Chocolate Cake with Hitler - Emma Craigie

SOME SPOILERS! 

(Although its based on fact so...)

Much like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas which came four years before Chocolate Cake with Hitler reading about the horrors of the Nazi regime through the innocence of a child's prose brings new levels of darkness to the history. Though the book is fiction it is based closely on fact, Helga Goebbels was murdered, presumably by her Mother, in Hitlers underground bunker in Berlin, after arriving there just 10 days earlier. Their final days were spent hearing echos of the bombs on the streets above, spending time with "Uncle" Hitler and "Auntie" Eva and their dogs. As well as their own Mother and Father. The facts indicate that when the bodies of the children were recovered, Helga Goebbels bore bruises on her face, a sign that she knew what was happening to her and tried to fight before being forcibly fed cyanide. This is where i believe, Emma Craigie seems to take Helga's suspicious  narrative from, Helga explains her life from Hitlers rise to power until she is sent to the bunker with her family in flashbacks. The holocaust is referred to briefly, mentions of her being forced to watch anti-Jewish propaganda and remarks from those around her. Mainly Helga's narrative guides you through her final ten days in the bunker, how afraid she was and even more afraid to openly display her fears, her disgust at "Uncle Adi" and her awe of "Auntie Eva". Her only joy having come from Hitlers dog Blondis puppies and playing with her younger siblings, the lack of time she spent with her parents, overhearing the noise of the Hitlers wedding and eventual death and not understanding fully what was happening. Helga's narrative is confused, but with a undertone of understanding, from page one until the end Helga knows deep down, the war isn't going to end in favor of Germany. 

The novel is, like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a difficult read, understanding the Nazi regime and the consequences that fell upon the innocent children forced to be involved is dark and troubling. But of course, it should be.

If Helga Goebbels could have written a memoir of her final days i do believe it would have read a lot like this, the confusion, the fear, the charade from the adults that surrounded her, all seem to be a direct line into the past. The one thing i kept in mind whilst reading the novel was that, the youngest child who was kept in that bunker and murdered there was Helga's sister Heidi, she was four years old.

Its a five star book, i would absolutely recommend it, it falls just short of 200 pages, its a "quick" read but not an easy one. I am definitely going to pick up Emma Craigies next release.