When The World Was Ours

Mr. Schmidt, the headmaster of Max and Leo’s school, calls an assembly that the entire school attends. Max knows Mr. Schmidt to be a kind and gracious person, and he wonders if some kind of reward will be announced. Max and Leo sit together, and the students are quiet as Mr. Schmidt begins calling out the names of various children, asking each to stand. Eventually, he calls Leo’s name, and when Leo stands, Max feels jealous, certain that Leo has been picked for something great.

Mr. Schmidt announces his joy in the Anschluss (the joining of Austria and Germany under Nazi rule) and proclaims his loyalty to the Nazi leader. He tells the students that from now on, they will greet each other using the salute, “Heil Hitler.” He adds that the “enemy” will soon be put in its place. He points to the students who are standing, saying, “You dogs no longer have the same rights” (65), and Leo thinks that Mr. Schmidt must be joking. He and a few other students laugh, but this enrages Mr. Schmidt, who tells the Jewish students that they must now sit at the back of the room and are forbidden from interacting with other students. Leo looks down at Max, hoping for some sort of comfort, but Max only looks away.

When Leo looks down at Max, Max cannot help but inch away from him ever so slightly. Leo notices this, and Max can do nothing but stare at the floor as Leo walks away with the other Jewish children. All Max can think about is whether he might somehow be next, and he cannot bring himself to speak up. Mr. Schmidt reminds him of his father, as both are loud and forceful people and both harbor a hatred for Jews.

Leo recalls a time when he was younger and a clown frightened him so badly that he peed his pants. He thought then that he knew what shame was, but as he stands in the midst of the school assembly, he realizes that shame is something much deeper. Max won’t look at him, and even the children who offer their sympathy as Leo passes just seem to be grateful that they weren’t the ones singled out for punishment. Max avoids Leo all day, and when it is time for Leo to attend his last class of the day, the teacher decides that Leo cannot enter the classroom at all. Max finds Leo in the hallway and apologizes. He assures Leo that they will remain friends. Leo suspects that Max has already seen this hatred brewing in his family at home, but he says nothing about it. To avoid telling his parents about what happened at school, Leo walks around the streets until the school day ends, wondering what is happening. He also wonders whether Elsa is safe.

Leo comes to the city square and spots a group of his papa’s friends, who are having fun and being rowdy. As he approaches, he is horrified to see his papa on his knees in the mud, scrubbing the pavement while the people who used to be his friends taunt him and yell at him. One of the men is Max’s father, who wears a swastika on his soldier uniform. Max’s father kicks Leo’s papa in the stomach. Seeing this, Leo cries out, and his papa tells him to leave. Unable to process what he has just witnessed, Leo walks away and immediately throws up.

Max’s father comes home in high spirits and announces that he has been promoted to senior SS officer. The family will be moving to Munich, where their housing will be paid for and a new life will begin. Max feels conflicted; he knows that he will be leaving Leo behind, but he is curious about the possibility of starting over. He promises himself that he will somehow preserve his friendship with Leo, even though he has no idea how to do so.

Elsa’s Vati is gone to war, and no one knows where he is or whether he is alive. She and her family try to fill their days with routine, and Elsa’s brother Otto attempts to fill the role of a father as best he can. Elsa makes a new friend named Greta, and they spend most of their time together talking about anything that comes to mind. Elsa starts to feel like Greta is becoming her best friend and wonders how the boys might feel about that. She tells Greta that she hopes to be an inventor when she grows up. She also hopes that Greta will get to meet Leo and Max one day.

Max and his parents arrive in Munich and go to their new penthouse apartment. Max’s mother is thrilled with the sudden improvement in her lifestyle, and Max’s father is proud to have provided it. He is also proud to have impressed Hitler so much. Noticing that his mother no longer objects to his father’s hatred of Jews, Max wonders if he should try to put his own objections aside, too. When his father criticizes his inability to carry the heavy luggage, Max feels humiliated and hopes to change the way his father sees him. The family tours their new apartment and the grounds, and Max cannot contain his joy. Before school starts, Max’s father tells him to avoid standing out or speaking against anything. When class begins, the teacher greets everyone with a “Heil Hitler,” and the students do the same. Max is a step behind, not knowing how to act on his first day, and the teacher lectures him for his hesitation.

It only takes a few weeks for Max to get used to his new school and routine, and he begins to feel like he is part of something greater than himself. He misses Leo and Elsa, but he does not write to them for fear that his father will find out. Max enjoys being given orders, not having to make decisions, and receiving praise for his obedience. He starts to fit in with his peers and gains a sense of pride in the fact that “his family [is] part of the superior race” (93). At night, Max still thinks of Leo and Elsa and looks at the photograph of them together on the Ferris wheel. He questions whether Leo and Elsa could really be enemies, but he never voices these doubts aloud.

Laws begin to change, increasingly restricting the freedoms of Jewish people. Leo keeps a list of these laws in order to avoid breaking them so that he will not be punished or imprisoned. The list includes restrictions such as being barred from the pool or playground and being forbidden from marrying someone who is not Jewish. Leo’s papa’s business suffers and is eventually defaced with hateful graffiti. When each day ends and Leo is still safe, he is grateful.

One night, Elsa’s Vati comes home unexpectedly, causing a wave of relief to wash over the family. He announces that the fighting seems to be won for now and a deal has been reached (the Munich Agreement). Elsa understands little of what her father says, but she is beyond grateful to have him home again.

Max joins the German Youth (Hitler Youth in training) and experiences a sense of belonging that he has never felt before. He relishes marching and training with the boys and shouting their salutes as they walk down the street. He loves having the shared goal of becoming “perfect Nazis” (103) and trains hard to be the fastest, strongest boy. He quickly gains friends and earns the acceptance of the group, but he still dislikes the fact that they mock and berate any Jewish people that they see. Max continues to doubt the logic behind the hatred, but he says nothing aloud and tries to tell himself that Elsa and Leo must not have been Jewish since they do not fit the horrible descriptions that he hears. One night, he asks his father if he can write to Leo, and this request enrages Mr. Fischer, who takes Max to his room and begins lecturing him. When Max suggests that perhaps his friends weren’t Jewish at all, Mr. Fischer insists that they were. He calls them “pigs” and “rats” and forces Max to repeat these words. He tells Max to shout these words out the window, calling Jews “scum” and “filth.” By the time the punishment is over, Max is in pain, and he vows never to consider talking to his old friends again. He follows his father out into the night to throw bricks and rocks into the windows of Jewish homes and businesses.

Leo awakens to the sounds of windows being smashed around him. His mother finds him and tells him to crawl under the stairs. Papa comes home, bleeding and injured. He tells his wife and son that people attacked the synagogue. All three of them hide under the stairs for what seems like hours until they eventually feel safe enough to come out. Within minutes, a knock on the door startles them. Two of Papa’s former friends are on the other side. They have come to take him to prison. Before he leaves, Leo’s papa manages to tell his wife and son to leave the country and makes Leo promise to take care of his mother. Leo’s papa is taken away, and Leo does not know when he will see his father again.