The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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50 free The Boy in the Striped Pajamas trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is one of the most widely read novels about the Holocaust, and one of the most argued over. It tells its story through Bruno, a nine-year-old German boy who is uprooted to a house beside a concentration camp and never quite understands what he is looking at. The gap between what Bruno sees and what the reader knows is what makes the book so hard to forget. This quiz follows the book from the family's sudden move to the last pages: the people in Bruno's household, the boy he meets on the other side of the wire, the small details that matter later, and the ending. It also covers the writer and how the novel came about, the 2008 screen adaptation and its cast, later stage versions, and why historians and museums have criticised the accuracy of the plot. It is written for classes and book clubs who have just finished the novel, for students revising before a test, and for anyone who wants to check how much they remember. Every answer comes with a short explanation, and you can play straight through or print the questions for a group.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Bruno call Auschwitz after mishearing the camp's real name?
Out-With
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.
Q 02Roughly how long did the author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas spend on its first draft, barely sleeping?
Around three days
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.
Q 03In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what do Bruno and Shmuel discover they share when they first talk at the fence?
The same birthday
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.
Q 04In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Bruno call Adolf Hitler after mishearing the title Führer?
The Fury
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.
Q 05In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what was the waiter Pavel's profession before he was imprisoned at Auschwitz?
A doctor
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.
Q 06Which actor played Bruno in the 2008 film of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas before starring in Hugo and Sex Education?
Asa Butterfield
Asa Butterfield earned a Most Promising Newcomer nomination at the British Independent Film Awards for the part, which first brought him wide notice.
Q 07In the novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Bruno assume the gas chamber is when the marchers enter?
A rain shelter
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.
Q 08In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what is the name of Bruno's twelve-year-old sister, whom he calls a Hopeless Case?
Gretel
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.
Q 09In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Bruno tell Pavel he wants to be when he grows up?
An explorer
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.
Q 10Which actor, also Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter films, plays Bruno's father in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?
David Thewlis
David Thewlis was not the film's only link to the wizarding series: its producer, David Heyman, made all eight Harry Potter films.
Q 11Which Irish novelist wrote The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which has sold more than eleven million copies worldwide?
John Boyne
John Boyne studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia, and this was his first novel for younger readers after several for adults.
Q 12From which city does Bruno's family move at the start of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, leaving a five-storey house?
Berlin
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.
Q 13In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which post at Auschwitz is Bruno's father given after Hitler comes to dinner?
Commandant
Q 21In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Bruno build outside the house before falling and cutting his knee?
A tire swing
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.
Q 22In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does Pavel spill on Lieutenant Kotler at dinner, provoking a savage attack?
Wine
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.
Q 23In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which chore is Shmuel fetched into Bruno's kitchen to do before a party?
Polishing glasses
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.
Q 14In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what do Bruno and his sister catch that leads their father to shave Bruno's head?
Lice
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.
Q 15In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which country is Shmuel from, his family having lived in Cracow?
Poland
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.
Q 16In 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
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.
Q 17In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does a soldier find by the fence days after Bruno disappears?
His clothes and boots
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.
Q 18In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which part of his old house does Bruno love sliding down and miss most?
The banister
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.
Q 19Which Titanic composer wrote the score for the 2008 film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?
James Horner
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.
Q 20Which Conjuring actress won a British Independent Film Award as Bruno's mother in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas?
Vera Farmiga
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.
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.
Q 24In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which maid is packing Bruno's belongings when he comes home from school?
Maria
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.
Q 25In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which tutor does Bruno's father hire to teach the children history and geography?
Herr Liszt
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.
Q 26In 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
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.
Q 27In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which relative storms out at Christmas, furious at Bruno's father's new uniform?
His grandmother
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.
Q 28In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which real woman comes to dinner with Hitler and is kind to the children?
Eva Braun
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.
Q 29In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, from where does Bruno first see the people inside the camp?
His bedroom window
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.
Q 30In the film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, what does eight-year-old Bruno first believe the nearby camp is?
A farm
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.