COMPARISON ANALYSIS

Hitler, along with the Nazi Party, had the idea of concentration camps to use to their advantage.  In 1933, when the Nazis came to power, Germany suffered through what is known as the Holocaust.  Jews were being taken into these camps under the command and authority of Hitler.  In the film, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” the scene in which Bruno and Shmuel meet for the first time is a vivid reflection of how these concentration camps were being used. Young eight year old Bruno decides to go exploring behind his house when he happens to see a fence with a lot of people on the other side.  Another little boy sitting by the fence is what caught his attention the most, Shmuel.  Behind Shmuel there are a significant amount of people that are building something.  Bruno approaches the fence and introduces himself to Shmuel and asks him what they are doing out there.  “We are building a new hut,” Shmuel replied, then turns to the men behind him that are carrying wood and other supplies.  Shmuel then asks if Bruno has food with him, clearly because these people aren’t getting the nourishment they need with all of the hard labor that they are having to do.  Shmuel and Bruno talk for a bit when he hears a whistle being blown and Shmuel jumps up.  He grabs onto a wheelbarrow and starts to run back to the crowd that are carrying the rest of the supplies to build the new hut for the concentration camp.
In the article “Concentration Camps, 1933-1939,” the author explains that concentration camps were established by the Nazi party to confine people under harsh conditions. When the Nazi party rose to power, their main goal was to confine those against the Nazi party and use them to their advantage. They used forced labor camps, that would make targeted groups work backbreaking duties without any nourishment. These targeted groups were also held in detention camps where they can be detained under ruthless conditions. Protective detention was used to demonstrate that anyone who opposed or was against the Nazi party would be incarcerated into these concentration camps. Preventative detention on the other hand, was more to frighten those whose beliefs didn’t necessarily abide by the Nazi party based on an assumption because of their looks. Concentration camp soldiers used those imprisoned in camps to build more camps for more prisoners.  Instead of having the soldiers do it themselves, they used the prisoners to  construct new camps such as the one in the the scene discussed. These camps were being used to kill the enemies of the Nazi party, through the camps that they built themselves.  The prisoners were the enemies and when they were done building the camps and no use for the soldiers anymore, then they would be killed off. Instead of going into detail as to how the concentration camps came about, the author goes into detail as to why these targeted groups were incarcerated and what they were used for.  The author uses this to show us readers that this was the Nazi party’s strategy is to scare those who are their enemies by torturing the ones that they can get ahold of.
Being forced to build new camps with little to no nourishment was part of the concentration camp system.  Bruno seems to be interested in what the prisoners are doing but Shmuel doesn’t like to talk about it.  Any chance that Shmuel gets, he hides by the fence so that he isn’t forced to help build the new hut. The ones that are building the new huts range from young boys to old men as long as they are still able to carry the objects.  Once they can no longer carry the object or cannot help build the huts they are put to death.  When Bruno makes a comment about Shmuel have friends to play with on that side, Shmuel instantly shuts down the idea and lets Bruno know that that isn’t how the camp works at all.