The plot of one legendary Hollywood film has been completely debunked.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is known as one of the most heart-breaking films and many often ask whether the movie is based on a true story – one answer blows apart the entire plot of the film.
Holocaust Centre North explains: “Shmuel’s story is also historically inaccurate […] if a young boy like Shmuel had entered Auschwitz-Birkenau then it is very likely he would have been sent straight to the gas chambers on arrival, just like the majority of children who arrived there as the Nazis didn’t consider them useful as forced labour.”
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“A small number of children were chosen for medical experimentation but these children were kept away from the main camp. Even if Shmuel had been selected for forced labour, he would not have had the opportunity to spend most of his days sitting on the outskirts of the camp.”
(Image: Youtube)
The Holocaust Centre North says that “it is important to understand that the book [and the film] is a work of fiction” and explain that “the events portrayed could never have happened”.
The article also slammed the portrayal of Bruno as his “characterisation perpetuates the belief that most German civilians were ignorant of what was happening around them”. However, as the son of a high-ranking Nazi he would have been a member of the Hitler Youth by law and children were “taught that war was something to be proud of”.
(Image: ©Disney)
According to the website: “In fact, the general public in Germany and in occupied Europe were well aware that Jewish people were being persecuted, forced to emigrate and eventually deported. There were also many who knew that Jewish people were being killed.”
Holocaust Centre North also finds problems with Shmuel’s character as he is “depicted as a one-dimensional victim” and the audience aren’t able to “build a connection with him”. This creates a particular issue with the end of the story (spoiler alert) when Bruno, who has broken into Auschwitz, and Shmuel become trapped in a group of prisoners who are taken to the gas chamber.
(Image: Film still)
The young boys sadly die but “the emotional focus of the story is on Bruno’s family and their distress as they realise what has happened to their son”. Holocaust Centre North explains: “Because the focus of the story remains on Bruno’s family, the book does not engage with the main tragedy of the Holocaust: that none of the people in the gas chamber should have been there.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
