The Boy Who Dared (Susan Campbell Bartoletti)

 

I've been interested in reading this book for a long time and was glad to finally borrow it from the library.  It's well written. It tells his story with flashes forward to him sitting in prison waiting to be executed.

Because politicians have made (uneducated and inflammatory) comments about covid restrictions, a lot of people like to compare covid restrictions to Nazi's and what happened to Jewish people in World War II. I think they haven't quite read enough about what that time was like. It's not the same at all.

There are some amazing people in history. This boy was brave. I was also drawn to it because he was a member of my church. Interestingly, the author is not a member of the church. At the end of the novel, she cites the books she read to learn more about the church and how it might have influenced Helmuth Hubener. 

One moment really stood out to me. That was when his mother (Mutti), who is dating someone (Hugo) that is a Nazi sympathizer and knows of the terrible things he does, but remains silent. 

p. 72 Helmuth wrestles a sudden wave of nausea as he realizes what Hugo did last night. But it's Gerhard who says something when Mutti returns. "How can you?" he whispers to Mutti. "You heard the news. How can you not say anything?"

Mutti bites her lip, doesn't answer for a long time, and when she does, she speakes without looking at her sons. "Silence is how people get on sometimes. I don't expect you to understand."

Helmuth's disgust turns to pain for his mother and disgust for himself. He recognize silence.

It's a sad thing when you realizes the people you have always loved and admired don't have the courage to speak up for what is right, but instead, stay silent to get along.

I'm a little ashamed at church leader's response to Helmuth Hubener. It is another example of leadership Russian roulette that sometimes people come out on the losing end of in the church.  You can read about the church's response in Wikipedia:

Church reaction[edit]

The execution chamber at Plötzensee Prison

In 1937, the president of the LDS Church, Heber J. Grant, had visited Germany and urged the members to remain, get along, and not cause trouble. Consequently, some church members saw Hübener as a troublemaker who made things difficult for other Latter-day Saints in Germany. This recommendation did not change after Kristallnacht, which occurred the year following Grant's visit, after which he evacuated all non-German Latter-day Saint missionaries.

Local Latter-day Saint branch president, Arthur Zander, was a supporter of the Nazi Party, and had affixed a notice to the meetinghouse entrance stating "Jews not welcome". Ten days after the arrest of Hübener, on 15 February 1942, Zander claimed to have excommunicated the young man demonstratively, without consulting his church superiors or holding the church court normally prerequisite for excommunication or other discipline.

The day of his execution, Hübener wrote to a fellow branch member, "I know that God lives and He will be the Just Judge in this matter… I look forward to seeing you in a better world!" (excerpt from a letter written by Hübener, the only one believed to still exist).

In 1946, four years later and after the war, Hübener was posthumously reinstated into the LDS Church by new mission president, Max Zimmer, saying the excommunication was not carried through with the proper procedures. He was also posthumously rebaptized, ordained an elder, and endowed in 1948 to clarify that his membership in the church was never in doubt.

Goodreads says:

A powerful and gripping novel about a youth in Nazi Germany who dares to the truth about Hitler, written by a Newbery Honor Book author.

Susan Campbell Bartoletti has taken one episode from her Newbery Honor Book, Hitler Youth, and fleshed it out into a thought-provoking nonfiction novel. When 16-year-old Helmut Hubner listens to the BBC news on an illegal short-wave radio, he quickly discovers Germany is lying to the people. But when he tries to expose the truth with leaflets, he's tried for treason. Sentenced to death and waiting in a jail cell, Helmut's story emerges in a series of flashbacks that show his growth from a naive child caught up in the patriotism of the times, to a sensitive and mature young man who thinks for himself.