The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

merlotgran shows how we're all different, I thought the book was far better than the film in regards to the ending. Both absolutely heartbreaking. I've not yet summoned the courage to watch Sophie's Choice... I feel an absolute coward.

Kate1949

I couldn't watch that again. Our granddaughter was shown this in junior school. She was traumatised for weeks.

Yes, I have mixed feelings about showing to to young children.

I have a liberal view of film classifications, and believe that it should be up to a responsible parent to decide what will upset their own children, and that they should use the certificates as a guide, but not be held to them.

I do feel, however, that it is beyond the remit of schools to make that decision for parents, and show something like this to children who might find it too upsetting to cope with.

Older children should, of course, be taught about the horrors of war and how the Holocaust happened, but I'm not convinced that little ones need to think about this sort of thing. Give them some time to be children.

My grandson, then 10, read it at school and told me everyone should read it, I’m inclined to agree. Since reading the book I have seen the film twice and both times found myself holding my breath at the end hoping the boys would be saved.

Another reason films etc like this need to be kept in mind - because of the many propagandists who say that the Holocaust never happened.

I think it's a rare example of where the film is actually better than the book.

It's many years since I read it with my grandsons who thought the main character was infantilised. We decided about two thirds of the way through that enough was enough and as I knew the ending I was relieved that they made their own decisions to abandon it.

I couldn't watch that again. Our granddaughter was shown this in junior school. She was traumatised for weeks.

The two little boys served each others' needs.

Serving each others'needs is absolutely the opposite of what the Nazis were intent on doing. The Nazis were blind to the needs of all who were not Nazis.

Modern fascism is like Hitler Nazism.

Very poignant story, I think anything which helps our understanding of events is of value.

I started reading the book ages ago, but couldn’t bring myself to read to the end. I couldn’t watch the film.

That link told a lovely story. Thankyou.

I can remember as a young teenager reading about the final solution and the atrocities committed. I have never ever forgotten it. It does mean however that because it affected me so very deeply I can’t watch anything like the film mentioned in the OP.

Just watched the link ‘Lucca*. What a beautiful, brave story. ?

No . Couldn’t watch it again! I’ve read the book and seen the film. Too distressing!

Lucca - just watched your link - thank you.

Grandma70, my husband and I chose to visit Auschwitz as a Mark of respect and remembrance. I remember so well the sorrow I felt and tears that sprang to my eyes as I viewed the sheer scale of the horror undergone by so many. It will never leave me! I feel that it is important to remember and educate the following generations so that such genocide is never allowed to happen again. The sad thing is that even while I write these words I have to acknowledge that it has (Serbia/Kosovo, Rwanda to name two places).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXGfngjmwLA
This never fails to make me weep.

Grandma70s

I would feel it wrong, for instance, to visit Auschwitz, like watching violent pornography. Surely not a place for sightseeing.

My partner, a history teacher , has the opposite view. He says everyone should go.

Grandma 70..The reason that Auchwitz still exists is certainly not for sightseeing but for an understanding of what those poor people went through, while you can read about it, being there brings it to horrifying reality..

I would feel it wrong, for instance, to visit Auschwitz, like watching violent pornography. Surely not a place for sightseeing.

I always feel there’s a moral dilemma here. To me it feels wrong to watch these things, but then I know about them. I was born at the beginning of the war, and I knew Jewish girls at school who had relations who died at Nazi hands. I also had a Dutch friend at university, older than me, who had lived in Amsterdam at the soma time as Anne Frank, though she didn’t know her. She told me the Franks were quite lucky in their hiding place, with much more space than most people had in hiding. My friend’s father worked for the resistance, and a child she had carried messages for them.

I do watch the programmes, but feel I shouldn’t. I don’t need the information, so I must be watching them as a form of entertainment, and surely that’s morally wrong.

I visited Auschwitz twice - just as horrific second time around...I remember thinking...I must be one of a minority who got to walk in and out of those gates twice. It is a place where everyone should visit if they get the chance, the guides are truly wonderful and give you a real sense of what it was like for so many thousands in the final days of their lives...you’ll never be the same again.

I should have said 'I was horrified'. He found it sad but it did not have the impact on him that it had on me.

The first time I watched the film I was really disturbed. Then I found out that my 12 year old grandson had been shown it at school and was horrified. I made myself watch it again and though it was still shocking to me I tried to see it from his point of view hoping that he saw it through more innocent eyes and that the message of true friendship was stronger for him than the horrors that we, as adults are all too familiar with.

When I saw the film some time ago I didn't know the ending and was completely shocked. There was a documentary about the children of Nazis and that was heartbreaking too. One of them actually lived as a child in a house next to the camp, exactly as in the film, and he eventually managed to visit the house and the camp in an attempt to come to terms with it. The Nazis left their children, grandchildren and even nephews and nieces with a terrible legacy. They were all traumatised by their family connection and unable to lead a normal guilt-free life.

I saw it at the cinema when it was first released. I can remember as it ended that the audience just sat there through the credits. It was very moving and shocking. I have since read the book but couldn’t face watching the film again.