A child from the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia plays with a homemade doll, Vienna, Austria 1948

Captured by David Seymour, this photograph shows a child in Vienna clutching a homemade doll. This simple toy becomes a vessel, imbued with the child’s emotions, reflecting both comfort and perhaps a deeper yearning amidst displacement. Consider the doll itself. Across cultures, dolls serve as more than mere playthings; they are surrogates, stand-ins for human connection and emotional expression. Recall the ancient funerary dolls of Egypt or the votive figurines of ancient Greece—objects imbued with hopes, fears, and prayers. Here, the doll is crudely made, yet tenderly held. Note the child’s expression—a grimace, a scowl—a potent display of raw emotion. This evokes the ancient concept of the *pathosformel*, the enduring formula of human emotion. These expressions resurface across time, connecting us to the deepest wells of human experience. The emotions embodied within the child's visage echo through history. As we contemplate this image, we find ourselves entangled in the cyclical dance of history.