Criticism In A Child Of Hitler By Alfons Heck

A Child of Hitler by Alfons Heck is an autobiographical account of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 from his perspective as a member of the Hitler Youth. Heck’s autobiography is abundant with emotional treatise and recollections from his childhood. Published in 1985, the book is targeted toward an adult audience. The overarching theme focuses on repentance and the overwhelming power of propaganda and the resulting passion produced by NSDAP indoctrination. Using this theme as guidance, Heck argues that Nazi propaganda was highly efficient and produced an indoctrinated generation that was consumed with Aryan and Third Reich superiority until the defeat of Germany in 1945. Heck organized his book chronologically, which strengthens the narrative

It has moments of weakness due to the period between Heck’s childhood and when it was published. But it also has many more strengths than weaknesses; the first person perspective immerses you into the novel, the emotional appeal tugs at heart strings. The reader rides and feels Heck’s initial steps toward loyal Nazism and his devastation at the failure and deceptions committed by his party. Heck’s admissions of his experience with the Hitler Youth lend the autobiography a unique perspective. A Child of Hitler blatantly points toward how the Nazi regime victimized not only jewish men and women, homosexual, or asexual citizens, but also how it devastated and destroyed a whole generation of children. Childhood was revoked an the burdens of war were placed directly on the shoulders of boys and girls just like Heck. This develops a new understanding of World War II that is not often disclosed. By addressing Nazi Germany from an insider’s view, Heck develops an argument against propagandizing children. He proves that the blank slates of childhood should not be chalkboards for politics and that children should be exactly what they are – children. While the text certainly has some dark undertones, it would serve as an excellent foil for high school readers of Night. That said A Child of Hitler is still a must read for adults and college students regardless of their age, poignant and direct it provides a perspective that all people should have when trying to understand World War II and the rise and fall of Nazi