History YMMV / TheBoyInTheStripedPyjamas

* FandomRivalry: Not so much a "rivalry" in the traditional sense, but fans of ''{{ComicBook/Maus}}'' are especially heavily critical of this novel for its depiction of the Holocaust and of the ways discrimination against Jews played out in Nazi-era Germany. [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/405/423/9cf.jpg As Gwen Katz notes]], the novel's softening of certain terms, depiction of Bruno as being innocently oblivious to the horrors going on around him, and attempts to make the Holocaust and anti-Semitism a metaphor for all forms of racism and discrimination only serve to make the lessons of the Holocaust less impactful. This is turn has led to the coinage of the term [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/02/10/maus-holocaust-striped-pajamas/ "Pajamafication"]], which essentially amounts to sanitizing the less savory aspects of history and prioritizes feel-good, often fictional stories centered around the people who aren't victims of discrimination rather than focusing on the more painfully truthful accounts of victims and survivors of certain atrocities.

* FandomRivalry: Not so much a "rivalry" in the traditional sense, but fans of ''{{ComicBook/Maus}}'' are especially heavily critical of this novel for its depiction of the Holocaust and of the ways discrimination against Jews played out in Nazi-era Germany. [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/405/423/9cf.jpg As Gwen Katz notes]], the novel's softening of certain terms, depiction of Bruno as being innocently oblivious to the horrors going on around him, and attempts to make the Holocaust and anti-Semitism a metaphor for all forms of racism and discrimination only serve to make the lessons of the Holocaust less impactful. This is turn has led to the coinage of the term "Pajamafication", which essentially amounts to sanitizing the less savory aspects of history and prioritizes feel-good, often fictional stories centered around the people who aren't victims of discrimination rather than focusing on the more painfully truthful accounts of victims and survivors of certain atrocities.

* CaptainObviousAesop: Don't discriminate people based on what they're born with! ...Sadly enough, the above trope still holds true in the present day.
* FandomRivalry: Has one with ''{{ComicBook/Maus}}''. This novel is a lot easier a read, especially for children. But fans of ''Maus'' argue that the Holocaust shouldn't be made easy the way this novel does, and that Art Spiegelman's personal experiences are more important than any tearjerking historical fiction. This has led to some fights over school curricula.

** Music/JamesHorner's score during during the climax of the film version. It's ''absolutely terrifying'', hammering in just how horrifying and tense the event at hand is. It's emphasized very well when Bruno's father looks through one of the barracks. The slow zoom into him from the back of the barracks, coupled with creepy, high-pitched strings that keeps growing... It really shows how much he screwed up in keeping his son safe.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: A fair amount of historical inaccuracies in the book were fixed in the movie. For instance, in the book the fence wasn't electrified and Bruno could easily pull up a loose part of it. In the film, it is electrified, as shown when he throws a rock at it, and he has to be very careful crawling under it instead. Several of the more implausible plot points, like Bruno not knowing who UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler is, are also omitted.

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* AuthorsSavingThrow: A fair amount of historical inaccuracies in the book were fixed in the movie. For instance, in the book the fence wasn't electrified and Bruno could easily pull up a loose part of it. In the film, it is electrified, as shown when he throws a rock at it, and he has to be very careful crawling under it instead. Several of the more implausible plot points like Bruno not knowing who UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler is are also omitted.

* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: [[spoiler:...Despite the mayhem that followed, Bruno found that he was still holding Shmuel's hand in his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let go.]] Also a TearJerker.

* TearJerker: The ending, as portrayed by both the book and the film. The sound of [[spoiler:Bruno's mother and sister wailing once they learn his fate]] in the film is ''haunting''.

* TearJerker: See DownerEnding on the Main Page.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The setup of the two boys meeting at the fence and the [[spoiler: contrivance of Bruno being able to dig under the fence]] can be nit-picked for historical veracity and plausibility, but the story very effectively highlights the evil of locking up and exterminating people because of their race and/or religious background, as well as the danger of indoctrinating impressionable children about the supposed 'evils' of other groups. While the ending [[spoiler: may not have ever happened to any SS Officer and his family in real life it does make the point that people who do evil may find their actions rebounding on them in major and unexpected ways]].

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/AsaB
* utterfield's been in a lot of stuff since.