The Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany on January 30, 1933
Persecution and exodus of Germany's 525,000 Jews began almost immediately.
Hitler had been open about his hatred of Jews, and gave ample warning of his intention to drive them from Germany's political, intellectual, and cultural life.
The war took place between 1939 – 1945 and included most of the world’s nations.
Timeline of World War II
1939
Hitler invades Poland on 1st September. Britain and France declare war on Germany two days later.
1940
Rationing starts in the UK.
German 'Blitzkrieg' (extreme bombing) overwhelms Belgium, Holland and France.
Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain.
British Expeditionary Force evacuated from Dunkirk.
British victory in Battle of Britain forces Hitler to postpone invasion plans.
1941
Hitler begins Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of Russia.
The Blitz continues against Britain's major cities.
Allies take Tobruk in North Africa, and resist German attacks.
Japan attacks Pearl Harbour, and the US enters the war.
“The boy in the Striped Pyjamas” was set during a horrific era in world history. It is set in what is now known as “The Holocaust”, which describes the mass murder of 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany during Word War II.
Both the novel and the film are told from Bruno’s perspective, a German boy, who is still young enough to not be brainwashed by anti-Semitism and Nazi propaganda.
The Death Toll
The word Holocaust is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II by Nazi Germany.
It is important to note that Germany was also responsible for the deaths of other minority groups including, Romani, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other political and religious opponents.
This means that the total number of Holocaust victims would be between 11 million and 17 million people.
Concentration & Extermination Camps
Germany maintained concentration camps throughout WWII.
Were generally used to house political prisoners and opponents of the regime, however numbers dramatically grew and extermination camps were built for the sole purpose of carrying out the extermination of the Jewish people.
Extermination camps included Belzec, Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka, and Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Treatment
Millions of prisoners died in the concentration camps through mistreatment, disease, starvation, and overwork, or were executed as unfit for labor.
Conditions
Prisoners were often transported in inhumane conditions by rail freight cars, in which many died before reaching their destination.
The prisoners were confined to the rail cars, often for days or weeks, without food or water.
Many died of dehydration in the intense heat of summer or froze to death in winter.
Concentration camps also existed in Germany itself, and while they were not specifically designed for systematic extermination, many of their prisoners perished because of harsh conditions or were executed.
Definitions
Concentration camps: Prisons set up by German Nazis where Jews and other people considered “undesirable” were starved, tortured, killed, or left to die of disease.
Discrimination: treating people differently because they belong to a certain race, religion, gender, or other group.
Gas Chambers: buildings constructed to allow poisonous gas to be used for the extermination of Jews and others during the Holocaust.
Genocide: the intentional killing of people who belong to a particular race, religion, culture, or other group.
Holocaust: refers to the mass killing by German Nazis of six million Jews in Europe during World War 2.
Definitions
Prejudice: biased attitude toward individuals based solely on their race, religion, nationality, or other characteristic.
Propaganda: information purposely distorted to sway people’s thinking in a particular direction.
Shoah: the Hebrew word for “tragedy” that is used to refer to the Holocaust.
Fatherland: is the nation of one's "fathers", "forefathers" or "patriarchs” (head of the family/group). German Nazis believed they could create a new “Fatherland” made up of blonde haired and blue eyed people.
Auschwitz: a Nazi concentration camp for Jews in South Western Poland during World War 2. It is the supposed setting of the novel, referred to by Bruno as “Out-With”.
