parallel journeys book summary

Parallel Journeys

61 pages • 2 hours read

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 4

Chapters 5-9

Chapters 10-14

Chapters 15-19

Chapter 20-Postscript

Key Figures

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

Parallel Journeys (1995) is a nonfiction book by Eleanor Ayer. It won several awards, including the American Library Association’s Best Book for Young Adults. An author of many nonfiction books about the Holocaust , Ayer pairs the stories of Alfons Heck (a former Hitler Youth member) and Helen Waterford (a Holocaust survivor) to show how Nazism impacts the people it empowered and targeted. Ayer didn’t choose Alfons and Helen randomly. They formed a partnership in the 1980s and began giving lectures together to promote understanding. Their experiences link to themes like Death and Visibility , Power Versus Helplessness , and Compassion Versus Hatred and Indifference .

This guide refers to the e-book version of the 2000 Aladdin Paperbacks edition of Parallel Journeys .

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Content Warning : Parallel Journeys centers on the Holocaust and World War II and features the violent, deadly traumas associated with the genocide and global conflict.

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Alfons Heck and Helen Waterford live in Germany. Alfons is Christian and lives on a farm with his grandparents. Helen is Jewish and lives in the city of Frankfurt with her parents and brother. Alfons is six when Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi party, becomes Chancellor of Germany, while Helen is a young adult. Alfons can’t wait till he turns 10 and can join the Hitler Youth, the official youth group of the Nazis . Helen’s mom can’t wait for her daughter to get married, but Helen prefers to hang out with her friends and be free.

After losing World War I , Germany’s economy collapsed, and Germans felt dishonored. Hitler stabilizes the economy, and his bellicose rhetoric makes many Germans feel better about themselves and their nation. He claims that certain groups—primarily Jews—threaten Germany, and, as he collects despotic powers, he subjects Jewish people like Helen to massive violence and destruction.

Helen marries Siegfried, and they move to Holland, away from antisemitic Germany. Helen and Siegfried have a daughter, and Helen works as an interior decorator to support her family.

Alfons turns 10 and joins the Hitler Youth. His dad upbraids him, but Alfons doesn’t care. He’s a member of the drum and fanfare division, and he gets to go to the Nazis’ theatrical rally in Nuremberg, where he sees Hitler, his idol, speak. The Hitler Youth is harsh, but Alfons remains obedient and dedicated. When the Nazis invade Poland on September 1, 1939, starting World War II, Alfons approves.

Soon, the Nazis invade Holland, and Helen and Siegfried work with non-Jewish activists, the Righteous Gentiles , to stay alive. The Righteous Gentiles get them food, find a non-Jewish home for Doris, and locate a series of hiding spaces for Helen and Siegfried. In August 1944, the Nazis find Helen and Siegfried and deport them to Auschwitz—the notorious concentration camp where the Nazis intentionally kill Jews and other groups in gas chambers.

The Nazis must battle England, Russia, and the United States, and their war machine crumbles, but Alfons flourishes. He joins the elite Flieger Hitlerjugend (junior air force) division of the Hitler Youth and dreams of being a fighter pilot for the Luftwaffe (German air force). Due to the desperate situation, Alfons never gets to fly, but the Nazis continue to give him responsibilities. By 1945—the end of the war—he’s the equivalent of a major general, with 6,000 young people under his command.

Siegfried and Helen spend three nights in filthy, overcrowded cattle cars before they arrive at Auschwitz. They separate, and Helen never sees her husband again. She stays alive and then moves to a work camp, Kratzau, where she stops herself from becoming another hateful prisoner. The Russians liberate Kratzau, and Helen determinedly returns to Holland and reunites with her daughter. The relationship is rocky, but they manage, and Helen moves them to Chicago to be with her mom and dad.

Americans take over Alfons’s town, Wittlich, and Alfons becomes a translator for them. When they find out he was a passionate member of the Hitler Youth, they fire him. The French take over for the Americans. They imprison Alfons and threaten to kill him, but the death threat is a mind game.

Upset and confused about his past Nazi beliefs, Alfons attends the Nuremberg Trials, where the Allies—mainly England, the United States, and Russia—sentence top Nazis to death or jail. The Nazis evade responsibility for their actions, but Alfons confronts his role. He moves to Canada to start over but can’t avoid his atrocious past.

As an adult, Alfons moves to America and writes articles about his experiences. Helen reads one of his pieces and gives him a call. Though other Holocaust survivors excoriate Helen for working with a former Nazi, she and Alfons team up and give lectures to promote understanding. They’re an unexpected team, and TV shows and newspapers boost their story, and one magazine calls them “the Odd Couple.”

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Parallel Journeys

Eleanor h. ayer , helen waterford , alfons heck.

244 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1995

About the author

Eleanor H. Ayer

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Parallel Journeys Characters

By eleanor h. ayer, parallel journeys character list.

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Helen Waterford

Helen Waterford is one of the main character of the story, and was born around the year 1900 in Germany. Growing up as a Jewish girl, she lived a relatively normal life until Hitler came to power. In 1933, she married a man named Siegfried, and the two decided to move away to the Netherlands. There, they had a daughter named Doris. Helen and her husband were eventually captured by the Nazis and brought to a concentration camp. Helen never sees her husband again, even after she is liberated from the camp. She finds her daughter Doris, and moves to the United States.

Siegfried Wohlfarth

A Jewish man, Siegfried becomes the wife of Helen in 1933. He decides to move himself and his wife to the Netherlands to escape the increasing segregation they were facing in Germany. The two have a daughter together, but once captured by the Nazis, Siegfried is presumed dead.

Doris is the daughter of Helen and Siegfried. At the time her parents are captured by the Nazis, she is rather young, and seeks refuge in a home of non-Jewish people. Doris and her mother eventually find each other once again after the war is over.

Alfons Heck

Alfons is a German boy that became a member of Hitler Youth early in life. He quickly rose through the ranks, and became a glider pilot for Germany in the war. However, once the war ended, he was arrested, but then let free. He still feels guilt for what Germany had done, and moves to Canada, then the United States. Later, he writes a newspaper story about his time in the war. He rediscovers Helen, and the two recollect on how, even though they grew up in the same area, they lived completely different lives.

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Parallel Journeys Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Parallel Journeys is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Which of these inferences about the following passage is best supported by the text?

Which specific passage are you using as a reference for your question?

parallel journeys

-in Chapter 2, Helen and her family lived in Frankfurt, Germany. Helen's mother was German and her father came from Lithuania. They knew that Hitler hated the Jews but the thought of mass murder seemed implausible.

-In September of 1933, all Jews...

Parallel Journeys

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Study Guide for Parallel Journeys

Parallel Journeys study guide contains a biography of Eleanor H. Ayer, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Parallel Journeys
• Parallel Journeys Summary
• Character List

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Table of Contents

About the book, about the author.

Eleanor H. Ayer is a novelist, biographer, and travel writer from Vermont. She is best known for her book Parallel Journeys

Product Details

• Publisher: Aladdin (March 1, 2000)
• Length: 256 pages
• ISBN13: 9780689832369
• Grades: 5 - 7
• Ages: 10 - 12

Browse Related Books

• Age 12 and Up
• Children's Non-Fiction > Social Situations > Prejudice & Racism
• Children's Non-Fiction > History > Holocaust
• Children's Non-Fiction > Biography & Autobiography > Historical

Awards and Honors

• ALA Best Books For Young Adults
• CBC/NCSS Notable Children's Book in Social Studies
• Christopher Award
• Flora Stieglitz Straus Award

Resources and Downloads

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• Book Cover Image (jpg): Parallel Journeys Trade Paperback 9780689832369 (0.4 MB)

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Parallel Journeys - Chapters 3 - 4 Summary & Analysis

Alfons was sworn into the Jungvolk, the junior version of Hitler Youth, in April 1938. The study of Nazi beliefs was considered to be more important than their education of school subjects and membership meant loyalty until death. The Nazis would imprison any parent who tried to prevent his or her child from joining. The children were encouraged to join because they were considered to be superior people who would one day rule the world. Alfons belonged to the drum and fanfare platoon, Fanfarenzug, which performed at every Nazi rally. After only five months, Alfons was chosen to attend the Nuremberg Party Congress, Reichsparteitag, in September of 1938. Alfons recalls the splendor of seeing and hearing Hitler speak and knew that he would be loyal to the Nazi leader for life.

During 1938, Hitler began his takeover of neighboring countries under the guise that the German...

(read more from the Chapters 3 - 4 Summary)

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Parallel Journeys Paperback – March 1, 2000

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Reading age 10 - 12 years
• Print length 256 pages
• Language English
• Grade level 5 - 7
• Lexile measure 1050L
• Dimensions 5.13 x 0.7 x 7.63 inches
• Publisher Aladdin
• Publication date March 1, 2000
• ISBN-10 0689832362
• ISBN-13 978-0689832369
• See all details

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Editorial Reviews

From publishers weekly, from the back cover.

While Helen was hiding in Amsterdam, Alfons was a fanatic believer in Hitler's "master race". While she was crammed in a cattle car bound for the death camp Auschwitz, he was a teenage commander of frontline troops, 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.

About the Author

Product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Aladdin; Reprint edition (March 1, 2000)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0689832362
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0689832369
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 10 - 12 years
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1050L
• Grade level ‏ : ‎ 5 - 7
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.13 x 0.7 x 7.63 inches
• #45 in Children's Holocaust Books
• #373 in Children's Historical Biographies (Books)

About the author

Eleanor h. ayer.

She was born Eleanor Ann Hubbard, but to her friends, families, neighbors, and everyone lucky enough to know her, she went by, “Ellie.”

Ellie came into the world on September 6, 1947, and was raised in Rutland, VT. Her mother was an elementary school teacher in a one-room school house, instilling in her a love for books from a very young age.

Ellie worked her way through Syracuse University with degrees in Childhood Education and Journalism by selling term papers. She charged by the grade level the student wanted.

While working as a ski instructor at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, she met John Ayer, the man would become her husband and father of their two sons, Madison and William. They moved to Colorado to start their own publishing company, where Ellie authored over 50 books. Her career focused on:

- Young Adult non-fiction, with the majority being about the holocaust.

- Several biographies including Charles Dickens, Margaret Burke White, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

- Several in a series of self-help books for teens.

- Numerous travel guidebooks for Colorado, Arizona, and California.

- Won the Christopher Award and ALA Best Book for Young Adults for her book, “Parallel Journeys” in 1995.

In addition to her many books, Ellie also:

- Volunteered at several schools throughout Colorado.

- Took three consecutive teams to the National Geographic Geography Bee finals

- Volunteered at local libraries.

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