The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Chapter 1 – Bruno makes a discovery

One afternoon, Bruno (9 years old) came from school and found out that the maid Maria was packing his clothes, he got upset and asked why, his mother came and explained him that they were moving to another place because his father had been relocated, Bruno’s father was a commandant of the Nazi army and had been sent away. Bruno protested a lot and didn’t want to move but his mother made very clear that they were all moving and it was going to be for a while. Bruno knew his father’s job was important but didn’t understand what exactly he did. He thought about his friends in Berlin and how much he liked to play with them, he also looked his beautiful house and how much he liked to slide down the banister making whooshing sounds as he went down.

Chapter 2 - The new house

When Bruno first saw the new house, he was really surprised, his house in Berlin (the capital of Germany) was in a nice quiet neighborhood and even though it was quiet, he has some neighbors, the new house was in a desolated place and had no neighbors, and this meant no other kids to play with. Bruno felt like the new house was in the middle of nowhere. Bruno asked his mother if they could just go back to the old house and forget about this trip but mother didn’t want to even consider the idea because this was the place where Father was assigned. Bruno was really upset and went to his bedroom, it was a cold and dark place but it had a window and Bruno put his face up against the window and then his mouth open in surprise, something made him feel cold and unsafe.

Chapter 3 – The Hopeless case

Bruno’s sister was Gretel and she is 12 years old, she has some friends too and like Bruno, she doesn’t like the new place. Gretel named the new house “Out-With”. Gretel has a large collection of dolls, they are placed in shelves and Bruno swears that the dolls are his sister’s spies. Gretel is also wandering when they would be back to their old house because she misses her friends. Bruno doesn’t like Gretel’s friends, they make fun of him because he is short, one of Gretel’s friends “The Monster” is always making fun of his height and he doesn’t like her at ll. Bruno tells Gretel about “the other children” and Gretel didn’t know what he meant so she asked him again. Bruno pointed at the forest and waited and waited and sure enough, there were some children over there, Gretel didn’t like that and pray that they will be back in Berlin as soon as possible. Bruno felt he was smarter than Gretel because he found out the “nasty-looking place” and “people in the striped pajamas” before Gretel and he could see them from his bedroom window.

Chapter 4 – What they saw through the window Bruno and Gretel quickly realized that the people in the fields were not only children but also a lot of adults, they were talking in small groups and sometimes guards would go by them yelling orders. It was also particularly strange that there were no girls, mothers or grandmothers, they were all males. Bruno and Gretel didn’t like the view or these people and now more than ever they wanted to go back home. Gretel thought that they were in the countryside and these people were farmers but Bruno stated that for them to be farmers there would have to be a lot of animals and there were none. Gretel also stated that they look filthy and like they need a shower, after Gretel left his bedroom, Bruno noticed something extraordinary, all these people, the adults and the children were wearing the same clothes, grey striped pajamas with a grey striped cap on their heads.

Chapter 5 - Out of bounds at all times and no exceptions

Bruno decided he needed to speak to his father. He hadn’t seen his father since before they moved because his father moved a couple of days before the family did, and Bruno had yet to see his father since they arrive to “Out-With”. He waited patiently and overheard a conversation of his father with other officials and waited until they were gone. Bruno slowly came down the stairs and knocked on the door of his father’s office. He has never done that before because his father’s office was the one room in the house which was out of bounds at all times with no exceptions. Bruno’s father seemed happy to see him and shook his hand; he was not the hugging type.

Bruno asked him why did they have to move from their nice home to this ugly place but father told him that he had to get used to live there because that house would be their home for the “foreseeable” future, Bruno insisted that he didn’t like that place and wanted to go back to the city with his friends but Bruno’s dad didn’t seem to change his mind. Bruno even wonder if he was sent to this place as a punishment for something he did to the “Fury” but Bruno’s dad just looked at him with distant eyes, Bruno’s dad had had enough and told Bruno to go to his bedroom. Bruno started leaving the office when he turned around and asked one more question, Bruno said, “Father, who are those people on the fields?”

Father thought Bruno was talking about the other workers in the house but when he realized Bruno was talking about the people with the striped pajamas, he replied ,“they are not people at all, Bruno”. Bruno was confused and didn’t understand what Father meant but he was about to leave the office when Father reminded him with a look of something he had forgotten, the “signal” , so he pushed his two feet together and shot his right arm into the air before clicking his two heels together and said “Hail Hitler”. Bruno thought that the signal was another way of saying “goodbye, have a nice day”

Chapter 6 – The overpaid Maid

Bruno was lying on his bed when Maria, the house maid, came in and started to put his clothes away. Bruno asked her if she liked the new place but Maria would not give him a direct answer. Bruno grew increasingly irritated and he finally said “stupid father”. Maria had a horrified look on her face and told Bruno the story of her life before she came to his house. Maria’ mother had been a made for Bruno’s grandmother and she had been working for her for many years, when Maria’s mom got sick and had a lot of hospital expenses, Bruno’s father paid for all the expenses and also paid for the funeral expenses when she passed away, just because Maria’s mother had been his mother’s maid. After that she took Maria in into his house and gave her a job, house and food when she needed it the most.

Chapter 7 – How mother took credit for something that she hadn’t done.

After few weeks of being in “out-with”, Bruno was tired of talking to himself so he decided to find something that will be entertaining. He spotted a large oak tree with a very wide trunk and decided that he could probably make a swing if he would have some rope and a used tire. He looked everywhere and found some good rope but couldn’t find a spare tire anywhere. Mother and Father were not there that day so he approached Lieutenant Kotler for a spare tire. He was always rude and Bruno didn’t like him but he knew he might be able to help him. Gretel was talking to him and she was flirting shamelessly but Bruno managed to ask Kotler for a tire and he called Pavel, a man who used to help in the kitchen.

Pavel found the tire for Bruno and Bruno made a swing with it. He was swinging when he suddenly felt and bumped his head and scratched his knee, he wanted to ask for help but words were not coming from his mouth, before he could say anything, Pavel was there and carry him into the kitchen. Pavel clean his knee and put alcohol in it to avoid an infection. Bruno was curious about this man and finally got to tell him that before coming to “Out-Witch” he was a doctor. Bruno couldn’t understand how a doctor could end up working as a servant in the kitchen. Suddenly mother arrives and goes into the kitchen and asked what had happened, Bruno explained Mother what happened and Mother was very uncomfortable and asked Bruno to leave, as Bruno was leaving he overheard his mother telling Pavel that if the commandant ever asked what happened she will tell him that she has cleaned Bruno’s wounds. Bruno thought that it was very selfish for mother to take credit for something she hasn’t done.

Chapter 8 - Why Grandmother stormed out

Bruno missed his grandparents terribly; they live close to their house in Berlin and Bruno loved them dearly. Grandfather (Matthias) used to run a restaurant and Grandmother (Nathalie) used to be a famous singer, even now in some family reunions, Grandmother used to sing by request and her favorite song was “La Vie en Rose”

Grandmother would also make Bruno and Gretel follow her on stage, she will made costumes for Bruno and Gretel, she will dressed them like a prince, roman gladiator, circus master ringer or any other idea that came to her mind and they will rehearse the play for a whole week before Christmas.

The last play was a fiasco though, it happened just around the time when Hitler had arrived to have dinner at Bruno’s house and then his father had been promoted to a commandant. Bruno didn’t understand too much about it, except that Father now wore a uniform with a lot of decorations. On Christmas day Bruno’s father (Ralf) wore his new uniform and looked very proud but Grandmother wasn’t happy. Ralf had joined the Nazi forces when the World War I started and now he had been promoted to be a commandant. Nathalie was obviously not happy about this and started to express her feelings about it when Mother asked Bruno and Gretel to go back to their bedrooms, they pretended they did but they stay at the top of the stairs to hear to conversation, suddenly Grandmother came for her coat and slammed the door behind her. After that Bruno didn’t see Grandmother too much and hadn’t had a change to say good-bye to her so he decided to write her a letter telling her how unhappy he was in “Out-With” and how horrible the house was and also about the people living there who wore striped pajamas, then he told her how much he loved her and missed her and signed the letter off.

Chapter 9 – Bruno remembers that he used to enjoy exploration

After a little bit of time and when things settle in Out-With, Father decided that it was time for the kids to go back to school so he hired a tutor. A man named Herr Liszt came to Out-With in his boneshaker ready to start the tutoring again. Herr Liszt loved history and geography but Bruno preferred Reading and Art. The tutor told Bruno that he wanted him to learn more history and the great wrongs that have been done to him.

Few days later Bruno started to think about starting something that he enjoyed while he was in Berlin: exploring. That day he dressed appropriately and went outside to explore. He was very curious about the people with the striped pajamas and how they never came to visit the big house. The only time he has seen the two groups together (soldiers and striped pajamas people) was when the soldiers would go to them and bossed them around.

Bruno made it to the entrance because there was a little plaque at the entrance of the house and he wanted to read what it said so he stretched his hands and finally was able to make sense of the words: “Out-With –June nineteen forty. Bruno then remember that he had to go back to the house because father had told him that he was not allowed anywhere near the fence or the camp.

Chapter 10 – The Dot That Became a Speck That Became a Blob that Became a Figure that Become a Boy

As Bruno was exploring the fence , walking and walking, he saw something that like a dot but as he was getting closer he realized that it was a boy so he approached him and said “Hello” , the boy greeted him back. The boy was wearing the striped pajamas but no socks or shoes; around his armband he had a star on it.

This new boy looked strange, he was very skinny and had very large eyes with such a sad look on them, after a small talk Bruno wanted to ask him why he had a sad look but didn’t want to be rude. Bruno told him that he live in the big house and told him his name was Bruno, the boy’s name was Shmuel and he was also 9 years old. Bruno was really surprised when he found out that Shmuel birthday was exactly the same day his birthday was: April fifteen nineteen thirty-four. They were both excited about this revelation.

Bruno told Shmuel that he was from Berlin and Shmuel said he was from Poland. Shmuel also reveals to Bruno that they are in Poland and not in Germany anymore. Bruno told him about his life in Berlin and Shmuel told Bruno how his life used to be in Poland but how much everything has changed. Suddenly Bruno asked Shmuel the question that he was so curious about “Why there are so many people on that side of the fence and what are you all doing there?”

Chapter 11- The Fury

Father announced to Mother that the Fury (The Fuhrer-Adolph Hitler) was coming to their house for dinner next Thursday so the whole house went into a frenzied. Mother had the house cleaned up from head to top and she bought new outfits for Bruno and Gretel but Father made them aware that they were only going to salute the Fury and not be at the dinner table with him. Father went over the “ground” rules with the kids about their behavior when the Fury would be in the house. Once the Fury and his girlfriend arrived at Father’s house, the kids were introduced to him and Bruno thought he was the rudest person he has ever met, his girlfriend Eva, was very beautiful and sweet. During the dinner The Fury showed more of his rudeness but finally he made Father a commandant and gave him a new assignment, Father will have to move to “Out-With: and will be in charge of the camp. The dinner was over and after The Fury left, Mother and Father had an argument and Bruno overhead them talking about a new place an Mother didn’t sound happy at all but Father didn’t want to hear about it and the conversation was over. A couple of days after the dinner Bruno came home and found Maria packing all his stuff to go to the new house and that’s how the story began.

Chapter 12 – Shmuel thinks of an answer to Bruno’s question

Answering to Bruno’s question about all the people on the other side of the fence, Shmuel explained to Bruno how his life was before they were brought to the camp, he told Bruno how one day he came from school and his mother had made an armband with the drawing of a star on it for Shmuel to wear. Bruno told Shmuel that his father also wore an armband but his was different, instead of a star he had a swastika sign on it. Shmuel continued telling Bruno that one day when he came home he found that they had to move and his family was placed in a room with other three families, altogether there were eleven people living in that room Shmuel said, Bruno didn’t believe that, it was impossible he tought, but didn’t say anything because he would have to call Shmuel a liar. After that Shmuel and family were transported by train to the camp and they were separated from their mother. Shmuel was very sad when telling this story and Bruno could relate to him because almost the same had happened to him

Chapter 13 – The Bottle of Wine

Bruno was finally realizing that he was not going to go back to Berlin any time soon so one day when Maria came to his room Bruno decided to asked her if Pavel had lied to him when he told him that he used to be a doctor, Maria told him that Pavel didn’t lie, he used to be a doctor but now he was a waiter. Bruno didn’t understand but Maria said she didn’t understand either.

Bruno arrived to the place where he met daily with Shmuel and told him about Pavel thinking that Shmuel might know him but Shmuel didn’t, then they started talking about who they would like to be when they grow up, Shmuel wanted to work in a zoo because he liked animals, Bruno wanted to be a soldier, not a bad soldier like Lieutenant Kotler but a good soldier like his Father; Shmuel told Bruno that all soldiers were bad and Bruno defended his Father but Shmuel keep his ground and didn’t like soldiers at all. Both boys were quiet trying not to have an argument.

Later that evening for dinner Bruno found out that Lieutenant Kothler would be joining them and Bruno didn’t like him. They started talking about History and Arts and Kurt (Kotler) made a revelation that his father use to teach Literature at the University but they were no longer in contact. Father was curious about this and asked Kurt many questions about his father that made him feel uncomfortable. Kotler finally admitted that his father had left the country in 1938 and went to Switzerland , Father was definitely not happy to find that out, he questioned his motives and stated that he might be a traitor and a coward but didn’t want to continue talking about this at the table, they would talk about it later.

Chapter 14 – Bruno tells a perfectly reasonable lie

One afternoon it was raining very bad and Bruno couldn’t go to see his friend Shmuel , Bruno was very bored and got in his bedroom to read a book when suddenly Gretel who was also bored got into his bedroom to make some conversation. Bruno didn’t feel like talking and wanted Gretel to leave, he was irritated and said out loud, “I should be with Shmuel by now, he will think I have forgotten him” before he could tell Gretel was looking at him with curious eyes so Bruno had to make up a lie, he had to tell Gretel that Shmuel was an imaginary friend and even though Gretel laugh at him, Bruno didn’t want her to know about his friendship with Shmuel so he continued with his lie.

Chapter 15 – Something he shouldn’t have done

The rain was on and off for several weeks so Bruno and Shmuel didn’t see each other as much. Father’s birthday was coming and Mother was preparing a dinner and the entire house was getting ready for it, Bruno had an encounter with Lieutenant Kotler and Kotler had been very rude to Bruno, Bruno was upset about this situation when suddenly Bruno went to the kitchen and he found Shmuel who was cleaning some very small glasses. Bruno was surprised but Shmuel told Bruno that Kotler had brought him to the house to clean the glasses, they were talking and Bruno grabbed some food from the refrigerator and Shmuel looked at him with greed, Bruno realized and gave some food to Shmuel, as he was finishing eating Kotler came to the kitchen and look at both boys suspiciously, Kotler went close to Shmuel and smelled his breath and realized he had eaten some food, he thought that Shmuel has stolen the food and asked him but Shmuel said that Bruno had given him the food. Kotler asked Bruno if he knew Shmuel and Bruno was terrified so he said that he had never spoken to him, Shmuel was devastated and so was Bruno, he thought that Shmuel would never talk to him again.

Every afternoon Bruno went to the place where they meet and Shmuel wasn’t there so Bruno started fearing that Shmuel would never be his friend again and then suddenly one day, Shmuel was there, Bruno apologized and Shmuel forgave him and they were friends again.

Chapter 16 – The Haircut

It has been almost one year since they arrived to “Out-With” and Bruno had started to forget how his life in Berlin was, his Grandmother had died and Bruno had become a little taller. Bruno went back to Berlin for two days to attend his grandma funeral but it had been a sad time. Father was very upset because he had an argument with his mother and they never got the chance to make up.

Bruno was happy about having at least one good friend Shmuel but he was having more and more questions about what do the people on the other side of the fence were doing in there, Bruno knew he couldn’t ask his mother or father so he decided to ask Gretel some questions about them. Bruno went to Gretel’s bedroom and realized that after Lieutenant Kotler had left the house about a month ago, Gretel had thrown away all he dolls and instead she had maps of Europe all over her bedroom; so Bruno went in and asked her why the people on the other side of the fence were there and why they could not come and visit the house. Grete l looked at him in surprise and told Bruno that the reason why they had to be apart was because the people on the other side of the fence were Jews and they were not supposed to mix with them. Bruno still didn’t understand and kept asking Gretel questions but she was growing more and more irritated when suddenly she started examining her hair very carefully and then started screaming, she found a tiny egg of lice, Mother found out that both Gretel and Bruno had lice; Gretel had to use a lice shampoo which smelled awful and she cried for hours. Bruno had to wash his hair with the lice shampoo as well but Father decided that Bruno should save all his hair out.

When Bruno looked at himself in the mirror he felt sick, he was bald and his eyes looked to big for his face, Bruno thought that he look a lot like Shmuel now that his head was shaved and when he commented that to Shmuel, both laugh, Shmuel agreed and laugh as well.

Chapter 17 - Mother gets her own way

Over the next few weeks Mother seemed unhappier and unhappier, she kept complaining and one day as Bruno was passing by his father’s office, he overheard an argument between both about going back to Berlin. Mother was completely bored and wanted to go back but Father didn’t think it was such a good idea mainly because of what other people might think. Bruno has conflicted feelings, he missed his house in berlin but he didn’t want to separate from his only friend Shmuel.

One day Father called Bruno and Gretel to his office and asked them if they miss their house in Berlin, Gretel replied immediately that she did but Bruno was hesitant, Bruno wanted all four of them to be together but Father said that was impossible, Father said that this was no place for children but Bruno replied that there were hundreds of children on the other side of the fence. Father stared at Bruno in surprised and wanted to know how Bruno knew that, Bruno didn’t want to get into trouble so he said that he had noticed that while he was looking through his window.

Father said he had made his final decision and Mother, Gretel and Bruno would go back to Berlin while he stayed behind to fulfill his assignment. Bruno was thinking how he would break the news to Shmuel.

Chapter 18 - Thinking up the final adventure

Bruno wanted to tell the news to Shmuel the next day but Shmuel wasn’t there, Bruno came back every single day but Shmuel was not coming; Bruno was sad that he might have to leave without saying his good byes to Shmuel , in one of his finals days in “Out-With” Shmuel finally showed up and when Bruno asked him why he hadn’t come the previous days Shmuel with tears in his eyes told him that his father had disappear and he was looking for him everywhere but couldn’t find him, Bruno offered Shmuel to help him by asking his father but Shmuel wanted nothing to do with any soldiers . Finally Bruno told Shmuel that he was leaving for Berlin and won’t see him again; Shmuel was terribly sad that he will lose his best friend but then Bruno suggested getting ready for a final adventure. After some suggestions the boys decided that their final adventure was going to be Bruno exploring life on the other side of the fence and helping Shmuel to find his father, so the next day they would meet at the fence and Shmuel will bring some striped pajamas for Bruno so he would fit right in with his head being shaved and all. Bruno thought that this final adventure was a great way to say Good bye to his best friend.

Chapter 19 – What happened the next day?

The next day was Friday and Bruno was supposed to leave for Berlin the next day, it was raining really bad and Bruno thought that the rain might ruin their adventure but just in time for Bruno to meet Shmuel the rain stopped and Bruno headed towards the fence where Shmuel was already waiting for him. Shmuel had the clothes ready and Bruno changed quickly and left his old clothes in a pile near the fence. The Boys headed towards the camp, Bruno was amazed as how different the camp was from what he had imagine; he thought that he would find families outside on the porches, kids playing with each other and stores but it was completely different, people were sitting together in groups, staring at the ground, looking horribly sad; they were all skinny and had saved heads. Bruno also saw soldiers walking around and even though both boys looked everywhere for Shmuel’s father they couldn’t find him. The rain started to pour down again and Bruno realized that it was getting dark and it was about dinner time, he had to rush because it was beef stew night so he was about to say good bye and apologize to Shmuel because they couldn’t find his father when suddenly a group of soldiers came and started pushing them and a group of them, it was all chaos and confusion , this was one of the “marches” that Shmuel was talking about, they were loaded into a truck and then they had to march to a room. Bruno thought this room was a place to shelter them from the rain and it was warm in there, suddenly everything got dark and both boys were scared so they hold each other’s hands. At that moment there was a loud gasp and a loud metallic sound rang through from the outside.

Bruno didn’t understand what was going on when suddenly the room went dark and he found himself still holding Shmuel’s hand and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let it go.

Chapter 20 - The last chapter

Nothing more was ever heard of Bruno after that, the soldiers had searched everywhere and gone to other towns, Mother went back to Berlin thinking that Bruno might be there but he was not, Bruno had simply disappear from earth. Gretel missed Bruno so much that she used to cry a lot. Bruno’s father stayed in “Out-With” another year but he was different. He thought about Bruno at all times, he wanted to know what had happened so one day he went back to the part of the fence where they have out Bruno’s pile of clothes and found out that this part of the fence was not properly attached to the ground and when lifted, it left a gap enough for a small person like Bruno, he looked in the distance and followed Bruno’s thinking process step by step and made it to the camp, he realized then what had happened to Bruno and couldn’t hold any longer, he sat in the ground the same way that Bruno had done every afternoon for almost a year. Father was inconsolable and some soldiers came and Father was ordered to go with them and he went because he didn’t care what happen to him anymore.