Hitler's Daughter

The importance of questioning (the self, others, authority, and history) is central to the story. Mark and Heidi simultaneously uncover unsettling truths that challenge everything they’ve been taught. Mark begins by innocently listening to Anna’s story at the bus stop, but soon, the questions it raises consume him. He struggles to understand how a person like Hitler could have been both a father and a tyrant: “How could she want someone like that to love her? Someone who did such horrible things” (33). This idea of nuance and the gray area between good and evil is a new concept for him, and each day inspires more and more questions.

French further emphasizes Mark’s need to question through his dream, where everyone salutes Hitler, and no one will listen when he tries to say that Hitler is wrong. In real life, he feels isolated just like Heidi. Ben doesn’t care, Bonzo only wants excitement, and Anna grows more somber “as though [the story] disturbed her” (101). At the same time, his questions either irritate or flabbergast the adults in his life. When Mark asks his dad if he would still love him if he killed hundreds of people, he is trying to understand the limits of love and morality. This shows how deeply the story affects him and how personal questioning is key to his growth. Similarly, when Mark tries to speak to his mother about Hitler, she brushes him off, too preoccupied with daily routines to engage in the depth he needs. He imagines a mother who would want to talk about it, who would take his concerns seriously, and who he could trust would do the right thing. Only the bus driver seems to care, but her abrasive nature puts Mark off: “People just don’t THINK, that’s the trouble. They don’t look at the evidence. They just listen to what some twerp has to say on TV and take it like it’s gospel” (68). This uncertainty drives Mark to keep questioning. He reflects, “People should do what they thought was right. But what if what you thought was right, was wrong?” (76). He comes to realize that people might think they are right, but that doesn’t mean they are.

The story also creates parallels between Mark’s questions and Heidi’s realization that her father was doing terrible things. Like Mark, Heidi never questioned what she was taught at first. She thought Jewish people were being “put to work” and took this as fact, and nobody around her contested it. Yet, as she overhears conversations, notices the anxiousness in the adults, and sees the world falling apart, she begins to think for herself. Frau Leib casually mentions Jewish people being taken away and a farmer who tried to hide a Jewish person. Heidi begins to set up a hiding place, even though no one ever comes. She sees herself in the people being rejected as different and cast aside. This small act of rebellion, of doing something even if it seems futile, is her way of questioning the Nazi regime she once believed was well-intentioned. The book makes it clear that questioning is essential in preventing atrocities in the future and discovering the truth about violent history.