Parallel Journeys Summary
Eleanor H. Ayer

Parallel Journeys Overview

Parallel Lives is a nonfiction young adult book by Eleanor H. Ayer. This book tells the stories of two people who experienced World War II firsthand and their opposite experiences. Helen Waterford, a German Jew, fled Nazi Germany with her husband Siegfried to Amsterdam, only to face persecution there once the Nazis invaded and defeated the Dutch. Helen and Siegfried were captured and sent to concentration camps in Poland, where only Helen barely managed to survive. Meanwhile, a young boy named Alfons Heck became indoctrinated into the Nazi fanfare as he a member of the Hitler Youth. Along with these personal accounts, Parallel Lives relates the politics, history, and commentary on Hitler's rise to power and the systematic extermination of the Jewish people during the Holocaust.