Ben Ross begins The Wave as an experiment in which he hopes to answer a question that has largely been unanswerable: how the German people allowed the Nazis to germinate and spread hate and then terrorize the Jewish people, as well as other citizens, without protesting. The Holocaust, which wasn’t limited to Jews but persecuted anyone the Nazis deemed unworthy of existence during the Third Reich, didn’t arrive fully formed with the death camps and the Final Solution. It proceeded by degrees and had some of its roots in the aftermath of World War I. Hitler didn’t begin his regime by condemning and blaming the Jews because he would have sounded like the “madman” that he became. However, Hitler planted the seeds of a dangerous idea that, once it began to gain momentum, couldn’t be stopped until a global conflict had erupted.

At several points in The Wave, Ben tries to reassure himself, his wife, and Principal Owens that he’s in control of the situation. He may even believe it most of the time. However, he admits to himself that the expansion of The Wave surprises him. When the newspaper releases the special issue pointing out the dangers of the movement, it’s a reminder of how quickly things have changed.