50 Fun Facts About The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Bruno call Auschwitz after mishearing the camp's real name?

Out-With is what Bruno's sister tells him their new home is called. The slip shows how little either child understands about the place where their father works.

Roughly how long did the author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas spend on its first draft, barely sleeping?

Around three days was all it took: the idea came on a Tuesday and he wrote almost without stopping until Friday noon. Ten more drafts followed before an editor saw it.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what do Bruno and Shmuel discover they share when they first talk at the fence?

The same birthday, 15 April 1934, makes the two boys feel like twins. The composer of a later opera version said children grasp at once that the pair are meant to be one child.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Bruno call Adolf Hitler after mishearing the title Führer?

The Fury is how the title sounds to Bruno, and it suits the guest who arrives for dinner and strikes him as very rude. The visit brings a new job for Bruno's father.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what was the waiter Pavel's profession before he was imprisoned at Auschwitz?

A doctor is what Pavel says he once was, after he cleans and dresses Bruno's cut knee. Bruno cannot see why a medical man would now be waiting at table.

Which actor played Bruno in the 2008 film of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas before starring in Hugo and Sex Education?

Asa Butterfield earned a Most Promising Newcomer nomination at the British Independent Film Awards for the part, which first brought him wide notice.

In the novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Bruno assume the gas chamber is when the marchers enter?

A rain shelter is his guess, because the day is wet and the room feels warm. He is still holding Shmuel's hand when the doors close.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what is the name of Bruno's twelve-year-old sister, whom he calls a Hopeless Case?

Gretel is the elder child and sure she knows far more than Bruno does. A sequel published sixteen years later follows her into her nineties.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Bruno tell Pavel he wants to be when he grows up?

An explorer is Bruno's dream, and it drives the plot: he meets Shmuel only because he sets off along the forbidden fence to see where it leads. Pavel wishes him luck.

Which actor, also Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter films, plays Bruno's father in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?

David Thewlis was not the film's only link to the wizarding series: its producer, David Heyman, made all eight Harry Potter films.

Which Irish novelist wrote The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which has sold more than eleven million copies worldwide?

John Boyne studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia, and this was his first novel for younger readers after several for adults.

From which city does Bruno's family move at the start of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, leaving a five-storey house?

Berlin is where Bruno leaves his school and his best friends Karl, Daniel and Martin, and he spends most of the story longing to go back.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which post at Auschwitz is Bruno's father given after Hitler comes to dinner?

Commandant puts Bruno's father in charge of the whole camp. Soon after the family arrives, Bruno overhears men outside his father's office speaking poorly of the officer who held the job before.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what do Bruno and his sister catch that leads their father to shave Bruno's head?

Lice leave Bruno with a shaved head, and he notices that it makes him look much more like Shmuel. Inside the camp he assumes the prisoners' bare heads have the same cause.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which country is Shmuel from, his family having lived in Cracow?

Poland is Shmuel's home, and to Bruno's surprise it is also where the camp stands. Bruno is not even sure where the country is.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which symbol is on the armband Shmuel wears and draws in the dirt for Bruno?

A Star of David is on the armbands his mother made for the whole family. Bruno says his father wears one too, and Shmuel points out that theirs are not alike.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does a soldier find by the fence days after Bruno disappears?

His clothes and boots lie where he changed into the prisoner's outfit Shmuel brought him. About a year later his father returns to the spot, notices the gap under the wire and understands.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which part of his old house does Bruno love sliding down and miss most?

The banister is, to Bruno, the best thing about the five-storey house the family has to leave. He is told the place will simply be shut up until they return.

Which Titanic composer wrote the score for the 2008 film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?

James Horner won two Academy Awards for Titanic and went on to score Avatar. His music for this far smaller film was released by Hollywood Records.

Which Conjuring actress won a British Independent Film Award as Bruno's mother in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?

Vera Farmiga won Best Actress for the role. In this version her character has no idea what the camp is for until a young officer lets the truth slip.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Bruno build outside the house before falling and cutting his knee?

A tire swing hung from an oak is Bruno's cure for boredom. He gets the spare from Lieutenant Kotler, who rudely orders Pavel to fetch it from the storage shed.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Pavel spill on Lieutenant Kotler at dinner, provoking a savage attack?

Wine from a newly opened bottle lands on the lieutenant because the old man is trembling. Nobody at the table steps in, and the book never spells out what Kotler does next.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which chore is Shmuel fetched into Bruno's kitchen to do before a party?

Polishing glasses is the job, and it leads to the book's worst betrayal: when Lieutenant Kotler accuses Shmuel of stealing food, a frightened Bruno denies knowing him.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which maid is packing Bruno's belongings when he comes home from school?

Maria owes her job and home to Bruno's father, who also paid for her mother's hospital care and funeral. It is why she tells Bruno that his father is a good man.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which tutor does Bruno's father hire to teach the children history and geography?

Herr Liszt insists that Bruno learn about the Fatherland, lessons the boy finds dull. They work on his sister, who is soon following the war's progress day by day.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Bruno's sister put in place of her dolls as she grows more political?

Maps of Europe from her father go up in her room, and she updates them each day from the newspapers as the war moves. Her new tutor's lessons have won her over.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which relative storms out at Christmas, furious at Bruno's father's new uniform?

His grandmother, a retired singer who staged family plays each Christmas, is the only one to object. Her funeral later brings the family's one trip back to the city.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which real woman comes to dinner with Hitler and is kind to the children?

Eva Braun appears only as Eva, who smiles at Bruno before the dining-room door shuts. Her warmth is a sharp contrast with the brusque guest she arrives with.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, from where does Bruno first see the people inside the camp?

His bedroom window looks over a garden, a bench and then a wire fence stretching out of sight. He fetches his sister to look, and neither child can work out who the people are.

In the film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does eight-year-old Bruno first believe the nearby camp is?

A farm is his guess when he first spots it. His mother, who is given the name Elsa in this version, forbids him from going into the back garden.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Bruno claim Shmuel is after mentioning him to his sister by mistake?

A pretend friend is the cover story, and it works: his sister only teases him for having one. It lets Bruno talk about Shmuel out loud for once.

Which subtitle does The Boy in the Striped Pajamas carry, signalling a moral tale rather than strict history?

A Fable is the subtitle, and its author leans on the word when historians attack the book's accuracy, saying it deals in moral truth rather than a factual record.

Which 2022 sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas follows Bruno's sister as a 91-year-old living in London?

All the Broken Places has her forced to face her past when a new family moves in downstairs. She has spent decades never speaking of her childhood.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, how does Bruno's family travel from the city to their new home beside the camp?

By train, and Bruno notices another one across the tracks being boarded by crowds of uncomfortable people. It is heading the same way, though he says nothing about it.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what do Bruno and Shmuel do under the lifted fence after Bruno apologises?

Shake hands is all they do, yet it is the first time the two boys have ever touched. Shmuel's face is still covered in bruises from what followed Bruno's lie.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what finally happens to Bruno's father after he works out how his son vanished?

Soldiers take him away a few months later, and he goes without protest because he no longer cares what is done to him. By then his own men have come to dislike him.

In the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Bruno secretly watch that makes the camp look pleasant?

A propaganda film being reviewed by his father and other officers shows camp life as cheerful. The scene comes just after Bruno has let Shmuel be blamed for a piece of cake.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what is the job of Shmuel's mother, which explains why he can speak German?

A teacher by trade, she also speaks French, Italian and English. Without her lessons the two boys could never have talked through the fence.

Which actor, later Peter Quinn in Homeland, plays Lieutenant Kotler in the film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?

Rupert Friend had already played the roguish George Wickham in Pride & Prejudice, and went on to play Prince Albert in The Young Victoria.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, to which country did Lieutenant Kotler's father, a professor, move in 1938?

Switzerland stayed neutral, so the admission makes Bruno's father openly suspicious of his young officer. Kotler is abruptly transferred out of the camp not long afterward.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which adventure novel does Lieutenant Kotler snatch from Bruno in the hallway?

Treasure Island is the book Bruno is carrying when the lieutenant grabs it from him. The same day Bruno walks into the kitchen and finds Shmuel there.

Which novelist taught the author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and urged him to write every day?

Malcolm Bradbury taught him on the creative writing MA at the University of East Anglia and advised working with no rest days. The university later gave its former student an honorary degree.

Which British director of Brassed Off wrote and directed the film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?

Mark Herman adapted the novel for the screen himself, and the British Independent Film Awards nominated him for Best Director.

In which European capital was the 2008 film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas shot, using a cemetery and a castle?

Budapest supplied Kerepesi Cemetery, Sacelláry Castle and studio stages at Fót for a shoot that ran from late April to early July 2007. Post-production was done in London.

In 2017 a Leeds-based company staged The Boy in the Striped Pajamas as which kind of theatre production?

A ballet by Northern Ballet came first, with a score by Gary Yershon and adult dancers in the children's roles. An operatic version followed in 2023.

In which country was The Boy in the Striped Pajamas the best-selling book of the year in both 2007 and 2008?

Spain made it the year's top seller twice running. The country's film academy later put the screen version up for a Goya Award for Best European Film.

In the novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which food does Bruno give Shmuel in the kitchen before denying him?

Cold chicken and stuffing from the refrigerator is what Bruno offers, and Shmuel bolts it down. The screen version changes the food to cake.

In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what kind of business did Bruno's grandfather run for most of his life?

A restaurant in the centre of the city was his life's work, while his wife had been a well-known singer. Bruno misses the two of them more than anyone else he left behind.

At which Dublin university did the author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas read English, graduating in 1993?

Trinity College gave him his BA, after which he took a master's in creative writing in England. His first published short story had already reached a national award shortlist.

Which studio founded by the Weinstein brothers co-produced the 2008 film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?

Miramax belonged to Disney at the time, which is why Disney handled the release outside the United States. BBC Films and Heyday Films were its partners.