Helmuth Hübener by Thomas Macmichael https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid en-us 2023-05-08 18:20:38 UTC 2025-10-23 15:48:44 UTC hello@padlet.com thomasmacmic https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2584125573 At 17-years-old, Helmuth Hübener was the youngest person to be sentenced to death in the Special People's Court for resisting the Nazis. He grew up as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, otherwise known as Mormons.]]> 2023-05-09 16:51:14 UTC https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2584125573 thomasmacmic https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2584132922 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsYPY3C1KiA]]> 2023-05-09 16:56:31 UTC https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2584132922 thomasmacmic https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2584136391 Helmuth was 16 years old when he learned about the truth about the war through an illegal BBC broadcast. He could not believe how dramatically different the story was from the one he had been told to believe. ]]> 2023-05-09 16:59:06 UTC https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2584136391 thomasmacmic https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2584151398 Günter Grass, a German author who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1999, was deeply moved by Hubener's story. As a result, he referenced the tragedy in his novel Local Anaesthetic where a student distraught about the Vietnam war finds inspiration in Hubener's example. ]]> 2023-05-09 17:10:27 UTC https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2584151398 thomasmacmic https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2584256963 After learning the truth about the Nazi war, Helmuth soon started writing leaflets denouncing the Nazi propaganda and unmasking the lies. His friends, Rudi and Karl, as well as his co-worker Gerhard, would eventually join him and they worked together to spread the truth. ]]> 2023-05-09 18:30:46 UTC https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2584256963 thomasmacmic https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2585685942 For 10 months the boys would slip the leaflets into mailboxes, post them on bulletin boards, and drop them in crowded streets. But eventually Helmuth was caught writing the pamphlets by one of his co-workers and convicted for treason. The four boys were arrested in February 1942, and sent to the Special People's Court. ]]> 2023-05-10 15:18:03 UTC https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2585685942 thomasmacmic https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2585701588 On August 11, all four were found guilty, and Helmuth was sentenced to death for “conspiracy to commit high treason”. However, after hearing his sentence Helmuth faced the judges and boldly stated “You have sentenced me to death for telling the truth. My time is now — but your time will come!” He hoped his confrontational tactics would direct the judge's wrath towards himself and spare his companions. They received sentences of 4-10 years in the work camps.]]> 2023-05-10 15:28:37 UTC https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2585701588 thomasmacmic https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2585704633 In one leaflet Hübener wrote, “[The Führer] will send you by the thousands into the fires in order to finish the crime he started. By the thousands your wives and children will become widows and orphans. And for nothing!”]]> 2023-05-10 15:30:43 UTC https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2585704633 thomasmacmic https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2585729272 As he sat in his cold cell, deprived of bedding and subject to mistreatment, Helmuth wrote several letters to his friends and family. Only one of them survived the firebombing of Hamburg (translation from BCC):
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I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father that my miserable life will come to an end tonight — I could not bear it any longer anyway. My Father in Heaven knows that I have done nothing wrong. I am just sorry that I had to break the Word of Wisdom at my last hour. 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!

Your friend and brother in the Gospel,
Helmuth
]]> 2023-05-10 15:47:03 UTC https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2585729272 thomasmacmic https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2585760552 Hübener efforts have been memorialized as a heroic example of moral courage. His enlightened response to an unjustified war was not violence, or that opposite extreme which is just as detrimental — apathy — but, basically, peaceful education. By circulating leaflets and revealing the truth behind the war, Hübener and his three friends attempted to change society by legitimate and moral means, even though they were still criminalized by an unjust government. Although their efforts did not amount to much, his legacy stands as a testimony to the moral courage that youth are capable of.]]> 2023-05-10 16:08:31 UTC https://padlet.com/thomasmacmic/2kwlatxcdhnjnyid/wish/2585760552