The scavenger hunt, which Alex creates for Ruth, symbolizes childhood with the loss of innocence. Fifteen-year-old Ruth loses her innocence because the world which she lives in is filled with violence. Although her innocence has left her, her childhood has not. Ruth tries to preserve her childhood by playing along with the scavenger hunt Alex has created for her. Ruth states that “If [she solves] every puzzle, everything will turn out all right” (163). With innocence in her life once more, she will be able to have a fulfilling childhood. Alex also tries to preserve Ruth’s childhood by making the scavenger hunt, although Ruth is now a teenager. To ensure that the game will be fun for Ruth and make her happy, Alex works to complete it. After completing one of the puzzles, to make sure it [is] the best it could be, he “…read the first puzzle again, [and] a better idea hit him” (24). He quickly rewrites the puzzle, making the game better. While Alex and Ruth look at the scavenger hunt as something positive, Elise dislikes the idea of teenagers playing a game, although Alex and Ruth take it seriously. Since Elise lost Viktor (her younger brother), she has been in pain. Elise has been cutting herself by pushing “a silver letter opener [into] her skin” (74). Elise does not feel like a child, nor a person with innocence. Thus, Elise has a different opinion about the scavenger hunt; she believes it is babyish. “Elise hated the idea of Ruth solving Alex’s pathetic childish game.” (301). As Alex and Ruth try to preserve Ruth’s childhood after Ruth lost her innocence, Elise tries to live without either of the two.
     Within the scavenger hunt, there is an additional symbol, Foundations (the final clue of the scavenger hunt). Danny Cohen originally meant for this idea to be the literal basement of the home which Alex hides the porcelain train. The basement is the foundation of the home. Another interpretation is that foundations symbolizes how a person’s ethnicity and heritage is the platform for the relationships they have. After learning Elise is apart of the Hitler Youth League, Tsura feels disgusted. “Tsura kept her eyes on the sickly girl who had been wearing the hidden Hitler Youth uniform…” (284). Since Tsura is Romani, when she encounters Nazis, she feels both disturbed and enraged. With Elise’s Christian background, her religion influences the way she behaves in relationships. While at the protests at Rosenstrasse, she thinks about her mother and her “Aryan” beliefs. Elise thinks that “[her mom] wouldn’t be proud of [her] right now. ‘Jew-lover,’ she’d call [her].” (294). Later on, Elise feels frustrated with Ruth, and she thinks to herself that “Those Jews and Jew-lovers deserve what they get” (301). Tsura and Marko’s relationship changes when Tsura learns Marko is homosexual. For Marko, he changes his behavior when Tsura discovers this secret. Upset with Tsura, Marko yells at her, “Yes, Tsura. I know what they do to men like me!” (263). Towards Tsura, this acts as a rude exclamation because Marko feels targeted by Tsura’s reaction to finding out Marko is homosexual. Being gay, Alex also feels differently around people. When he has a discussion with a girl named Lea, he thinks that “Lea doesn’t know [him] at all” (151). His relationship with Lea can be complicated because Lea has no idea that Alex is homosexual, and Alex has to behave heterosexual around her to stay safe. The relationship between Ruth and Alex is special because although they are siblings, Ruth is Christian, and Alex is Jewish (56). If they were the same religion,  it is possible that their sibling bond would be stronger. Kizzy, being Romani, felt out of place at Rosenstrasse, thus having relationships with the other children were unimportant to her. She thinks to herself, “[She is] not a yellow star…” (238). As she tries to escape, she feels no empathy for a child who would escape with her. She believes “If [they ran] and Ari’s [(a boy toddler)] with us, he’ll slow us down…Fewer people, easier to hide” (238). Being a part of different minorities in Berlin during World War II, made their relationships with one another stronger. If they were not apart of a minority Tsura, Marko, Kizzy, Elise, Alex, and Ruth would have a different relationship with the people around them.