Parallel Journeys

"Because I lived, I feel that I hvae a responsibility as a witness to see that these crimes of prejudice and racial hatred are never forgotten. My goal is to be sure that the years 1933-1945 are never erased from man's memory. My own memories are with me twenty-four hours a day - the horror, the fear, the pain, and the tears, together with all the love I have received and have given with a grateful heart. I will never forget what has happened, nor should anyone else, this is what inspires me to share my story with others." --Helen Waterford

"Mr. Heck, would you have killed Mrs. Waterford if you had been ordered to do so in the Hitler Youth?".....the question struck the two speakers on stage like a round from a submachine gun. Unable to even look at Helen, seated next to him on the stage, Alfons spoke slowly into the microphone......

"I'm afraid the answer is 'yes.' Obeying without question ws the iron-clad rule by which we were raised. TO refuse a direct order in the line of duty, no matter how replusive that order might be, was simply unthinkable"

Parallel Journeys

She was a young German Jew. He was an ardent member of the Hitler Youth. This is the story of their pareallel 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 Amserdam, Alfons was a fanatic believer in Hitler's "master race." While she was crammed in a cattle car bound for the death camp Aushchwitz, he was a tennage commander of frontline troopes, 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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