This film (and the book it is from) is extremely inaccurate in facts about the Holocaust. Children the age of Bruno and, especially, Gretel, were already being indoctrinating with the Nazi viewpoint. In addition, children were not held in Auschwitz. Those not old enough to work were killed on arrival.
What I find most disturbing, however, is the conversation that starts when children have seen or read this. When asking students what they thought of this film, 95% of the answers I heard went something like this: "It was so sad. That little German boy died, and he didn't even belong there." What a frightening and dangerous idea to root in a child's head, that any of the 11 million people, including 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust belonged there.
What I find most disturbing, however, is the conversation that starts when children have seen or read this. When asking students what they thought of this film, 95% of the answers I heard went something like this: "It was so sad. That little German boy died, and he didn't even belong there." What a frightening and dangerous idea to root in a child's head, that any of the 11 million people, including 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust belonged there.