Parallel Journeys | 
| Authors: Eleanor H. Ayer, Helen Waterford, Alfons Heck
Publisher: Aladdin
List Price: $5.99
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Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 69450
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0689832362
Dewey Decimal Number: 943.0860922
EAN: 9780689832369
ASIN: 0689832362
Publication Date: March 1, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Well-worn copy. Book is ACCEPTABLE with noted wear to cover and pages. Binding intact. May contain highlighting, inscriptions or notations. We offer a no-hassle guarantee on all our items. Orders generally ship by the next business day. Default Text
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Product Description
She was a young German Jew.He was an ardent member of the Hitler Youth. This is the story of their parallel journey through World War II. Helen Waterford and Alfons Heck were born just a few miles from each other in the German Rhineland. But their lives took radically different courses: Helen's to the Auschwitz extermination camp; Alfons to a high rank in the Hitler Youth. While Helen was hiding in Amsterdam, Alfons was a fanatic believer in Hitler's "master race." While she was crammed in a cattle car bound for the death camp Auschwitz, he was a teenage commander of frontline troops, ready to fight and die for the glory of Hitler and the Fatherland. This book tells both of their stories, side-by-side, in an overwhelming account of the nightmare that was WWII. The riveting stories of these two remarkable people must stand as a powerful lesson to us all.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 Great Book February 11, 2000
Devin (Us)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This is a great book. It contrasts the views of a Hitler Youth and follower and a Jewish Prisoner very well. If you are interested at all in the Holocaust, this book is a must read. It is filled with interesting and horrifying facts. The author arranged this book well
 Parallel Journeys November 20, 2005
Selwoc (OH)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Parallel Journeys, by Eleanor Ayer with Helen Waterford and Alfons Heck, compares the life of two young people in Germany during the rise of Hitler and the outbreak of World War II. They were born within sixty miles of each other, but their lives took dramatically different paths. Alfons, a boy grew up on a farm in Germany, but when Hitler came to power he became involved with the Hitler Youth. He began his training to become the future of Germany and eventually the world. There he learned discipline and order. He trained to become a soldier and he learned the ways of warfare. He was taught to be a follower of anti-Semitism. He was told to hate the Jewish, and that they were the reason for Germany's problems. As years went by, Alfons rose through the ranks of the military. He started as a captain of a couple hundred boys into a major general of a couple thousand that were among the last to surrender. When the Allies finally came into Germany, Alfons, only seventeen, threw out his uniform and became a translator for the Americans who did not know of his past. Eventually the Americans found out and Alfons was ordered to turn himself in. The Americans viewed the Hitler Youth as misguided children and let Alfons go. After thirteen years Alfons moved to America after the memories of the Hitler yeas were forgotten.
Helen Waterford was a young Jewish girl who grew up in Frankfurt, Germany. She married Siegfried Wohlfarth and the two moved to Amsterdam because of tension in Frankfurt. She had a baby girl Doris whom she gave to friends because she was going into hiding. She and her husband were found by the Nazis and taken to Birkenau. Birkenau was one of the forty camps at Auschwitz. There she experienced to horror of the death camps. Eventually she and three hundred other women were transported to the work camp of Krarzau. She became sick of hepatitis, but eventually recovered. The camp was liberated and she began her quest across Europe back to Holland to find her daughter. Eventually after being held prisoner again she completed her journey and was reunited with her daughter. She learns her husband did not make it back. She and her daughter get help from her husband's boss who buys them tickets to America where they begin their new life. Her story can be seen at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Parallel Journeys was a decent book. It shows the lives of two young Germans. One was promised a bright future as a member of Hitler Youth, and the other almost experienced death in a concentration camp. The book illustrates how lives of young Germans could be completely different. Both stories were very interesting and educating, but were not captivating and enjoying to read. It was hard to follow with book switching back and forth between stories. At some points it was boring and hard to get into. In conclusion, Parallel Journeys was a descriptive book with a lot to offer. It provides much information on two completely different lives. It provides the opportunity to learn of the status of the world during some of the most rememberable decades in world history.
 Parallel Journeys By Eleanor Ayer November 21, 2005
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Parallel Journeys
By:Eleanor Ayer
This book turned out to be a very good book. The front cover features Adolf Hitler with
thousands of his young supporters hailing him during World War Two. Books about the war
usually depress me so usually I wouldn't read them, but this book appealed to me because of the
faces of two teenagers on the front cover. That lead me to read the back cover which simply
said-He was an ardent member of the Hitler Youth. This is a story of the parallel journey through
World War II with Alfons Heck, and Helen Wohlfarth. It compares the two people who had
completely different experiences of the war and to let them tell their stories side by side. It tells
how Helen was treated bad during the war, and how Alfons was training to treat people like
Helen badly and get ready for the war. When I first started reading this book I noticed how
different it was to some of the other novels I have read about the holocaust. It's very chilling to
realize that it is non-fiction. It isn't based on a true story
I learned many things that I didn't know about the Holocaust. I never realized how bad it
was until I read this book. I was surprised to know how young some of the men were while in the
army. It was really sick to know that if they disobeyed an order they could be put to death. For
example, when Alfons thought an order he was given was a mistake and didn't follow it. He was
punished but luckily not killed. After he punished he never disobeyed an order again even if it was
to kill himself. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes war books especially World
War Two books.
Written by: Joe Boggs Madison Middle School
A Nazi son and a Jewish daughter -- together at last April 11, 2001
Brooke (Seattle, WA, USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
While they aren't from the same family, Helen Waterford and Alfons Heck have developed similar respect for one another that siblings have for each other. In their childhoods, these two never would have dreamed that they would be traveling the country together giving lectures at high schools and colleges. Heck was a rising power in the Hitler youth; Waterford a young Jewish girl suffering through concentration camps and death marches. Eleanor H. Ayer weaves the stories of both these survivors together beautifully. She incorporates the history of the Holocaust as well as personal testimony from Waterford and Heck. This really is a must read for anyone interested in the Holocaust or the oppression of Jews from 1933-1945.
Amazing Story that takes your Breath Away. May 3, 2006
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
This was a very touching and sweet story. It is amazing that someone would be that mean to take thousands of lives and destroy them. It is also amazing that [Hitler] would force kids to join the army. I would hate to serve him.
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