HBO Documentary on Young Nazis Receives Praise From Ex-Member

Alfons Heck, who once served in the Hitler Youth, says he was “pleasantly surprised” by a Home Box Office documentary on his childhood in Nazi Germany. The program debuts tonight at 10 p.m.

“My primary concern was that it would be another silly Nazi saga,” Heck said Friday from his Point Loma home. “When I first talked to the producers I said the last thing I need is a fictitious Nazi saga a la Hollywood.”

Instead, “Heil Hitler! Confessions of a Hitler Youth” relies on archival footage and Heck’s narration to explain how 8-million German children were swept into the ranks of the Hitler Youth, a group often referred to as the most devoted and fanatical followers of Adolf Hitler.

“All my life I have been haunted by the idea that the story of the Hitler Youth had never really been told,” said Heck, 63, who has had two books published about his experiences, “The Child of Hitler” and “The Burden of Hitler’s Legacy.”

The story is not about the atrocities of the era, but rather how young, impressionable minds were swept up by Hitler’s charisma.

HBO contacted Heck in 1988 after BBC aired the documentary “The Fatal Attraction of Adolf Hitler,” which included Heck’s story. “Confessions of a Hitler Youth” producer Arthur Holch had done several documentaries on World War II, including two on the Japanese kamikaze pilots, and Heck soon found Holch willing to do the story from the perspective of the Hitler Youth.

“There are many films about the Holocaust and not many of them are very good,” he said. Heck hopes the film “sheds light on why people fell for Hitler.”

More than anything, Heck said he was impressed with the depth of Holch’s research, specifically his having found rare footage of events that dramatically shaped Heck’s life. He even found footage from Heck’s hometown of Wittlich.

Most dramatic to Heck are the scenes of the giant 1938 Nazi party rally at Nuremberg, which Heck attended. The event was among those that made Heck a devoted Hitler follower. The documentary also includes speeches by Hitler and Joseph Goebbels, including Goebbels’ famous “total war” speech in 1943, which Heck says was “stirring” at the time.

Today he finds the speeches “ridiculous” and “embarrassing.” But he says that Hitler was “without a doubt the most mesmerizing speaker I have ever heard.”

He hopes the film shows “how easy it is to indoctrinate the very young and how it was done” by the Nazis, and that there are distinctions that should be made between many of the German people and the Nazis who commited vile crimes against humanity.

Even today, Heck says he is still sometimes confronted about his role in Nazi Germany.

“I was 10 years old,” Heck said. “I admit freely to being a witness, but I certainly didn’t commit any atrocities.”

With the release of “Confessions of a Hitler Youth,” Heck has become something of a media celebrity. Last week he was interviewed by CNN, the Miami Herald, U.S.A. Today and a slew of other publications. People magazine is planning a spread on Heck in an upcoming issue.

“I’m really quite happy about” the program, Heck said. “You never can be quite sure about these things.”

On Saturday, Heck will appear at the Bookstar store in the Sports Arena area for a noon book-signing party. A tape of “Heil Hitler! Confessions of a Hitler Youth” will be available for viewing at the store.