HOW THREE FRIENDS RISKED THEIR LIVESFIGHTING AGAINST ONE OF THE MOST EVIL REGIMES

THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN

THE BOYS WHO FOUGHT

Ado^Hitler ( t i ^and iiazi officim!the streets of Munich, Germanif,

• 1938Jnset Left to right, Rud|JWoM»; 15, Helmuth Hiibener, Iiind Karl-Heinz Schnibbe, 17.

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THE NAZISBY KRISTIN LEWIS

\

Nonfiction

r% » ^—-̂ -

t was a dark and terrifyingnight in Hamburg, Germany,and 17-year-old Karl-HeinzSchnibbe ran through theempty streets. Germany wasat war, and there were

rumors that British bombers wereprowling the sky lookingfor targets to destroy.Karl should have beenat home with hisparents, safe inthe bomb shelter.

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But fear of bombs was not thereason Karl was drenched in sweat,why his heart pounded louder thanthe click-click of his boots on thestreet, why he swallowed down thevomit that stubbornly rose into histhroat again and again.

Karl was on a secret mission. Ifanyone caught him, he could beshot—or worse.

Total ControlIt was December 1941, and life

Above: The Hitler Youth march in a Nazi rally in Nuremberg,Germany, 1933. At the beginning of 1933, the Hitler Youth had

I 50,000 members. By 1936, membership had increased to 5.4million. Left: This map shows Europe in 1942. What can you

I conclude about Nazi Germany?

people—known as anti-Semitism—^had existed in Europefor centuries. European Jews wereresented and mistrusted for beingdifferent, and for having differentcustoms and different beliefs.Many times over the years, leadershad turned the Jews intoscapegoats, blaming them forproblems ranging from the plagueto World War I.

Of course these claims wereoutlandish. But embers of theseold beliefs smoldered in Germanculture. Hitler easily fanned theflames. He singled out othergroups as well: Catholics, thedisabled, Gypsies, gay people. Butthe Jews were his primary target. In

in Germanywas dangerous.The countrywas under thecontrol of AdolfHitler and his

Nazi Party. In all of human history,few regimes have been moreprofoundly evil than Hitler's NaziGermany.

Hitler had come to power aftera period of great difficulty.Unemployment was high. ManyGermans felt bitter and humiliatedby their defeat in World War I.Hitler gave the German peoplesomeone to blame for theirproblems; Jewish people.

Prejudice against Jewish

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\ I"speech after speech, hecalled them "vermin" andsaid they were to blame forall of Germany's woes.

Many Germans embracedHiuer and the Nazi Party andall it stood for. Those who did notlearned to keep quiet. Resisterswere marked as traitors and swiftlykilled. Even Karl's parents, whooften expressed their hatred ofHitler in private, dared notinterfere. One day as Karl wascoming home, he saw armed Naziofficers spitting on a group ofGerman Jews. Upset, Karl ran homeand told his mother.

"Son, it is best you forget whatyou saw," Karl remembered hersaying. "That is the way our liveswill be now."

But Karl could not forget.He and his two best friends,

Helmuth Hübener, 16, and RudiWobbe, 15, hated what Hitler stoodfor. Hitler promised to restoreGerman pride and glory. But likemany, the three boys believed thatHitler's real interestwas in his ownpower. Hitler gavehimself the title offührer, or supremeleader, and beganinvadingGermany'sneighbors, ignitingWorld War II.

The boysbelieved Hitler wasdestroying Germany.

But what could three teenagersdo against Hitler?

Short-waveradios like

this one couidpick up secret

broadcasts.

Three Friends,One Plan

In July 1941, Helmuthinvited Karl over to his

apartment to show himsomething special: a short-

wave radio. The sight ofthe radioshocked and thrilled Karl. He knewthat it could pick up Britishbroadcasts. Listening to foreignradio stations was forbidden, andthe penalties were severe. In NaziGermany, freedom of speech did

not exist, as it does in the UnitedStates. Newspapers and radiostations were expected to praiseHitler and the war, or they wouldbe shut down.

At 10 p.m., Helmuth turned onthe radio. A voice crackled to life.

"The BBG London presents thenews in German."

What followed would changethe course of Karl's life, as well asthe lives of his ftiends. Thereport talked about what

On November 9, 1938—the Night of Broken Glass—violence erupted against GermanJews. Synagogues, like the one shown here, were burned; Jewish hospitals, schools,stores, and homes were looted; dozens of people were murdered. The police didnothing. The next day, many Nazis openly celebrated what they had done.

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was happening inRussia, which Hitier hadrecently invaded. Thereport confirmed thehoys' suspicions that theNazis were lying to theGerman people, that thewar was wrong, and thatHitler was sendingGermans into battlesthey couldn't win.

For the next fewmonths, Karl and hisfriend Rudi would go toHelmuth's to listen tothat radio as often asthey could. Soon,though, listening wasn'tenough^—particularly forHelmuth. He wanted todo something. Hewanted all Germans toknow the truth.

So he hatched a holdplan: He hegan typingup leaflets that criticizedHitler, the Nazis, and the war."Hitler the Murderer!" read onepamphlet. "Do You Know You AreBeing Lied To?!" read another.Rudi, Karl, and Helmuth woulddrop these leaflets in puhlic placesaround Hamhurg.

It was this mission that hadhrought Karl onto the hlacked-outstreets of Hamhurg that night in1941. His joh was to distributethose leaflets throughout the city,to stuff them into mailboxes andleave them on park benches. Heexpected the Gestapo—theterrifying Nazi police—to jump outfrom the shadows at any moment.

But he made it home safely.Karl's mission had been a

success.

Swept UpKarl hadn't always despised the

Nazis. In fact, he used to he one ofthem. Like many Germans, he hadbeen swept up in the excitementwhen the Nazis first came to powerin 1933. He loved going to theconcerts given hy the military andpolice bands. The grand Nazispeeches impressed him.

Against his parents' wishes, Karljoined the Nazi club for boys calledfungvolk, or "Young Folk," in 1936.

He was 12 years old. His friendsHelmuth and Rudi also joined.

At first, Karl liked it. He got totake fun weekend trips to thecountryside to hike and camp. Onweeknights, he and the otherchildren memorized facts aboutHitler as well as the racist ideas ofNazism. Across Germany, millionsof children like Karl were beingtaught to hate.

The Games EndedTo Karl, the Jungvolk was mostly

fun and games. In 1938, when heturned 14, he graduated into theHitler Youth, the Nazi group that

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every "racially pure"teenage boy inGermany was expectedto join. Then the gamesended.

The Hitler Youth, aswell as the Jungvolkand the League ofGerman Girls, weretools the Nazis used toshape the beliefs,thoughts, and actionsof German youth. Boysin the Hitler Youthfired real guns. They wore militaryuniforms, fought pretend battles,and were assigned ranks. "Theyare training us to be soldiers,"Helmuth angrily said to Karlone day.

He was right.

In most German cities. HitlerYouth were organized into patrols,kind of like junior police squads.One of their jobs was to find outwho was disloyal and report themto the Gestapo—known for itscruelty. Occasionally kids reportedtheir own parents.

Karl soon grew to resent theHitler Youth. He stopped wearinghis uniform and began skippingmeetings. By the end of the year,Karl—to his relief—was expelled.He had escaped the Hitler Youth,but, as he would soon find out, hecould not escape the Nazis.

Caught!In the final months of 1941, the

boys stepped up their resistance.They became more confident andmore daring, churning out more

This 1930s Nazi posterreads "The German

student fights for theFührer and the people."What message does this

poster send?

than 40 differentpamphlets. Theypasted flyers onbulletin boards andeven dropped theminto the coat pocketsof high-ranking Naziofficials. Meanwhile,the Gestapo wasdesperately searchingfor those responsible.

The boys tookprecautions. Theystopped sitting

together at their church and madesure they were rarely seen togetherin public. They also made a pact: Ifone of them was caught, he wouldassimie full responsibility for theentire scheme,no matter what.

The Nazi

authorities soonclosed in, and onFebruary 5,1942,HelmuthHiibener wasarrested.

The Gestapo

torturedHelmuth for twodays. Theyrefused tobelieve that hehad acted alone.Finally, he brokedown andmentioned Karland Rudi. On themorning ofFebruary 10, theboys werearrested.

The first night in prison, Karlcried himself to sleep. What hadHelmuth told the Nazis? WouldRudi confess? What would happento their families?

For several weeks, Karl and Rudiwere held in separate cells,interrogated, and brutally beaten.At one point, as Karl was taken foryet another interrogation, hecaught a glimpse of Helmuth, hisface swollen and bruised. "As Ipassed him, he grinned a little,winked his eyes a bit," Karlremembered. In that moment, Karlknew in his heart that Helmuth hadkept the pact.

Indeed, Helmuth hadassumed all the blame. He

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told the Gestapo that Rudi andKarl knew about the leaflets butthat was all. He said nothingabout their nighttime missions.

Helmuth had saved theirlives.

The VerdictIn August 1942, the boys

stood before a judge to heartheir punishment. Karl's father,heartbroken, was the onlyfamily member at the trial.

Karl and Rudi weresentenced to hard labor in aprison camp. Helmuth wassentenced to death.

After the sentences were read,Helmuth stood and faced thejudges, his face calm. "Now I mustdie, even though I have committedno crime," he said. "So now it's myturn, but your turn will come."

Two months later, Helmuth wasbeheaded.

He was 17 years old.After the trial, Karl was shipped

off to a prison work camp. Life wasbrutal. He rarely had enough to eat,and he was often beaten. He longedfor his family.

After It AllIn the ñnal days of World War II,

Hitler committed suicide to avoid

"Now I must die,even though I

have committedno crime."

—Helmuth HQbener

capture. By the time the warended, 53 million people had beenkilled. Many Nazi leaders were puton trial and executed for theircrimes. Yet the end of the war wasnot the end of Karl's ordeal. Karlwas taken prisoner by the Russians,one of Germany's wartimeenemies. They did not believe thathe had been a résister.

It would be four more yearsbefore he was finally released.Sick and haggard, his years in

: the prison camps had robbedhim of his youth. Karl's parentswere overjoyed to be reunitedwith their son, but they couldnot deny that he had changed.Though his physical woundseventually healed, it would bemany years before hisemotional scars began to fade.

Karl eventually discovered away to live again and evenfound happiness. He and Rudimoved to America and spentthe rest of their lives in Salt

Lake City, Utah. They both gotmarried and raised families. Theygrew old together as dear friends.

And they never forgot Helmuth,their brave friend who believed sodeeply in the truth. Both Rudi andKarl wrote books about him.

In 1985, four decades after beingbranded as traitors, Karl and Rudiwere invited to Hamburg to attenda memorial for Helmuth. They weregiven medals of honor. "I am nota hero. Helmuth Hübener is myhero," Karl told author SusanCampbell Bartoletti, beforehis death in 2010. "I do not regretone thing. If we had to, I'd do itagain." •

CONTEST

T h e P o w e r o f I n f o r m a t i o n consider the role of information in Nazi Germany.How and why did the Nazis control information? How and why did Karl, Helmuth, and Rudi usaiinformation to fight the Nazis? Answer both questions in two to three well-organized ^^jmparagraphs. Use text evidence. Send your response to RESISTANCE CONTEST. Fivewinners will each receive Susan Campbell Bartoletti's incredible book The Boy WhoDared, a novel based on the life of Helmuth Hübener. See page 2 for details. ^ ^ ^ACnVITY

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