Themes In The Striped Pajamas

The main themes of the movie that stand out the most but are certainly not limited to is, innocent and complicity. Though he attends school and his father is a high ranking Nazi official, Bruno is mostly ignorant of the political situation at the time. When Bruno leaves Berlin he wonders why he left to be near the camp full of people in striped pajamas. Another example is the fact that he has no idea what is going on in the camp or Germany and also thinks Shmuel lives in the concentration camp with his family. That is abruptly changed when he actually goes inside to look for Shmuel’s father and realizes its not like the video about the camps. Even though Bruno’s mother is not thrilled at her husband’s job, she does not actively fight his decision to move the family. Through her not protesting and like many Germans, they complied with, did not interfere or think about the harsh realities of what the Nazis are doing. Also Bruno, Gretel or the mother doesn’t do anything when Kotler beats Pavel to death, they continue to eat through
Even though most of the characters in the book was not a member or supporter of the Nazi party, many of them complied with the party indirectly. They did this through the lack of apathy, and fear. Under the pressure of the massacre many just sat in their houses and listened to the Jews screams. Another example is with this one man that walked away from a Jew he knew because of the fear of getting killed or hurt, and even though the Jewish man was calling his help and he just kept walking. This book really illustrates this quote, “Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out. Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.” (Martin Niemöller). This quote and the book shows people’s reluctance to take a stand in the face of adversity, can really wipe out an entire