How does The Boy in the Striped Pajamas explore the concept of persecution?

I think that Boyne looks at persecution from an individual
standpoint.  In doing so, it is broadened out into a social one.  From this, the
experience of the subjective or personal becomes applicable to the universal one. It
makes sense that this is the perspective adopted.  Since Bruno is the one who is the
center of the narration, the eyes of a child will only focus on persecution as they see
it in their own reality.  In Bruno's mind, there is "something different" about the
people who wear "the striped pajamas."  Persecution does look different when Bruno
notices how small Schmuel's fingers are and it does resemble the sense of hurt when
Bruno remains silent while Schmuel is abused.  Bruno never makes any sweeping
indictments of the Nazis because most children do not do that.  Instead, Bruno
recognizes persecution on a small level, with minor elements that do not alter the
design of history or the narrative of the Holocaust, but help to bring these principles
to the forefront of the reader.  It is through Bruno that we, the reader, understand the
horror of persecution.  When Bruno sees the sadness in "Out- With" when he slips under
the fence, we know what he experiences.  We also understand how Bruno's response to
persecution should be our own when he tells Schmuel that he is his "best friend for
life."  It is through the eyes of a child that persecution is explored and understood. 
This makes the narrative more meaningful and something that resonates with effectiveness
as a child has told us, the reader, what millions of adults never quite understood about
persecution and the Holocaust.