How could Bruno be so completely unaware of events surrounding him? The Second World War in 1943, during which time this
fable was set, impacted greatly on the city dwelling civilian population of Germany with night time bombing by the Royal Air Force and daylight bombing raids by the United States Eight Air Force. 650,000 German civilians perished at the cost of 250,000 Allied airmen. The Wehrmacht were defeated in Stalingrad and at Kursk marking the turning point of the war, Italy was invaded and Tunisia and North Africa were lost with the defeat of the DAK (Deutsches Afrika Korps). 1943 was the year of defeats.
Bruno was allegedly born in 1934 in Berlin and was nine years old in 1943 at a time when the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) brainwashed young people that Germans were superior. The present Pope (Uncle Fester) and Gunther Grass (the noted German writer) only latterly admitted their membership of the Hitler Youth.
The depiction of Oeweicem (Polish) (Auschwitz, German) as Out With compounds the unreality of thies fable which gains merit with Shmuel a nine year old Polish Jew, coincidentally born on the same day, creating such a bond of friendship, that he crosses under the concentration camp fence, to search for Shmuel's missing father and ultimately is rounded up in his adventure clothes (striped pyjamas) by concentration camp guards and gassed, is thoroughly disturbing. Bruno has no idea why these people wear striped pyjamas.
Bruno's sister Gretel and mother return to the family home in Berlin bereft of their son and brother. Shortly afterwards the Camp Commandant, their father, is liquidated. This fable sets the disintegration of a family against the horrific concentration camp system.
The photograph on the front cover of the book could be researched in the wasserkeifersteig Berlin archives which latterly formed the Bundes Archiv. The Germans were meticulous record keepers. The publishers claim they cannot credit the photograph.