Rating: 
Summary: Parallel Journeys is the account of a unique partnership
Review: When the late Helen Waterford, Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, asked to meet me, a former high-ranking leader of the Hitler Youth, it marked the beginnung of a truly unique partnership. I was a first sceptical about her claim that she was free of hatred, but we shared one goal:it was the conviction that the Nazi era can never be fully understood unless both sides are heard. The New York Magazine called us the "Odd Couple," recognizing that our mere appearance together often caused controversy, from both Jews and Germans. But we reached thousands of students who in the space of one evening were given the opportunity to put themselves in our shoes. We let them make the judgement.We gave joint lectures all over the United States for nearly ten years, and when Helen Waterford died five years ago at the age of 86, she had surely achieved her goal of telling her listeners that hatred is self-distructive. Fortunately, she saw the publication of Parallel Journeys, just a few months before she died. While I continue to speak and write, this book is her legacy.
Rating: 
Summary: A Nazi son and a Jewish daughter -- together at last
Review: 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.
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