The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008): Teaching the Holocaust Through a Child's Eyes

Students tend to go very quiet during The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Not because they are bored, but because they understand what is happening even when Bruno does not. That gap between what the audience knows and what the nine-year-old narrator understands is the engine of the whole movie, and it creates a kind of sustained, uncomfortable tension that stays with students long after the lesson ends.

The story follows Bruno, the son of a German officer who moves his family to the countryside when he takes up a new post. From his bedroom window, Bruno can see people in striped uniforms working in what he thinks is a farm. When he sneaks through the woods and reaches the fence, he meets Shmuel, a Jewish boy his own age on the other side. The friendship that develops between them, conducted in secret and across a wire, becomes the moral centre of everything the movie is about.

Based on John Boyne's novel of the same name and set against the backdrop of Auschwitz, the movie handles its subject with genuine restraint. It does not flinch from the truth of what is happening, but it approaches that truth obliquely, through Bruno's confusion and his growing, incomplete understanding. The final sequence is devastating and is clearly intended to be. Teachers should prepare students before watching and plan time for discussion afterwards.

For History teachers covering World War Two and the Holocaust, this is serious and purposeful classroom material. For ELA teachers working on perspective, dramatic irony, and moral complexity, it offers genuinely rich material.

Watch the Trailer

👦 Dramatic irony as a teaching tool. The audience understands what is happening at the camp long before Bruno does. Watching him misinterpret what he sees, while knowing the truth, creates a sustained tension that makes the Holocaust feel immediate and real rather than historical and distant. Students who notice how the movie uses that gap engage with it on a completely different level.

🤝 A friendship that crosses every boundary. Bruno and Shmuel are the same age, share the same birthday, and find common ground despite everything separating them. The movie asks students to think about what it means to maintain a friendship under impossible conditions, and what it costs when you fail.

😶 Complicity and moral blindness. Bruno's parents know what is happening at the camp to varying degrees. His mother's gradual realisation, and the way the adults around Bruno manage what they see and say, opens up genuine discussion about how ordinary people participated in, or turned away from, the Holocaust.

📖 Rooted in a widely studied novel. John Boyne's book is taught in many schools, making this movie a natural pairing for classes who have read it. The guide includes an optional Book vs. Movie comparison section for exactly this purpose.

✍️ An ending that demands a response. The final sequence does not resolve comfortably. Students who have tracked Bruno's journey through the movie arrive at the ending with something to say, which makes the written and discussion tasks that follow feel purposeful rather than obligatory.

🕍 The Holocaust told at a human scale. The movie does not deal in statistics. It tells the story of two boys, two families, and a fence. That human scale is what makes it accessible for students who have not yet studied the Holocaust in depth, and what makes it affecting for those who have.

⚠️ Things to be aware of:

• The movie ends with a deeply upsetting sequence in a gas chamber. Teachers should be aware of this before showing it
• Guards brandish guns and prisoners are threatened. A beating occurs off screen
• Prisoners are shown stripping before being led into a shower block
• Dehumanising language toward Jewish people, accurate to the period and central to the story
• Adult characters drink and smoke throughout, accurate to the time period
• One use of a strong expletive
• Themes of antisemitism, propaganda, genocide, and moral complicity throughout
• Bruno betrays Shmuel in a moment of fear. This is an emotionally significant scene
• No sexual content

📚 English Language Arts Teachers. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is built around dramatic irony, unreliable perspective, and moral complexity, all of which are rich material for ELA classrooms. The pre-viewing discussion questions ground students in the historical and ethical context before the movie begins. Two differentiated comprehension question sets track the story chronologically. The alternative ending task asks students to write a different outcome for the scene where Bruno's father nearly catches him at the fence, which requires them to understand character motivation and consequence before they can write convincingly.

🗣️ ESL and ELL Teachers. The multiple-choice question set works well with language learners, keeping the comprehension focus accessible without the full writing demand of the sentence-answer version. The movie's restrained, dialogue-driven style and clear emotional storytelling mean comprehension does not depend entirely on catching every word.

🌐 Social Studies Teachers. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas sits naturally within World History and European History units covering World War Two, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust. The pre-viewing discussion section asks students to think about concentration camps, the persecution of Jewish people, and Nazi ideology before the movie begins, giving Social Studies teachers a structured entry point. The comprehension questions keep students accountable during viewing and provide a record of engagement. *Note: the guide is not tied to specific Social Studies curriculum standards. It works best alongside your own teaching materials as an engagement and accountability tool.*

🎬 Substitute Teachers and Cover Lessons. The guide includes clear teacher directions, organised materials, and answer keys for both comprehension question sets. A substitute can manage the session without having seen the movie, and the pre-viewing discussion section gives students something purposeful to work through before it begins.

🏠 Homeschool Parents. A purposeful choice for older homeschool students studying World War Two, the Holocaust, or moral philosophy. The pre-viewing discussion section works particularly well one-on-one, and the alternative ending task generates genuinely individual responses. Parents should watch the movie before showing it and be prepared to discuss the ending with their child.

Part 1. Pre-Viewing Discussion Questions
Six questions completed in the 20 minutes before the movie begins, followed by a class discussion. The questions ask students to think about concentration camps, the persecution of Jewish people, and how they might respond to certain situations under a totalitarian regime. They are designed to activate prior knowledge and ethical thinking before the movie starts, not to test factual recall.

Optional. Book vs. Movie Comparison
A two-page supplementary section for classes who have read John Boyne's novel. Section 1 is completed before viewing and asks students what they are curious or nervous to see on screen. Sections 2 to 5 are completed after viewing and explore differences between the book and movie, character choices, and overall tone. This section can be skipped entirely if students have not read the novel.

Part 2. Differentiated Comprehension Questions
Two complete question sets covering the movie in chronological order. The first includes 23 questions requiring full written answers in complete sentences. The second is a 22-question multiple-choice version with three options per question, with question 23 requiring a full sentence answer. Answer keys are included for both sets.

Part 3. Storyboard and Synopsis
Students illustrate and describe nine key scenes from the movie in chronological order, then use their completed storyboard to write a structured synopsis of the story in their own words.

Part 4. Alternative Ending
Students imagine that Bruno's father catches him moments before he crawls under the fence to join Shmuel. Their task is to write an alternative ending, including the father's reaction toward both boys. The task requires students to think carefully about character motivation and what each person in that scene would do and say.