Parallel Journeys

Parallel Journey is stories of Helen Waterford, a Jewish girl who grew up near Frankfurt, Germany. Through WW2 she was married with a child. But then hid in the Netherlands before she was arrested and sent to Auschwitz. Helen and her husband were separated at Auschwitz and they never found each other again. As for her daughter, she was sent in a separate hiding place when they first went into hiding and remained safe. Alfons grew up on a farm but was a Nazi boy who became a commander at age sixteen. This book shows Hitler's impact on the youth of Germany. Alfons was brainwashed by Hitler's promises and participated in rallies. Helen and Alfons were two totally different people, leading completely different lives. Forty some years late Alfons and Helen met and had one purpose, help people understand that peace and compassion are very important. When I first started reading the book I was a little lost because I did not know that the chapters alternate. I liked that they included pictures of the characters, it gave a vivid image. And I must admit that the book grew dull when it went on in detail about events that I already studied. But in conclusion, I enjoyed the book and I recommend it.

I read the book "Parallel Journeys" by Eleanor Ayer. This is a very good book and I think everybody should take the chance to read it. Unlike most Holocaust books, this book gives you both sides of the story, using Helen Waterford, the Jew, and by using Alfons Heck, the Nazi. By going chapter through chapter, you see that the story alternates between the two chapters by chapter. This is a very unique technique. I think the biggest shock in this book was when Alfons said that when the war was over and the Allies told people about the concentration camps, he thought they were lying. Even after he was shown the pictures of the prisoners, he thought they were fake. At the end of the book, he said he regrets ever believing that what he saw in the pictures was fake. Now he and Helen travel around the United States together going to schools and lecturing about the Holocaust. One question Alfons will never forget was when he was asked, "If you were in World War II and ordered to kill Helen, would you?" He replied in all honestly, "Yes." After that particular lecture, he said he was sorry to Helen but she said, "If you would have said no, I could never believe you again."

I really liked this book, because it talks about two people (of different genders) and their lives throught out the Holocaust. It told it from two different points of view, one from a German boy and one from a Jewish girl. It shows how different those two worlds are and what it was like being a Jewish girl and a German boy durring the Holocaust. In the end the boy finally realized how wrong it was to be on the German side and he switched and turned against the Germans. The Girl, it tells how she went through hiding and her struggles of being a Jew at this time in her or anyother Jews life. It's a really good book and I recommend it to anyone intrested in a good, fiction, weather it's for a school class or just to read something.

I have read many books about the Holocaust which have moved me. This book, however, was unique because side by side it presented two divergent stories brought together in a very factual way by the author.So in essence, we have three points of view; that of a survivor, a perpetrator and an author. The author has woven these stories together very skillfully and given a very comprehensive picture of Nazi Germany leading up to, during and after WWII.This book gives us two, true suspenseful stories against a factual historical backdrop all in one powerfully moving book. It was a courageous endeavor by each of the three who wrote it. I would recommend it for all students who are interested in getting an authentic view of this dark period in the history of the 20th Century. The book ends on a note of hope. Indeed just the fact that such a book could be written by two people with such opposite - life and death experiencesis a testimony that healing of even the most abominableexperiences imaginable is possible. I couldn't recommend it more highly.I would give it a 10+.

I have read many books about the Holocaust which have moved me. This book, however, was unique because side by side it presented two divergent stories brought together in a very factual way by the author.So in essence, we have three points of view; that of a survivor, a perpetrator and an author. The author has woven these stories together very skillfully and given a very comprehensive picture of Nazi Germany leading up to, during and after WWII.This book gives us two, true suspenseful stories against a factual historical backdrop all in one powerfully moving book. It was a courageous endeavor by each of the three who wrote it. I would recommend it for all students who are interested in getting an authentic view of this dark period in the history of the 20th Century. The book ends on a note of hope. Indeed just the fact that such a book could be written by two people with such opposite - life and death experiencesis a testimony that healing of even the most abominableexperiences imaginable is possible. I couldn't recommend it more highly.I would give it a 10+.