As the title somewhat implies, Parallel Journeys is kind of like an expansive version of a compare and contrast assignment. On the one hand is the story of a young Jewish girl named Helen Waterford who endures the Nazi abominations through all its many and varied incarnations, never sure from one day to the next whether she has seen her last sunrise. On the other Alfons Heck, Hitler Youth member with as fervent a devotion to Adolf Hitler and his insanity as any of the more famous Nazis. Their stories present a stark contrast that is heartbreaking to read and brings to vivid life the very concept of things which stand in contrast to each other.
It is the comparison part of the equation where things begin to fall apart. The adult Alfons Heck who managed without any great trouble to “survive” his experiences as a full-throated believer in Nazi propaganda contributes his personal account to what becomes a mighty effort to draw a comparison of his life during World War II with that of Helen. Consider, for example:
“For three days, Alfons languished in the Camp Wengerohr kitchen, doing the dirtiest work the mess head could find. He was very strict watch; sitting down without asking permission was a major offense. His life in the Luftwaffe was over before it began, he told himself, and he cursed the moment he had chosen to ignore Winkler’s flag.”
Let this peek into one of the low moments of the life of Alfons during the Third Reich be compared with just an average day during that same period as experienced by Helen:
“Despite the filth in the camp, I tried to keep myself clean. There was no chance to bathe, but every day I would water down my body in any I could. It helped me feel that I was still and important person with a body worth caring for. The water was always very cold and in the winter I washed by rubbing my face with a handful of snow. Never did we have soap, towel, or a rag. Nor was there any toilet paper in the huge bathroom.”
The contrast between these images of what life was like under the Nazi regime for a true believer versus an innocent Jewish girl makes it all but impossible to find room for comparison. Where could there be comparison? The biggest threat Alfons faces is the possibility of punishment for sitting down without permission while Helen daily stares down the threat of disease from living in filth, pain and injury from frostbite and the humiliation of not even being able to wipe herself clean after using the toilet. To extricate any sense of equilibrium between these two states of being requires a leap of logic that would seem to reserved only for those with a competency hearing in their near-future.
Nevertheless, the story of these journeys through the darkest of the darkness of the 20th century continues with its inexplicable attempt to make them run along parallel lines capable of creating a comparison as well as highlighting the great big thick contrasting outlines which serves to make such an attempt at discovering common ground almost indefensible. One need not even be Jewish to understand why some “Jewish audiences showed more distrust toward Helen for speaking with a former Nazi than they did toward Alfons for being one” during the lecture tour on which Helen and Alfons teamed up to tell their stories. And while such a response does reveal its illogic in the harsh light of day, the underlying tension which led to the projection of anger toward Alfons to be directed toward Helen is somewhat understandable.
Many, of course, will read this book and find the inspiring message it is obviously designed to send perfectly acceptable. Forgiveness without forgetting is essential to healing and all that. One can accept the premise while rejecting the structure. Too often the book strives so hard to create an association between the experience of Alfons based on what seems a wildly misplaced accusation of child abuse perpetrated upon him that the text seems to forget entirely that the dehumanizing acts committed by the Hitler Youth were no less an example of an absence of something at the inner core allowing “brainwashing” as it was a demonstration of the effectiveness of brainwashing. It has been said often enough that one suspects is must be true: no one placed under hypnosis can be made to do anything they wouldn’t otherwise be openly willing to do. Surely that standard must also apply to anyone who fell under the sway of Nazi ideology.
