He was an ardent member of the Hitler Youth.

This is their story of their parallel journey through World War II."

What a great idea for a book! To compare two people who had completely different experiences of the war and to let them tell their stories side by side.

When I first started reading this book I noticed how different it was to some of the other novels I have read. Firstly, it is very chilling to realize that while this is in the form of a novel, it is also non-fiction. It isn't based on a true story, it is a true story.

The Second World War took the lives of fifteen million soldiers around the world, thirty nine million civilians and 12 million Jewish people. These figu

One particular passage explains what Jewish parts of European cities had turned into.

The style of writing the author uses in this book is unlike any book I have read. Firstly, it is really written by three people, the German man, the German Jewish lady and the author (Eleanor Ayer) who has put it all together. The book is also factual and it tells it like it really was. Many other texts I have read about war either glorify war, making it seem somewhat romantic or exciting, or either are going all-out to inform us how bad war is and the devastation it causes. This book finds a happy medium, giving us the facts and telling us what happened, without asking for our sympathy, or admiration.

Throughout reading this book I keep thinking to myself 'aren't we lucky we didn't have to live in times like these and go through what these people have been through'. But then I just thought that this was only fifty years ago. Fifty years ago when millions of people were gassed in concentration camps, fifty years ago millions of soldiers were killed in battles. And really, fifty years ago was not long ago at all. Perhaps we think we live in an educated, cultured modern society were people can live freely, but i'm sure people living in the 1940's thought that their society was too modern for a thing like this to occur.

Unfortunately at this time thousands of Jews were being shipped by cattle trucks and trains to many concentration camps being opened throughout Europe. While it is sickening to think of these extermination camps where millions of people were gassed, shot or died of cold and starvation it is important that people today know what happened to prevent it happening again.

Adolf Hitler was now in power in Germany and promised the German people a way out of the depression, by providing jobs and restoring the German sense of pride in themselves and their country.

Helen Waterford and Alfons Heck must have been incredibly courageous to tell their stories and have them published in this book. For Alfons to be able to tell of how he willingly killed people, being part of the Hitler Youth and having to obey such brutal orders is incredibly brave of him. People may see him as a killer, and not want to hear the story from the perpetrators angle. Helen is amazingly brave to be able to recall her near- death experiences in concentration camps and tell people of the awful things that happened to her.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hitler Youth, Jewish European, Germans Helen, Germany Nazis, Adolf Hitler, Helen Waterford-, Eleanor Ayer, World War, War II, Alfons Heck, fifty ago, world war, alfons heck, german people, tired living, concentration camps, hitler youth, millions people gassed, helen waterford, millions people, reading book, living age five, tired living age, fifty ago millions,
Approximate Word count = 1635
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)