Werner goes home with Frederick to Berlin during their school vacation. Frederick’s family is rich and privileged. Though Werner feels that he has betrayed Frederick, Frederick continues to treat Werner the same as before. The maid, Fanni, lets them into the apartment.

Frederick puts on eyeglasses, revealing why he is so poor at marksmanship. He shares his treasures with Werner, including comic books and a forbidden American book: Audubon’s Birds of America.

Frederick’s mother proudly takes the boys out in their uniforms, and she insists to friends that the Jewish woman who currently occupies the penthouse apartment in their building will be gone by year’s end. When Werner asks Frederick whether he wants to go back to school, Frederick replies that his parents need him to be at Schulpforta, so it doesn’t matter what he wants.

When her father fails to return from his trip, Marie-Laure becomes angry and withdraws from everyone. Without her father, everything scares her, and she does not respond to Etienne and Madame Manec’s efforts to cheer her up. After 20 days, she is bereft and gives up hope.