Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of antisemitism and the Holocaust, including human rights violations, severe abuse, violence, genocide, and gruesome death.

“Climbing high above the city made me feel invincible. Vienna was ours to share. A whole city spread out just for Elsa, Max, and me.”

All three friends feel elated by this moment of pure joy and optimism while riding the Ferris wheel. Leo soaks up the moment as much as possible, knowing how rare and precious it is. The moment also serves as a metaphor for the way that the children look toward their future with promise and certainty, as though anything is possible. At the same time, the happiness and innocence of this moment foreshadow the deep hardships to come.

“The only thing that mattered was that, later, as he and his friends jumped on the boat and sat together watching the city go by, the bonds of their friendship felt as deep and as wide as the Danube itself.”

Max’s entire world is based on The Eternal Bonds of Friendship that he feels when he is with Leo and Elsa. He feels a sense of belonging and acceptance that he does not get anywhere else, and for which he is always longing. The friendship of the three children becomes infinitely tattered and ultimately endures the widest and most brutal of conflicts, and it also lives beyond their deaths in the form of a photograph.

“What had we done wrong?”

Long before the Holocaust begins, ominous scenes foreshadow the horrific prejudices and injustices to follow. One day, when Mr. Fischer rebuffs Mr. Grunberg and Leo seemingly out of nowhere, Leo cannot help but wonder what has suddenly changed and why he and his father are being targeted for abuse.