Parallel Journeys
Often reading the blurb on the back cover of a novel is a good indication of whether or not you will enjoy the book. This is very much the case when I picked up "Parallel Journeys" by Eleanor Ayer. The front cover features Adolf Hitler with thousands of his young supporters hailing him during World War Two. Books about the war usually depress me so usually I wouldn't read them, but this book appealed to me because of the faces of two teenagers on the front cover. The lead me to read the back cover which simply said-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
They then decided it would be better for Doris if she were to live with another family and not let it be known that her parents were Jewish. Take for example someone like Marilyn Manson who once had huge amounts of fanatical teenagers worshipping him, copying what he did, almost like a cult leader. This makes me feel sorry for Alfons and his peers, as they were brainwashed from an early age, and not given a choice to develop their own ideas and values, other than Nazi ideas. The style of writing the author uses in this book is unlike any book I have read. If today in Australia, a person promised us a way to lower unemployment rates and improve the quality of life for the people, of course they would be listened to. "The streets resound with the futile screams of children dying of hunger. Although these kids committed awful war crimes, can children and teenagers really be held accountable for their actions when this is what they were taught to believe and to do?It makes me think of famous people today. It held parades in the street and it was similar to the boy scouts, with camping trips, hiking and sports competitions, but with more emphasis on discipline and politics. Fifty years ago when millions of people were gassed in concentration camps, fifty years ago millions of soldiers were killed in battles. Until this happens, our generation stands no chance of living in peace, being totally war-free. So I can see why the millions of German teenagers joined, it was like a fad, the "cool" thing to do. 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. To imagine these children starving, sick and tired of living is difficult to imagine. People may see him as a killer, and not want to hear the story from the perpetrators angle.
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