Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive

Unbroken is set against the backdrop of the Second World War, as Louie’s dreams of running in the 1940 Olympics are dashed by the invasions of China and Poland by Japan and Germany, respectively. Following World War I, as Germany suffered under extreme reparations and subsequent economic depression, Adolph Hitler rose to power on the back of populist support and with promises to bring Germany back to full strength and help them out of depression. He does so through military strength and the restriction of citizens’ rights. On opposite sides of the war stood two powers: the Allied and the Axis powers. The Allies consisted of the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, China, and France before German occupation. The Axis consisted of Germany, Italy, Japan, and several Central European countries. The main goal of the Axis powers, as discussed in Unbroken, was their desire to grow their empires through territorial expansion.

In the text, Louis attends the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The Olympics were awarded to Berlin in 1931, partially with the hope that Germany would return to the fold of balanced international relations. However, when Hitler became Chancellor in 1933, he restricted the rights of German citizens, particularly those not of “Aryan” (white, non-Jewish, non-African) descent. Hitler and Germany used the Olympics as a form of propaganda to show their strength and project to the world their recovery from World War I. The guards detain Louie for attempting to steal a flag. He complimented the Berliners and played to their egos so they would let him go.

Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945, allowing the Allies to focus their strength on Japan as the text reveals. Japan would not surrender until August 15, 1945, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As Hillenbrand discusses in the text, the Japanese held hatred for the Allies and the United States and took that hatred out on POWs like Louie. Japan’s military personnel were trained and expected to resist surrender and capture at all costs, often dying by suicide rather than being taken as POWs. This training helps to explain Louie’s experience in the POW camp. He was held in limbo for several days, not told of Japan’s surrender and not released from the camp. The text describes the “kill-all” order, an order passed down to Japanese bases throughout the war with strict orders to kill all POWs if capture was imminent, rather than return them to the Allies.