey tournament held on artificial ice. A new stadium was built for the hockey tournament in a residential area of eastern Oslo, called Jordal Amfi, which accommodated 10,000 spectators in stands rising steeply from the rink. 23 of the 36 hockey matches were played at Jordal Amfi, with the remaining matches played at Kadettangen, Dælenenga idrettspark, Lillestrøm Stadion and Marienlyst Stadion.The cross-country races and ski-jump competition were held at Holmenkollbakken, located roughly 8 km (5 mi) from the center of Oslo. The expected number of spectators caused concerns about traffic, so a new road was constructed and the existing thoroughfare widened. Holmenkollbakken was built in 1892 and improvements were needed to meet international standards. The original wood ski-jump was replaced with a concrete tower and jump that was 87 m (285 ft) long. New stands were built to seat 13,000 people, and an area was added at the base of the hill to accommodate 130,000 spectators.The hills and terrain in the surrounding area met the competitive demands for an elite cross-country ski event. A notice board was posted at the start and finish lines to help spectators monitor the progress of the competitors. The cross-country and nordic combined races began and ended at the base of the ski jump hill. The stands for the ski jump competition had to be removed during the cross-country races; spectators had only a small area from which to watch the races but were allowed on the course to cheer on the competitors.The alpine skiing events were split between Norefjell and Rødkleiva. The slalom courses were at Rødkleiva, located on the same mountain as Holmenkollen and Frognerseteren. The course had an elevation difference, from start to finish, of  200 m (660 ft) and was 480 m (1,570 ft) in length. A rope tow had to be built to bring the skiers from the bottom to the top of the hill. The downhill race and the giant slalom—which made its Olympic debut in 1952—were held at Norefjell, which was 113 km (70 mi) from Oslo and the only venue located away from the capital city. Work had to be done to make the area suitable for Olympic competition. A bridge across Lake Krøderen was built to help alleviate transportation congestion. A new hotel, two ski lifts, and a new road were also constructed.There was no permanent bobsleigh run in Norway. Instead the organizers built a temporary course out of snow and ice. This is often wrongly assumed to have been built at Korketrekkeren. From Frognerseteren a separate 1,508 m (4,948 ft) long, 13-turn course was designed and built. The bobsleigh run was first constructed and tested in 1951, then rebuilt for the Games in 1952. A car was used to return the bobsleighs to the start of the track.

Participating nations
Thirty nations sent competitors, which was the highest number of participants at a Winter Games. New Zealand and Portugal took part in the Winter Olympic Games for the first time. Australia, Germany, and Japan returned after a 16-year absence. South Korea, Liechtenstein, and Turkey competed in 1948 but did not participate in the 1952 Games.

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees
Calendar
All dates are in Central European Time (UTC+1)The official opening ceremonies were held on 15 February, although two smaller ceremonies were held on 14 February to conform with competition schedules. From 15 February until 25 February, the day of the closing ceremonies, at least one event final was held each day.

Medal count
These are the nations that topped the medal count at the 1952 Winter Games.
  *   Host nation (Norway)

Podium sweeps
See also
1952 Summer Olympics
List of 1952 Winter Olympics medal winners

Notes
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The Book Thief (film)
The Book Thief is a 2013 war drama film directed by Brian Percival and starring Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, and Sophie Nélisse. The film is based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Markus Zusak and adapted by Michael Petroni. The film is about a young girl living with her adoptive German family during the Nazi era. Taught to read by her kind-hearted foster father, the girl begins "borrowing" books and sharing them with the Jewish refugee being sheltered by her foster parents in their home. The film features a musical score by Oscar-winning composer John Williams.
The Book Thief premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 3, 2013, and was released for general distribution in the United States on November 8, 2013. The film received mixed reviews upon its theatrical release with some reviewers praising its "fresher perspective on the war" and its focus on the "consistent thread of humanity" in the story, with other critics faulting the film's "wishful narrative". With a budget of $19 million, the film was successful at the box office, earning over $76 million.The Book Thief received  Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for its score. For her performance in the film, Sophie Nélisse won the Hollywood Film Festival Spotlight Award, the Satellite Newcomer Award, and the Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by a Youth in a Lead or Supporting Role – Female. The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 11, 2014.

Plot
In February 1938, Death tells  how a young girl called Liesel Meminger had piqued his interest. In one of the opening scenes, twelve-year-old Liesel is travelling with her mother and younger brother on a train. On the way, her brother dies and is buried next to the tracks. Liesel steals her first book, titled The Grave Digger's Handbook, when it falls out of the gravedigger's pocket. Liesel is then brought to her new home in Munich, where she meets her new foster parents Rosa Hubermann and Hans Hubermann. Rudy Steiner, a boy who lives next door, accompanies her on her first day of school. When the teacher asks Liesel to write her name on the chalkboard, she is only able to write three Xs, revealing to her classmates that she is unable to write. She is taunted by her schoolmates who chant "dummkopf" ("dunce") at her. One of the boys, Franz Deutscher, challenges her to read just one word to which Liesel responds by beating him up. She impresses Rudy, and they become fast friends. When Hans, her foster father, realizes that Liesel cannot read, he begins to teach her, using the book that she took from the graveside along with a giant chalkboard. Liesel becomes captivated with reading anything she can.
Liesel and Rudy become members of the Hitler Youth movement. While at a Nazi book burning ceremony, Liesel and Rudy are harassed by Franz into throwing books onto the bonfire, but Liesel is upset to see the books being burned. When the bonfire ends and everyone leaves, Liesel is still there and she grabs a book that has been only singed. She is seen by Ilsa Hermann, wife of the Burgermeister (mayor). When Rosa asks Liesel to take the laundry to the mayor's spacious, gated house, she realizes that the woman who saw her taking the book is the mayor's wife. Instead, Ilsa takes her into their library and tells Liesel she can come by anytime and read as much as she'd like. One day Liesel is found reading by the mayor, who not only puts a stop to her visits but dismisses Rosa as their laundress.
During Kristallnacht, Max Vandenburg and his mother, who are Jewish, are told by a friend that only one of them can escape, and Max's mother forces him to go. Max's father had saved Hans' life in World War I, and hence he goes to the Hubermanns' house, where Rosa and Hans give him shelter. Max initially stays in Liesel's room while recovering from his trip, and they begin to become friends over their mutual hatred of Hitler. World War II begins, initially making most of the children in Liesel's neighborhood very happy. Max is moved to the basement so that he can move around more, but it is cold and he becomes dangerously ill. Liesel helps him recover by reading to him at every spare moment books "borrowed" from the mayor's library.
One day while "borrowing" a book from the mayor's home, Liesel is followed by Rudy. He discovers the secret of Max, whose name he reads on a journal Max gave to Liesel for Christmas. Rudy guesses that her family is hiding someone, and he swears to never tell anyone. Franz overhears Rudy's last words and violently pushes Rudy to reveal the secret. Rudy throws the journal into the river to keep it from Franz. After Franz leaves, Rudy plunges into the icy river to rescue the journal, and Liesel realizes that she can truly trust him. Soon, a local party member comes by to check the Hubermanns' basement, and they have to hide Max.
While working, Hans sees a neighbour and friend named Lehman being taken away by the police because he is a Jew. Hans tries to intervene, telling the officer that Lehman is a good man, but Hans's name is taken by the soldiers and he is thrown to the ground. Hans realizes what a mistake he has made, since this has made his family visible. He tells the family, and Max realises he must leave in order to protect them. Hans then receives a telegram that he has been conscripted into the army and must leave immediately.
On the way home from school, Liesel believes she has seen Max in a line of Jews being forcibly marched through town, and she begins screaming his name, running through the line. She is thrown to the sidewalk twice by German soldiers and finally gives up when Rosa picks her up and takes her home.
Hans returns home after being injured, and the family is reunited only for a short time. One night the city is bombed by accident, and the air raid sirens fail to go off. Hans, Rosa, Rudy's family and Franz are killed in the blast. Liesel is spared from the bombing because she fell asleep in the basement while writing in the journal given to her by Max. She sees her foster family on the ground, dead; she cries and hugs them. Soldiers bring Rudy out of his house alive, but he dies a few moments later after almost telling Liesel he loves her. Liesel begs him to wake up, and kisses him on the lips as a goodbye. Liesel passes out, and one of the soldiers carries her to a stretcher. When she wakes up, she sees a book among the rubble and picks it up. She then sees the mayor and Ilsa drive up. With Ilsa being the only friend she has left, Liesel runs up to her and hugs her.
Two years later, after Germany has been occupied by the Allies, Liesel is working in the tailor shop owned by late Rudy's father when Max suddenly enters. Overjoyed by his survival and return, she runs to hug him. The final scene is Death speaking again about Liesel's life and her death at the age of 90, mentioning her husband, children, and grandchildren, as we look over her modern day Manhattan Upper East Side apartment with pictures of her past and a portrait of her younger self, upon which the camera lingers. The narrator does not state whom she had married but implies that she became a renowned writer.

Cast
Production
A search for an actress to play the eponymous book thief, Liesel Meminger, occurred across the world. On February 4, 2013, it was announced that Canadian actress Sophie Nélisse was cast in the role and that Australian actor Geoffrey Rush and English actress Emily Watson would be playing Meminger's foster parents.Principal photography began in early March 2013 at Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany. Locations included Marquardt Palace. The first trailer was released on August 21, with the Bastille song "Haunt" as the music.
Markus Zusak, New Zealand author of the best-selling, award-winning book on which the film is based, confirmed on his blog that the film would be narrated by the character of "Death", as was the novel. After some speculation that Death might be voiced by the anonymous American actor who was used in the official trailer, it was announced that English actor Roger Allam of Game of Thrones would portray Death in the film.

Soundtrack
The music for the film was composed by John Williams, and the soundtrack album containing the score was released by Sony Classical and Fox Music. The album was released in the United States on November 5, 2013. It was nominated for an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Original Score. It won Best Instrumental Album at the 57th Grammy Awards.
The Book Thief marked the first time since 2005 that Williams had scored a film not directed by Steven Spielberg.

Release
Originally scheduled for January 17, 2014, The Book Thief's limited theatrical release was moved forward to November 8, 2013, due to the fact that it was finished ahead of schedule and in order to compete in the 2013–14 award season. It premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 3, 2013, and was screened at the Savannah Film Festival on October 29, 2013. It expanded to a wide release on November 27, 2013.

Reception
Critical response
The Book Thief received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 47%, based on 149 reviews, with an average score of 5.70/10. The site's consensus states, "A bit too safe in its handling of its Nazi Germany setting, The Book Thief counters its constraints with a respectful tone and strong performances." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 53 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".In her review for the New Empress Magazine, Mairéad Roche praised the film for providing a "fresher perspective on the war" through the experiences of ordinary Germans who lived through the Nazi era. In addition to the "Oscar-baiting beautiful" cinematography and John Williams's film score that contribute to the film's emotional appeal, Roche singled out the performance of young Sophie Nélisse as Liesel that "matches the well-measured and seemingly effortless efforts of both Rush and Watson". Roche concluded,

The Book Thief weaves a consistent thread of humanity through its narrative via the commonality of Death, storytelling and the concept of free will. The disturbing sight of children in Hitler Youth uniforms and Allied blanket bombing, when shown through the innocence of a child, humanises the German generation just living their lives without the hindsight of history. A blurring of vision due to tears is to be expected, but that effect is delivered with respect and dignity to the audience.
In his review following the Mill Valley Film Festival, Dennis Harvey at Variety magazine wrote, "Rush generously provides the movie's primary warmth and humor; Watson is pitch-perfect as a seemingly humorless scold with a well-buried soft side." Harvey also praised the film's cinematography and film score, noting that "impeccable design contributions are highlighted by Florian Ballhaus'[s] somber but handsome widescreen lensing and an excellent score by John Williams that reps his first feature work for a director other than Steven Spielberg in years."Stephanie Merry of The Washington Post was less impressed with the film, giving it two and half out of four stars. Merry felt that the film "has its moments of brilliance, thanks in large part to an adept cast" but that the film ultimately shows the difficulties of bringing a successful novel to the screen. In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Robert Abele was also unimpressed, describing the film as "just another tasteful, staid Hollywoodization of terribleness, in which a catastrophic time acts as a convenient backdrop for a wishful narrative rather than the springboard for an honest one".

Accolades
Home media
The Book Thief was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 11, 2014.
The Messenger (Zusak novel) The Messenger, released in the United States as I Am the Messenger, is a 2002 novel by Markus Zusak, who is from New Zealand, and winner of the 2003 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award. The story is written from the perspective of the protagonist, taxi driver Ed Kennedy, whose journey begins after he stops a robbery and receives a playing card in the mail.

Plot
The protagonist is Ed Kennedy, an uninspired 19-year old Australian taxi driver. Ed laments his mediocre life and strained relationship with his mother, as his father died recently and left Ed with only his dog, the Doorman, but does nothing to improve his situation, instead preferring to continue living alone and playing cards every week with his friends: Ritchie, who is unemployed and generally apathetic about life; Marv, a stingy carpenter; and Audrey, a fellow taxi driver whom Ed is in love with, although she does not reciprocate. After accidentally foiling a robbery he is proclaimed a hero by the public, though the robber leaves him a warning that he sees "a dead man" when he looks at Ed before being taken away by police.
One night, he receives a small unmarked envelope, inside of which is an Ace of Diamonds with three addresses and times of day written on them. His friends deny involvement, so Ed investigates the three addresses. Ed arrives at the first address at midnight, and witnesses a man raping his wife while their daughter cries on the porch. The second corresponds to a senile widow named Milla who lives alone, and the third is the address of a young girl named Sophie who runs barefoot every morning but still cannot win at her track meets. Realizing that the sender of the cards intends for Ed to involve himself with the three people, Ed researches Milla's history and discovers that she is waiting for her husband Jimmy, who died 60 years ago during World War II, so he pretends to be Jimmy and comes to read to her weekly. For Sophie, he raises her spirits by giving her an empty shoe box to encourage her to try running barefoot at her next competition; although she loses again, she still finds pride in her achievement. Ed is initially unsure how to approach the rapist, until he receives a gun in the mail with one bullet, indicating he is to shoot the man. Ed uses the gun to kidnap the man and threaten him to stop raping his wife. Ed, instead of killing the man,shoots the gun at the sky, and leaves the man, drugged to sleep with sleeping pill laced vodka, lying on the ground.
After finishing the Ace of Diamonds, two masked men break into his house, assault him, and leave him a congratulatory letter as well as an Ace of Clubs with a vague clue. Before going, the men inform Ed that the man who he threatened has left town. The next day, Ed reveals to Audrey his involvement in the cards, before telling her that he wishes the two of them could be together, but Audrey declines him. Eventually, Ed picks up a man in his cab who tells him to drive to the river before leading Ed on a chase to a rock formation on which the three names are written for Ed to "solve." The first is Thomas O'Reilly, a pastor in a run-down area of the city with a dwindling congregation; Ed helps him by organizing and advertising for a party with free beer in order to encourage everyone to come on Sunday. The next, Angie Carusso, is a single mother who Ed witnesses buying ice cream for her children, and he buys her one as well to show that she is appreciated. Finally, Gavin Rose is a young boy who constantly fights his brother, so Ed beats up Gavin in order to encourage the brother to take revenge, which they do one night by assaulting Ed and cementing their brotherhood.
After participating in a yearly football game, Ed's dog is stolen and he has to buy it back from a boy, who also gives him the Ace of Spades, on which are three names of famous authors. After trying to kiss Audrey one day and being gently rejected again, he goes to the library and eventually realizes that the street names come from parts of the title, with notes written on certain page numbers for specific addresses. The first, Glory Road, has Lua Tatupu, whose family has decorated their home for Christmas with strings of broken lights, so Ed buys new ones for them and sets them up himself. On Clown Street, Ed runs into his mother on a date, and he eventually drives to her house and confronts her about her disdain for him before reconciling. Finally, on Bell Street he meets an old man named Bernie Price who runs an antiquated theater. Ed brings Audrey there to watch Cool Hand Luke and invites Bernie to watch it with them, but eventually the screen cuts to videos of Ed performing his tasks so far.
Ed finds the Ace of Hearts on his seat in the theatre, on which is written three movie titles. After consulting with Bernie, he realizes that they are references to his three friends Ritchie, Marv, and Audrey. He talks to Ritchie late one night and the two stand in a river for an hour, as Ed encourages him to search for something he cares about. Afterwards, Ed, confused by Marv's stinginess, asks him for a loan as a ploy, causing Marv to reveal that he has been saving money to care for a child he had with a girl named Suzanne Boyd who moved away after she became pregnant years ago. After discussing it, Ed convinces him to travel to her house, and although Suzanne's father angrily claims that he brought shame upon the family, the two eventually reconcile and Marv is reconnected with Suzanne and their daughter. Finally, Ed comes to Audrey early one morning and dances with her for three minutes to show his love for her, hoping that she can love him back.
Upon returning elatedly to his place, he finds a Joker with his own address written on it, which bothers him greatly because he assumed he had finished. One day a man enters his cab and asks him to drive to every address he has been to so far, taking him on a tour of his accomplishments, before revealing that he was the robber, who asks Ed if he still sees "a dead man" when he looks in the mirror, before telling him to go back home. Inside is a man who claims responsibility for the entire series of events, before handing him a folder that details all of Ed's adventures. In a postmodern twist, the man is strongly implied to be Markus Zusak himself, who has written Ed's story right down to the current discussion they are having. He leaves Ed to consider the philosophical implications, and Ed stays inside for days before Audrey comes one afternoon and asks to stay with him for good. They kiss and Ed explains everything to her, before realizing that the story he resides in is actually a reminder to others of their true potential, ending with "I'm not the messenger at all. I'm the message."

Adaptations
Stage
In 2008 the novel was adapted for the stage by Ross Mueller. It was first performed by the Canberra Youth Theatre on 24 November 2008.In 2011 the novel was adapted again for the stage by Curtin's Hayman Theatre Company and performed at the "Subiaco Arts Centre" in Perth, Western Australia.In 2015 the novel was adapted for stage by Xavier Hazard and Archie Stapleton and performed by the Redfoot Youth Theatre Company in Perth, Western Australia.

Television
A  TV series based on the novel premiered on ABC TV and iview on 14 May 2023, with William McKenna as Ed Kennedy. It was produced by Lingo Pictures productions, with major investment from Screen Australia in association with the ABC.  Executive producers included Markus Zusak, and the ABC producers were Rebecca Anderson and Sally Riley.

Awards
Won – New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards: Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature (2003)
Won – CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers (2003)
Won – Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year for Children (2005)
Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book (2006)
Won – Honour Book, Michael L. Printz Award (2006)
Won – Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (2007)
Passage 8:
Ticks (song)
"Ticks" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Brad Paisley. It was released in March 2007 as the first single from his 2007 album 5th Gear. The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Paisley wrote this song with Kelley Lovelace and Tim Owens.
This song was featured as a downloadable track for the video game Guitar Hero: World Tour.

Content
The song's main character is at a bar, attempting to pick up a date. In doing so, he uses several humorous pickup lines, such as "I'd like to check you for ticks."
Paisley stated that the song is not about blood-sucking arachnids but rather about a guy flirting with a gal. Paisley was inspired to write the song from experience working on a farm. “Working out here on the farm, I literally have to check for ticks every time I come in from the woods or the fields,” he notes. “Now, if a young guy who lives in the country were to take a girl into the woods for any reason, it would totally cross his mind that she’s going to have to check for ticks when they come back out. So it seems that an enterprising guy would at least consider that he could offer to check for her.”

Critical reception
Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe gave the song a C− grade. While saying that the production was good, he went on to say "[the song] may be the very first mainstream country single to completely skeeze [him] out."

Personnel
Ron Block - banjo
Randle Currie - steel guitar
Eric Darken - percussion
Kevin "Swine" Grantt - bass guitar, upright bass
Wes Hightower - background vocals
Gary Hokker - baritone guitar, 12 string guitar
Gordon Mote - clavinet
Brad Paisley - lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, Tic tac bass
Ben Sesar - drums
Justin Williamson - mandolin

Chart performance
Certifications

Answer: 1979