Zawrel's father is declared unfit for military service due to severe alcoholism, and consequently the whole family is considered "congenitally and sociologically inferior". This means they will receive no support of any sort, all social activities will be severely limited, and any complaints about their conduct will result in them being placed in a concentration camp. At school most of his teachers and fellow students make it perfectly clear to little Friedrich that they considered him "inferior".

One day, when Friedrich has failed to attend school a number of times, the police appear at the door of his parents' apartment. Friedrich is placed in the Am Spiegelgrund Children's Home. Here he encounters for the first time Dr Heinrich Gross, who performs a medical examination on the children in the home once a week.