He picks it up, takes one look at the front page, sighs, and puts the paper back down.
He does this day after day, never looking at anything but the front page before putting it down. Eventually, the news vendor decides to ask “excuse me, why do you buy the newspaper every day, then just put it down?”
“Well, I only bought it to check the obituaries.”
“But you only check the front page. They don’t put obituaries on the front page.”
“They will for the guy I’m looking for.”
It’s a widely applicable joke. I would have had it be modern day, but setting it in Nazi Germany narrows down the possible people he could be waiting for.