Similarities Between The Boy In The Striped Pajamas And Night

The Holocaust: Portrayed by 2 young boys

During the Holocaust, young children were targeted by the Nazis as they posed a threat since if they lived, they would grow up to parent a new generation of Jews (www.factretriever.com). If the children did not die on the journey to the concentration camp they were often sent to the gas chambers immediately upon arrival. Due to most Jewish children being killed during this time it was very rare to have a child's perspective on these horrific events. The book “Night” written by Elie Weisel and the movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” both show the perspective from a young boy. While both the book and movie focus on a different perspective of the Holocaust there are also many shared themes between them.

The memoir written by Elie Weisel is about a Jewish boy who is sent to a concentration camp with his family.

While he is there in the camp he sees and experiences many traumatic events, as well as him being the only one out of his family to survive. In the film “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” Bruno is a nine year old German boy who experiences World War ll outside of a concentration camp his father runs. When Bruno gets curious he befriends a Jewish boy inside the camp and decides to come into the camp to help the boy find his father. Bruno and his Jewish friend end up being sent to the gas chambers and die. Both accounts of the Holocaust share many similarities and differences.

These two different narratives of the Holocaust portray two boys who share some similarities in their experiences. Bruno and Elie both share a relation with death. Elie witnesses many traumatizing deaths in “Night” and in “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” Bruno dies trying to help his Jewish friend. Both of the boy’s dads are emotionally closed off. Neither dad really shares how he feels and Bruno nor Elie was very close with their fathers. In each story both boys encounter SS Officers. Elie deals with them on a daily basis while in the camp and Bruno faces them when he was being brought to the gas

chambers.
Although each story takes place during World War II there are many differences between the memoir “Night” and the movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”. “Night” is a non-fiction memoir written by Elie Weisel, a Jewish boy who was sent to a concentration camp while “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is a fictional movie made to show two different sides of the Holocaust. Bruno is a young German boy who is completely oblivious to what happens in the camp his father runs, while Elie is a boy who is trying to survive the awful conditions of the concentration camps. In the memoir Elie is the only one in his family who survives, but in the movie Bruno is the only person in his family to die. Once Bruno goes missing his family runs around desperately searching for him, but when Elie was gone after being sent to the camp he had no one looking for him since his family came with him.
While both descriptions of the Holocaust have different perspectives and also share a few other differences they follow the same theme. Reading the memoir makes the Holocaust feel very realistic and personal. “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” added to the feeling of the Holocaust being a historical event that actually occurred due to Bruno sneaking into the camp his dad runs and then being killed almost immediately. The Holocaust was an appalling and disgusting tragedy that happened killing millions and millions of innocent people.