I met Helga in 1977. Slim, brown hair and eyes, she was the librarian in an elementary school east of Seattle. I was working for the Head Start program, traveling between schools, checking the hearing and eyesight of four-year-olds. I visited Helga’s school once a month. We became immediate friends and had lunch together every day I was there.
Helga had a heavy German accent but never mentioned growing up in Germany. One day my curiosity led me to ask how long she'd been in this country. She told me she met her American soldier husband in Germany, shortly after the war. They moved to the United States in 1948.
A month later, when we met for lunch, I asked her to tell me about what she experienced during the war. She hesitated a moment, then announced, not proudly, “I was Jugend.”
“What’s a Jugend? I asked.
She looked me in the eye and said, “We were his child army, trained to revere and obey the Fuhrer.”
“Did you want to be in his child army?
“Not at first.”
“Then, how did they persuade you?”
“Clever seduction.”
This is Helga's story.