“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” the ultimate victim of replacement theology BTE 601-3-8

Replacement theology promotes the concept that when Israel rejected her messiah she forfeited the promises/ covenants made to her by God and these passed to the Church which became “spiritual Israel.” The concept of replacement theology marginalizes Israel and the Jewish people making it easier for the world to turn its back on the Jews, most notably during the Holocaust. For the Christian, it implies that God can't be trusted so there is no guarantee that He will honor our salvation.

Set during World War II, the movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” involves the growing friendship between two 8-year-old boys separated by a fence in a concentration camp. Bruno is the son of the commandant of the concentration camp where Shmuel is imprisoned. Shmuel’s crime is being born a Jew.

At the start of the movie Bruno is living in his home in Berlin playing with his many friends. The little boys run down the street playing airplane while being impervious to the Jews being loaded into a transport truck. Bruno goes home to learn that his father is being transferred to the country. At first the family members don’t realize that what they call a nearby farm is really an extermination camp and Bruno’s father is the commandant. Bruno has no friends so he hikes through the woods to what he thinks is a farm and meets the boy in the striped pajamas. They become friends separated will by a fence and far more than either one of them knew.

One night several high-ranking officials of the Nazi party are shown a propaganda movie depicting how well the Jews were being treated in what was called a work camp. Bruno watches the propaganda movie and believes it. The next day he asks his little friend in the striped pajamas about all the kids in the camp and all the fun they had. Shmuel had no idea what Bruno was talking about.

A few days later the boys arrange for Shmuel to bring an extra pair of “striped pajamas” for Bruno. The upshot is that Bruno sneaks into the concentration camp. Shmuel and Bruno search the camp looking for Shmuel’s father who disappeared a few days before. The boys make the mistake of entering a building that is holding dozens of men about to be herded into the gas chamber.

Meanwhile back at home Bruno’s mother realizes that he is missing and breaks up a meeting between the commandant and his minions. Ironically they are discussing the status of the ovens. The commandant and his subordinates start to back-track Bruno to where he had crawled under the fence to get into the concentration camp.

The movie ends with the door to the gas chamber being sealed and crystals being dropped into the chamber as Bruno’s father frantically looks for him. Sad as the ending of the movie is, Bruno’s father was about to learn the deadly efficiency of his camp of termination.

Added later:

There was a scene in the movie where Bruno betrays his friend Shmuel, the boy in the striped pajamas. Shmuel was cleaning crystal glasses in the commandant’s house as he had small hands. Bruno stops to talk to Shmuel and asks if he wants something to eat. They are discovered by one of the Nazis and Shmuel told the officer that Bruno gave him the pastry. With the Nazi screaming at both the boys, Bruno denied even knowing Shmuel. Guilt over his betrayal was part of the reason Bruno later offered to help Shmuel find his father. That guilt leads to the tragic conclusion of the movie. To me the movie was like peeling an onion, as one layer is pulled away, there is another beneath it.