By Karen Truesdell Riehl
When the author met her in 1977, Helga was an elementary school librarian, a 1948 German immigrant. Asked about her experience during the war, Helga quietly revealed she had been a "Jugend," a member of Hitler's child army, "trained to revere and obey the Fuhrer." When Riehl asked how children were recruited, she replied, "Clever seduction." Helga's seduction begins with an invitation from Hitler she cannot refuse. The ten-year-old is ordered to attend weekly meetings of the Hitler Youth movement. Lies and tasty treats are employed to entice her allegiance to the Fuhrer. Helga is sent away to Hitler Youth training camps as the war draws nearer her home in Berlin. She is caught between loyalty to her family, suffering under Nazi rule, and loyalty to the Fuhrer, who keeps her safe and well-fed. Helga's gradual disillusionment, followed by her harrowing escape home, is a powerful coming-of-age story of a young girl's survival of Nazi mind control.
Karen Truesdell Riehl's writing achievements are remarkable, given her lifelong battle with dyslexia. She was unable to read until the age of ten. Her published works now include a memoir, Love and Madness: My Private Years with George C. Scott, telling of her 30-year hidden liaison with the international film star, five novels, eight plays and a radio comedy series, The Quibbles. Her children's play, Alice in Cyberland, was an award winner in the National Southwest Writers Contest.
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