When Leon was eight years old, his grandfather took him to a one-man stage performance titled, Papirena Kinder , or Paper Children. It told the story of a bereaved old man who, despite having raised five children, had been abandoned by all of them in his old age. All he had of them were their childhood photographs from a time long past- a time when he was their hero. This wistful tale shaped a deep impression in young Leon and set the stage for how he would fight for his life, and his parents survival, during the years which shortly followed- as Germany set the stage for The Holocaust.