Rating: 2.5/5

Goodreads link: Chocolate Cake with Hitler

Read in: Polish, physically 

Dates read: 06/01/20
Pages: 220

I was inspired to pick this book up after reading The Nightingale, eager to learn more about World War 2. This short novel has been sitting on my shelve for over 3 years now, as I bought it to accompany my studying for history finals. As one can tell, it did not go as planned and I never got around to reading it. 

It's based on the story of Helga Goebbles, a twelve-year-old girl who with her parents and five siblings spent the last days of her life in a bunker with Hitler. It's written in a form of her secret diary, describing her everyday life, as well as the story of Goebbels family. 

At first, the idea of this book was fascinating to me. It's not an everyday perspective to come across. I think, if done better, it could have been an excellent way to show a different take on a well-known story. However, I don't think it lived up to the expectations I had. I didn't get a chance to get emotionally involved with Helga, partly because of the length of the book, and partly because of the frequent information dumps about the family history.

What I found extremely unnerving is Helga's relationship with Hitler. For the first time, I got to see him with the eyes of someone who did not hate him and that was weird. At times I felt almost uncomfortable when Helga called Hitler 'uncle Leader' (especially in the Polish edition that really emphasised the positive overtone of this expression). Seeing him as somebody who stuffs his face with chocolate cake and farts was unexpected, made him more human and with that, even more terrifying,

I liked how the author gave a child a conscious voice, showed that young doesn't immediately mean stupid. Helga understood more than adults around her thought she did; that might have been just the author's addition, but I still appreciated that. 

Another interesting aspect of the book is the real pictures showing Hitler with the family as well as  others that were close to him. Seeing the real-life pictures of the people Helga described made the story more impactful. Furthermore, I appreciated the postscriptum explaining the true events and some background information on everyone mentioned in the book. 

What I didn't like was the writing style as it was very simple, at times even too simple. I understand that it acted as if a child wrote it, but it made it a slower read for me. I also wish it was in chronological order, it would have made so much more sense and help the story run smoother. As I mentioned previously, sometimes the long stories from the past ruined the journal style and made it unnatural and a bit boring.

After reading Chocolate Cake with Hitler, I realised I've been missing out on the whole genre that is historical fiction. I definitely want to explore the subject even more, also by reading nonfiction books about World War 2.