Starred Review ALA Booklist (Mon May 01 00:00:00 CDT 1995)

Starred Review They grew up a few miles apart in Nazi Germany. Helen Waterford was Jewish; Alfons Heck was an ardent member of the Hitler Youth. In alternating chapters, Ayer sets the personal narratives of these two Germans against the general history of the rise of Hitler, the course of World War II, and the horror of the Holocaust. While Helen was in hiding, Alfons was a fanatic believer in the Master Race. While she was crammed in a cattle car bound for Auschwitz, he was a teenage commander of frontline troops, ready to fight and die for the glory of Hitler and the Fatherland. Their postwar experiences in the U.S. are just as compelling: Helen trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered self; Alfons awakening to what he'd been part of, determined now to warn the world about it ("All of us, perhaps unknowingly, had looked the other way, preferring not to know the truth" ). Occasionally the narrative's organization is confusing, especially the constant switching from Ayer's general history to the first-person narratives. But the stark contrasts between the Jewish and the Nazi experiences are dramatic and thought provoking. Both Germans speak quietly and honestly, without hand-wringing, cover-up, or self-pity. Readers will want to talk about the questions raised: What would I have done? Could it happen again?

Horn Book (Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 1995)

With Helen Waterford and Alfons Heck. Alternating chapters contrast the wartime experiences of two young Germans--Waterford, who was interned in a Nazi concentration camp, and Heck, a member of the Hitler Youth. The volume is composed mainly of excerpts from their published autobiographies, connected by Ayer's overall account of the era. A powerful and painful picture emerges, vividly describing life before, during, and, most impressively, after the Holocaust. Bib., ind.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Ayer juxtaposes the stories of two WWII youths, one a German Jew and the other a Hitler Youth, excerpted from their published memoirs. """"Weak execution undermines the premise of the volume,"""" said PW. Ages 10-up. (Mar.)

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up--This is a book to make your blood run cold. Through Ayer's narrative and excerpts from Heck's memoirs, A Child of Hitler and The Burden of Hitler's Legacy, readers learn how Alfons changed from a loving, wholesome boy to a Nazi devil'' (even the Germans called the elite Hitler Youth by that name). It is frightening to see how easily young people can be swayed, and readers learn just how it happened. Alternating chapters reveal Helen Waterford's story through excerpts from her book, Commitment to the Dead, and Ayer's background material. Fleeing with her fiancee to Amsterdam after Kristallnacht, Helen was again caught in the Nazi noose and struggled to survive. As her plight grew more desperate, Alfons rose higher and higher in the Hitler Youth. Eventually, when he and his ragged corps faced annihilation by the Russians, he realized how Hitler had sacrificed hischildren.'' When Alfons and Helen met in the U.S. 40 years after the war, they found that they shared a common purpose: to help young people understand that peace and compassion are possible between individuals, and on a larger scale as well. Their first-person accounts are interwoven with Ayer's words so seamlessly that readers are unaware of the intrusion of a third person. She is an excellent biographer, capturing nuances of her subjects' characters and personality traits. A fascinating work.--Marcia W. Posner, Holocaust Memorial and Educational Center of Nassau County, Glen Cove, NY