# data[].attributes.body
Traitors can hide anywhere, and a traitor will never know who would rat them out or not. This theme connects to the book because Helmuth was a traitor and was constantly worried if someone would find out the crimes he was committing and if someone would report him to the Gestapo or the Nazis.

# data[].attributes.body
“Brother Worbs looks fearful… ‘To warm them up,’ he says. ‘Broke all my fingers’ ” (Bartoletti 133). In this quote, Brother Worbs shares what happened to him with the Nazis. This relates to the theme of not knowing who is a traitor and who will find out because Brother Worbs can be seen as an example of such because he was a traitor and a Nazis arrested him.

# data[].attributes.body
“Outside the flat, on the street, Helmuth watches as Karl and Rudi head down the street. The sky looks like gray wool, and that’s a good thing. The cloud cover will keep British bombers away. Helmuth heads in the opposite direction, down Luisenweg, leaflets tucked underneath his shirt” (Bartoletti 127). This quote shows how no one would ever know who committed a crime or who would report that they did such. Helmuth was committing a crime and he was afraid about Karl and Rudi being able to report him to the Nazis about what he was doing at such a time.

# data[].attributes.body
“Müssner looks at Helmuth, and when he speaks, his words sound underwater, too… ‘Have you anything to say?’ ” (Bartoletti 144-145). This quote shows how traitors can be anywhere because Düwer wanted to report Helmuth to the Gestapo, and first he acted like he would help him, but he betrayed Helmuth and told the Gestapo about what he did. Düwer was a traitor all along, but he hid so well that Helmuth couldn't tell.

# data[].attributes.body
The character Helmuth Hübener connects to the theme of traitors being able to hide anywhere because he was constantly breaking the German law and feared that someone would find out that he was listening to the radio Gerhard brought home and if someone found out that he wrote the fliers and brochures.  Helmuth was constantly aware of what he was doing and was extremely careful about how he executed whatever he planned to. He shared his information about the radio with coworkers, and his friends Karl and Rudi. One of his coworkers eventually reported Helmuth to the Nazis. Helmuth basically couldn’t trust anyone because of the fear of others finding out about his secret.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In the days after the Nazi electoral victories of July 1932, Adolf Hitler informed Joseph Goebbels that he intended to make Goebbels director of a new propaganda ministry when the Nazis took over the reins of national government. Goebbels soon envisioned an empire that would control schools, universities, film, radio, and propaganda. "The national education of the German people," he wrote, "will be placed in my hands."

Creating a Propaganda Ministry

Creating a Propaganda Ministry was a novel idea for a country at peace. Governmental propaganda organizations had tended to be temporary committees necessitated by war or disguised as ministries of information. Indeed, Goebbels initially opposed the term propaganda, recognizing that in popular usage, both in Germany and abroad, it was associated with lies.

Even after the ministry had been in existence for a year, he proposed changing its name to Ministry of Culture and Public Enlightenment, but Hitler vetoed this proposal. In addition, in keeping with his governing style of establishing ministries with overlapping responsibilities, Hitler retained propaganda offices that fell under others' control, including those of the ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Education. Even in the realm of culture and the arts, Goebbels's authority was far from absolute; Hitler, Nazi leader Hermann Göring, ideologue Alfred Rosenberg, and others created their own separate areas.

Control of Film, Radio, Theater, and the Press

Still, Goebbels wielded enormous influence. Film, radio, theater, and the press largely fell under Goebbels's jurisdiction (though he shared power over the press with the head of the Reich Press Chamber, Max Amann, the Nazi newspaper magnate, and after 1937 with Otto Dietrich, head of the Reich Press Office). Goebbels also continued as head of the party's propaganda apparatus that reached down to the local Nazi organizations. At the age of thirty-five, the youngest minister in the new cabinet, Goebbels became indispensable to the regime and to Adolf Hitler.

The Propaganda Ministry, through the Reich Press Chamber, assumed control over the Reich Association of the German Press, the guild that regulated entry into the profession. Under the new Editors Law of October 4, 1933, the association kept registries of "racially pure" editors and journalists, thus excluding Jews and those married to Jews from the profession.

Editors and journalists were expected to follow the mandates and instructions handed down by the ministry and had to be registered with the Reich Press Chamber to work in this field. Clause 14 of the law ordered editors to omit anything "calculated to weaken the strength of the Reich abroad or at home." The Propaganda Ministry aimed further to control the content of news and editorial pages through directives distributed in daily conferences in Berlin and transmitted through the party propaganda offices to regional or local papers. Detailed guidelines stated what stories could or could not be reported and how to report the news.

Journalists or editors who failed to follow these instructions could be fired or sent to a concentration camp. Reflecting in his diary on the press's loss of independence, Goebbels, a one-time journalist, wrote: "Any man who still has a residue of honor will be very careful not to become a journalist."

Within months of Hitler becoming chancellor, the Nazi regime destroyed the country's free press. It shut down hundreds of opposition newspapers, forcibly transferred Jewish-owned publishing houses to "Aryans," and secretly took over established periodicals. Daily directives from the Propaganda Ministry's Press Division dictated what could or what could not be published under punishment of reprimand, loss of position, or imprisonment. Oversight of radio, film, newsreels, theater, and music fell directly to the Propaganda Ministry, which used a combination of these media to sell Nazi ideology.

Author(s): United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the days after the Nazi electoral victories of July 1932, Adolf Hitler informed Joseph Goebbels that he intended to make Goebbels director of a new propaganda ministry when the Nazis took over the reins of national government. Goebbels soon envisioned an empire that would control schools, universities, film, radio, and propaganda.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Enter the Access ID and Passcode provided by your school to access Britannica School.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Enter the Access ID and Passcode provided by your school to access Britannica School.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
ARLINGTON, Va. - For many people, stories of the Holocaust and those who lived through it are part of a history lesson. But for some, those stories are more than a history lesson - it's their childhood.

As part of the national Days of Remembrance event commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, the Army National Guard recently hosted Elzbieta Strassburger, who lived through the Holocaust as a child.

Strassburger spoke of her experiences during World War II and how the war personally affected her and her family. For many in attendance, it gave a human face to the Holocaust though firsthand experiences of events that happened almost 70 years ago.

"On the first of September 1939, the Germans came," said Strassburger, who was barely a year old at the time. "They came from the west and the Russians came from the east and in 17 days (our life) was gone."

As a result of the invasion, her father went into the Polish army.

"He felt that he wanted to do things for his country," she said. "He was a physician, and he knew that he would be useful."

Strassburger and her mother wouldn't see him again until after the war.

"We lost track of him totally ... My mother was 27 when this happened. So, what does a young, 27-year-old woman with a child do? She went to her mother."
Grandmother's care
For more than two years, the infant and her mother lived with her grandmother in southern Poland. And despite the passage of close to 70 years, she still has vivid memories of her grandmother's house.

"I remember the carpeting," she said. "I remember the beautiful pictures, and I remember all the things she gave me and how good she was and how loving she was."

As a child, she had few clues as to why they were living with her grandmother.

"... we were in a place where there were seven people in one room and where there was no very good food and where people were dying. Though, I didn't know they were dying, I just knew they were going away, but they were dying."

During that time, she spent most days with her grandmother as her mother went to work in a tailor shop.

"It was up to my grandmother to take care of me, and she did. We would walk and we would talk."

And her grandmother gave instructions to Strassburger on what to do if anything were to happen.

"There was a gazebo in this place and I was told if I ever got scared or if anything happens I was to go into this gazebo and go under the stone benches."

The instructions turned out to be lifesaving.

"One day we were walking and my grandmother said 'Go under the benches'. There were these two huge Germans coming. And that was the last time I saw my grandmother. It was June 11, 1942. She was one of about 3,500 Jews taken to Belzec or Auschwitz, we don't know."
Catholic in disguise
Strassburger her mother then went to live with another woman and her two daughters. Her mother was able to purchase "Aryan papers," which gave them new, non-Jewish identities.

"My mother was a very savvy woman," she Strassburger, whose name had now been changed to Barbara and she went to a Catholic school and church.

"I didn't know I was Jewish, but the people in the house did. It was up to the younger daughter, who was probably 13, to take care of me and make sure I went to church every week, that I had my catechism and that I went to school with the sisters of Saint Ursula."

It was a time of relative happiness.

"I was very happy and I loved going to church," she said. "I was getting ready for my First Communion and I had everything down pat. I had my dress, I had my veil. It was a very exciting thing for a child."

As the war continued, the German army was defeated in Poland by the Russian army. During that time, many of those who had left started to return.

"Eventually, the husband of the woman we were staying with came back," she said. "My mother looked for anyone from her family, but nobody had survived - nobody."

Though the war was winding down, her mother decided they should move across the border and into then Czechoslovakia.

"Somehow she bribed somebody to put us in barrels of China. My mother was a pharmacist and she had gotten something to keep me asleep and we went over the border into Czechoslovakia. Then we went to Austria, and there was a displaced persons camp."
Revelation
Just before leaving for Czechoslovakia, her mother revealed that Barbara was not her real name and that they were Jewish.

"I said, 'What do you mean I'm Jewish? I don't want to be Jewish. I want to be Catholic. I want to have my First Communion. I was a little kid, so I didn't know anything about being Jewish."

They lived in several camps in Germany for about a year. She had started going to school and learning Hebrew and had made a number of friends when a medical commission came through the camp.

"My mother recognized one of the men who had been a friend of my father's. He said 'Oh my gosh, you're alive.' My mother said, 'yes, my daughter and I are, but my husband died.' And he said, 'No, no, no, he's in Italy.'"

Her father was someone she had only heard stories about as he went into the Polish army a year after her birth.

"My mother had always told me, 'I wish you could have seen your father. He was tall and had blonde hair and he had blue eyes and spoke 12 languages and he was so wonderful.'"

And when she finally met him, the meeting was somewhat different than she imagined.

"So, when I saw this man who looked like any other man, I was so upset. I had expected to see this man on top of a white horse with a sword after everything she had told me."

Though he didn't have a sword or a horse, he did have something else with him which she has kept to this day.

"This is my doll who is now 66 years old," she said, showing off the gift her father gave her. "This is what he had. I was eight and I hadn't had a doll. She used to talk, but after 66 years she got tired of talking."
Leaving the past behind in America
Soon after, the family emigrated first to England and then to the United States, where an aunt of her mother had moved in the 1920s. The aunt was the only family of either of her parents to survive the war.

"I should tell you that my grandmother was one of nine children. So, if you extrapolate and say each of them had two children that had two children, it comes to maybe a hundred people. We talk about 6 million (who died during the Holocaust) and you can't imagine 6 million people, but when it's a hundred of your own family you surely imagine it really well."

Though they had somehow survived the Holocaust, the Strassburgers and many other families put those events and experiences quickly behind them and started new lives.

"We didn't talk about the Holocaust at all. We didn't talk about the people who were dead at all. I think that part of it was that people were (thankful to have survived.) And nobody wanted to hear it. Why would you want to hear about blood and death?"

She went on to earn a master's degree in social work and work with troubled children. She also married and had two children of her own. After 50 years, she and her husband returned to Europe.
Revisiting the past
"In 1990, we went back to Poland and we saw Visha, who was the young woman who had taken care of me."

For Strassburger, it was an emotional meeting.

"At this point she is maybe in her 70s and I'm in my 50s. We're old. And I say to her, 'Visha, do you remember me?' And she looks at me and she said no, and I was so upset, because she looked the same to me. ... She's got grey hair, a little more poundage, but the face is the same. She's the same person. I tell her I'm Basha, which was my Polish name. And we start crying and we start hugging."

She learned a bit more about the events of her childhood.

"I asked how her mother could take us in. She told me that her mother always felt that everybody should be given a chance. Then she told me that there was another family on the same street who were found out and they were killed. Now, not just the Jews, not just the people in the family, everybody in the house. So, if you had gone there for a birthday party that means you're gone too."

It gave her a different perspective on her childhood.

"That made me feel how much this woman did for us, how much she risked. She had two daughters, and a husband who was away."

And for those in attendance, it brought to light one of the points of the presentation-that one person can make a difference.

"It's a remarkable story of the human spirit," said Army Master Sgt. Hervey Allen, from the Human Capital Management section at the Readiness Center. "And the lives that flourished before the Holocaust, struggled during the darkness of the Holocaust, and ultimately prevailed with the survivors after the Holocaust."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ARLINGTON, Va. - For many people, stories of the Holocaust and those who lived through it are part of a history lesson. But for some, those stories are more than a history lesson - it's their childhood.As part of the national Days of Remembrance event,

# data[].attributes.body
The Extraordinary Radio Law was a law that forbid Germans in Germany to listen to any other radio channels other that the ones that were Nazi approved. This historical event relates to the theme of traitors because Helmuth listened to the Radio Gerhard brought home, breaking the German law. Although he was very careful and precise when he was listening to the Radio, he was still breaking the law.

# data[].attributes.body
Kristallnacht was a time where Germans were harshly ruining Jewish businesses and buildings. This event was scarcely portrayed in the book, but we can see that Kristallnacht obviously occurred when Hugo went out of the house at night and into Hamburg with his “Nazi friends” to break the glass of Jewish buildings and raid them. This historical event connects to the theme of traitors because it was possible that there were traitors who were betraying the Fatherland and Hitler by trying to protect the Jewish businesses from destruction or taking Jews into their home to protect them. There were many betrayers of Hitler during the time of Kristallnacht.

# data[].attributes.body
Reichstag was a Parliament building in Berlin that was set on fire after Hitler became Chancellor. This historical event links to the theme because there were so many people during times of arson and war that tried to help the victims of these acts, and we can see Helmuth trying to help others to get on his side and to become safe.

# data[].attributes.body
The character Düwer plays a huge role in the theme because he was a traitor to Helmuth. Düwer was a colleague of Helmuth. Helmuth is friend with him and they both agree on how horrible the Nazis are and talk often. Helmuth starts making fliers and brochures, spreading them to everybody and getting more people to help him, but that just gives Düwer a perfect pathway to report him to the Gestapo, getting Helmuth, Karl, and Rudi in trouble. Düwer is considered a traitor because he betrayed Helmuth and got him involved with the German government. He hid from Helmuth and never told him directly, but he revealed himself while ratting out Helmuth.

# data[].attributes.body
Karl connects to the theme of traitors hiding anywhere and the fear that Helmuth and Karl had to go through about anyone finding out that they were the ones who were spreading the brochures was overflowing. Karl was trying to help Helmuth in any way possible because he agreed with Helmuth, but Helmuth was scared that Karl was a traitor to him and Karl must have been scared that he was a traitor to his country.

# data[].attributes.body
Bartoletti uses flash back in The Boy Who Dared by telling the most important parts of Helmuth’s life and shows Helmuth growing up. She shows how Helmuth and everyone he knew thought about Hitler and showed how most of their opinions changed, or stayed strong. I think Bartoletti chose this format because she wanted to add more depth to the story by starting the book with a child’s point of view. I think she also chose to use flashbacks and to use the present tense because she wanted the reader too be more engaged and suspenseful and the words in the present almost set back the reader and caused them to think about how a small, lovable, loyal child could go to jail. I think that this method was successful and she executed it well by changing the tense frequently but not sharing too much information.

# data[].attributes.body
Strassburger’s story relates to the theme because at a young age, she was forced to become Catholic to hide her Jewish religion from the Nazis. She was a traitor to her religion when she stated that she did not want to be Jewish after she was told she was not really Catholic. She was young and didn’t really understand what was happening, so she was considered a traitor to her religion.