Set in Poland during the German occupation, “The True Story of Hansel and Gretel” is told like a fairy tale, using many common elements to fairy tales. .This book reflects the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel”. However, in Murphy's parable, Hansel and Gretel are two Jewish children abandoned by their father and stepmother in order to save them from the Nazis. Being set in Nazi Germany creates an atmosphere of fear and anxiety and creates a set of circumstances. in which it is possible for people to act in ways that would be unacceptable in other circumstances. The mother-in-law is a good example. She is the strength of the family – she is the one who decides that all members of the family will have a better chance of survival in the event of separation – with the children going off on their own together and the parents going in another direction. Unlike the depiction of the stepmother in the Grimm tale, this stepmother is not evil. She is strong-willed and determined, but not evil, although she protects herself and her husband by abandoning the children. Using the stepmother as a villain is common in fairy tales, according to Stone in his article "Things Walt Disney Didn't Told." We." She suggests that the woman of the family is almost always cast in the role of the villain. But in Murphy's story, the actions of the mother-in-law, while they may seem spiteful at first, can ultimately be interpreted as heroic, because she only abandons the children to save them She also cares deeply for the children's well-being, to the point of losing her life trying to find them In this case, Murphy reminds us of the horrors of. the times were so great that it is not required to use logic in the middle of the paper and so the emotional impact of the story is more direct and perhaps more powerful to me. left a deeper sense of the horrors experienced by the Polish people, especially the Jews and Gypsies, at the hands of the Germans, while illustrating the combination of hope and incredible resilience that kept them going Works CitedMurphy, Louise. , (2013). Penguin Books. Stone, Kay (1975). Things Walt Disney never told us. The Journal of American Folklore, Vol 88, No 347, Women and Folklore pp42-50, University of Illinois Press. Hansjorg, Hohr, (2000). Dynamic aspects of fairy tales: social and emotional competence through fairy tales. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, Vol 44, No 1, Department of Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology