The Boy In The Striped Pajamas Sparknotes

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, written by John Boyne, takes place in Poland during the holocaust. A young boy, named Bruno, must leave Berlin with his family and move to Auschwitz because of his father’s orders from Hitler. At his new house, there are no kids in his neighborhood and he begins to feel lonely and decides to explore his surroundings. As he is exploring he encounters a Jewish boy on the other side of the fence, named Shmuel, a prisoner at Auschwitz. Bruno continues to visit Shmuel as often as possible and Bruno becomes happier with his living situation in Berlin because he has met a friend to talk to. About a year later Bruno’s mother decides she is not happy with life at Auschwitz and believes that she along with her kids should move back to Berlin.
When he visits Shmuel, and tells him the news, they realized they never got to play with each other because they were on opposite sides of the fence. They come up with a plan to dress Bruno up in stripped pajamas and have him hang out with Shmuel on the other side of the fence and try to find Shmuel’s grandfather that disappeared a couple days ago. Fortunately, Bruno could slide under the opening under the fence where Bruno had been sneaking Shmuel food. This was a good experience for Bruno because he finally realized how terrible Shmuel’s living conditions were. Just as Bruno was about to go back home the soldiers gathered up the prisoners to go for a “march.” They were taken to a building filled with so many people and they were never seen again. They were both killed in a gas