Hitler's Daughter

Hitler’s Daughter is a 1999 young adult novel by Australian children’s author Jackie French. The story begins with a group of friends who swap stories to pass the time while they wait for their bus: one of them, Anna, tells an especially engrossing tale about Hitler’s secret daughter, who survives the war and flees to Australia. As a result, her friend Mark begins to learn about the Holocaust and the Nazis’ rise to power, eventually wrestling with profound questions about good and evil.

Mark, Anna, Ben, and Little Tracy are waiting for their bus to school. It’s raining, and Anna suggests that they play what they usually play in bad weather: the story game, where they take it in turns to tell stories. Anna will go first. Ben says the story should be about war, and Little Tracy wants the story to feature a princess.

Anna begins the story of Heidi, a little girl living in Germany, during the Second World War. She has a birthmark on her face and a congenital limp, and she lives in unusual circumstances. Instead of her parents, she is raised by Fraulein Gelber, an attentive nanny who does her best to give Heidi everything she wants. Heidi doesn’t go to school: instead, she has private lessons at home with Fraulein Gelber. Heidi doesn’t know her mother, but her father visits her occasionally, bringing her beautiful dolls and other expensive presents. He is Adolf Hitler, Germany’s autocratic ruler, but no one except Fraulein Gelber is allowed to know. Heidi must always call her father “Duffi.” Everyone always tells her that she is a “lucky girl,” but she is not sure why. She wishes she could live a normal life, attending school like other children.



Ben interrupts to point out that Hitler did not have a daughter; he keeps on interrupting so that Anna doesn’t get any further with her story that day. Mark is annoyed: the story has enthralled him. So on the way home from school, he asks Anna to come to the bus stop early the next day to continue the story. He arranges for Little Tracy—but not Ben—to join them early as well. Anna is reluctant at first. The story is personal to her because it was told to her by her grandmother. Nevertheless, seeing that Mark is truly interested, and she agrees to tell the whole tale.

Fortunately, for Mark, Ben falls ill, and for the next few days, Anna tells the story without interruption. Her story is intertwined with Mark’s reflections on it, as he begins to learn more about the Nazi regime.

Heidi comes to understand that she has to be kept secret because of her disfigurement. When she and Fraulein Gelber move house, she tries to leave behind all the dolls her father has given her: their flawless features remind her of the discrimination she faces. Over time, she comes to realize that she is a “lucky girl” primarily because many disfigured people have been sent to their deaths in concentration camps.



Fraulein Gelber becomes increasingly distracted. She keeps receiving bad news from her family. The war is not going well. Fraulein Gelber stops giving Heidi her lessons and spends more and more time reading letters and talking anxiously with her friend Frau Lieb.

With Fraulein Gelber supervising her less, Heidi begins to hear hints and rumors about the fate of Germany’s Jews under her father’s regime. She makes a shelter to hide Jews, but she cannot find any to hide. One day she raises the topic of the Jews with Fraulein Gelber, who is horrified and frightened because she is under orders to prevent Heidi from finding out things her father wouldn’t want her to know.

As Anna’s story unfolds, Mark reads about the Holocaust, and he is deeply troubled by what he learns. Were the German people all evil? And if not, how did they become evil? Could he ever become evil? He dreams about his friends joining the Hitler Youth. Mark also wonders about Heidi’s discovery of her father’s deeds. He questions what he would do in her shoes. Mark talks all these questions through with his teachers and his father.



As the war turns from bad to worse, Heidi and Frau Gelber are brought to “Duffi’s” bunker in Berlin. Soon, bombs are falling around them. Frau Gelber abandons Heidi to search for her last living relatives in the city. Heidi goes to her father. As bombs shake the ground, she calls out in fear: for the first time she addresses Hitler as “Father.” He refuses to acknowledge her and asks his guards to take her away. Shortly afterward, the bunker is hit. Heidi escapes onto the street. A woman asks her where her parents are and she says she no longer has parents. The woman helps her to escape and later adopts her. Heidi and her new family, the Schmidts, emigrate to Australia, where Heidi tells no-one her true story except her granddaughter: Anna. Except, Anna adds, that it’s “just pretend.” Her grandmother said so. Mark doesn’t believe her: to him, the story feels true.

Hitler’s Daughter introduces young readers to the history of the Holocaust. The novel has been widely acclaimed in Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. Among other honors, the novel has been admitted to the Kids’ Own Australian Literature Awards’ Hall of Fame and designated a “blue ribbon” title by the U.S. Center for Children’s Books.