The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Chapter 13 Summary

How It All Goes Down

The Bottle of Wine

  • These days, life's good for Bruno thanks to his daily talks with Shmuel. Yay for having a friend.
  • One day, Maria comes into the kitchen and Bruno asks her if it's true that Pavel is a doctor.
  • She says he used to be, and that she'll tell Bruno about Pavel's life—but whatever information she shares with him, is never shared with us.
  • That evening at dinner, Pavel serves the family and Kotler. Bruno says he doesn't like history, and Kotler says he liked it when he was a boy, even though his father was a literature professor.
  • Kotler doesn't know what his father's doing now, though, because he left Germany in 1938.
  • Bruno's father asks whether Kotler's informed his superiors of his father's actions, and Kotler gets anxious and agitated. Pavel comes over to refill their glasses and accidentally spills wine on Kotler's lap.
  • Kotler does something nasty to Pavel—and while we don't know what exactly, we do know that it makes Bruno cry.