Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s historical fiction novel, The Boy Who Dared, takes place in Germany, World War II, during Hitler's rule. Helmuth, the main character, believes in an idea that no one else dares to think. As a German believing that the Nazis are wrong can get Helmuth punished or even worse... And yet Helmuth chooses to share the truth. The lesson the story teaches is that sometimes the truth is dangerous. The first pieces of evidence state that the truth could hurt the people around you or the ones you care about. Helmuth risked his loved ones by trying to spread the truth about the horrors of the Nazis. In one part of the book, Karl was out passing pamphlets in the streets when he was stopped by two officers, the book reads, “The …show more content…
Throughout the book the society went against Helmuth, rather if they were just too afraid to help Helmuth or they down right wanted him stopped. The book’s, first, and biggest example of someone who wanted to stop Helmuth were the Nazis, Helmuth describes the Nazis, “I despise the Nazis. I hate the way they bully people. I hate the way they lie to us. And I hate them telling me what to think.” page 121. Helmuth learns about how the Nazis beat and kill those that want to spread the truth, and although it angers and scares him it still doesn’t stop him from spreading the truth. This leads to my next quote, on page 133, Brother Worbs returns beaten and broken. He tells Helmuth how he was taken and tortured, “The Nazis are monsters. How can they get away with torture?” At the beginning of the book, Brother Worbs prayed to god to rid of the Nazis and their horrible actions and now he is found broken and miserable, all because he decided to tell the truth. Certainly, it could be said, that Brother Worbs did the right thing even though there were punishments, while this is a good point, it fails to account for that it benefited no one. Even after Brother Worbs’s statement, the society didn’t change, instead, Brother Worbs was punished and almost killed. This was also the same with Helmuth, he died trying the do the right thing, and yet, most of the society decided to do nothing. So the Nazis continued to terrorize people for years until they were finally
The article “Teens Against Hitler” by Lauren Tarshis, describes the great challenges Ben, his family, and many other Jewish families faced over the rule of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis amid World War II. History Since the end of World War II in 1918 Germany had been struggling, and their community was in no condition for war (6). But, Hitler took power by tapping into those feelings, and declared that Germans were superior to everyone else (6). Adolf Hitler was plotting the annihilation of Europe’s 9.5 million
The article, “Teens Against Hitler”, by Lauren Tarshis, describes Ben Kamm, a Jewish boy, and his fight against war and the prejudice Nazis had for the Jewish people. The article describes, “One of the darkest and most evil chapters in history- the Holocaust.” Ben Kamm and his family lived in Warsaw, Poland in the 1920’s. “Germany had been struggling since 1918 when it was defeated in WW1.” Adolf Hitler was planning on annihilating all the Jews in Europe.
This specific piece of text evidence was quoted while the young child was being hung/killed. I feel like it really shows that if God stays silent, the evil could do whatver they wanted too. Another way evil could be brought to higher power, was the silence of people. I think the silence of the world empowers the Nazis, more than the silence of God. On page 32 it states, "How was it possible that men,women, and children were being burned and that the world kept silent?"
“How was it possible that men, women, and children were being burned and that the world kept silent? No. All this could not be real.” (32) Confinement consumed all that was not free. NO freedom to contact others for help and possibly a way out of this ghastly sector of Germany.
His initial inclination not to take them very seriously – a common attitude among their inexperienced opponents - helped the Nazi Regime gain power and worked against his own freedom. Even without supporting them, the regime gave him ‘permission’ to leave certain events, ‘orders’ to boycott certain businesses and if he merely refused to join in, was subjected to insults, humiliations and even physical violence, insinuating only an illusion of freedom in favor for total control. The only way to defend against the Nazis, at street level, was to adopt their violent tactics, or ‘howl with the wolves’ and fit into their new culture. Even though the Nazi party was his enemy, Haffner had no choice but to watch as they gained dominance in everyday lives. Haffner hides his doubts and disloyalty to appease the hoards of new German soldiers marching through his neighborhood, but is quick to duck down alleyways as they approach in order to avoid showing public loyalty.
Every life knows tragedy. While some tragedies may be greater than others, it is tragedy all the same. In his book Night, Elis Wiesel brings light to one of the most tragic events in our history The Holocaust. Wiesel describes his torturous treatment in the concentration camps, a place which stole everything from him: his home, his family, and even his faith in God. After seeing people tortured, gassed, and burned, Wiesel states, “my eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in the world without God, without man.
He knew he was dying and he wanted to confess to a crime he had committed to a Jew (Wiesenthal, 1998). Wiesenthal does not call him by his name in the book when he speaks or thinks of him; however, for the purpose of this book review his birth name will be used. He had grown up in a religious household, however, when he joined Hitler’s Youth that was the end of the significance of the church for Karl. His parents never accepted his decision, but dared not to speak against it. Karl spent much of their time
So in conclusion, this book is one of the most sad, dreadful books ever written during the Holocaust. Remember that Helmuth Huebener only wanted to speak the truth, but instead he got hurt just for speaking the truth. THE TRUTH! Helmuth always did have hope, even when the odds were turned against him. Helmuth Huebener died on October 27, 1942 because he was executed for, yet again, speaking the truth.
It’s difficult to imagine the way humans brutally humiliate other humans based on their faith, looks, or mentality but somehow it happens. On the novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel, he gives the reader a tour of World War Two through his own eyes , from the start of the ghettos all the way through the liberation of the prisoners of the concentration camps. This book has several themes that develop throughout its pages. There are three themes that outstand from all the rest, these themes are brutality, humiliation, and faith. They’re the three that give sense to the reading.
World War II Essay Number Four “I shall never forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams into ashes.” (Wiesel 34). Wiesel’s experience during the Holocaust shows the shocking side of the world through which no one had seen before. Wiesel’s book has impacted the world’s humanity to become better citizens with kindness. Within the historical nonfiction memoir, Night, by Ellie Wiesel, he shows his experience and suffering during the Holocaust, and the impacts of the Holocaust are still known to this day with continuous questioning of kindness and the existence of God on humanity Wiesel’s experience during the Holocaust was abject and brutal.
During WWII, Nazi Germany was a tumultuous and ideologically corrupted place. The Book Thief, a book by Marcus Zusak, tells the story of a foster child living in a small German town during the events of the Holocaust and the bombings. The book is classified as historical fiction, meaning that the characters and town did not actually exist, but the events, setting and details of the book are seated in historical fact. The portrayal of life in Nazi Germany as depicted in The Book Thief is accurate, specifically regarding the lives of children under Hitler, and the rallies, book burnings, and anti-semitic elitist ideology of the Nazi Party. The book may not be perfectly correct, but if nothing else, it precisely encompasses the general ideas of
At the beginning of the book, the fascist German army is beginning to advance. The people of Sighet surround themselves with a wall of delusion; they continually deny the reality of their situation. The first incident occurs when Moishe the Beadle relays the horrors of deportation. “‘They think I 'm mad,’ he whispered…” (Wiesel, 7)
The Nuremberg Trials began three years later after the most relevant Nazi authorities were convicted of war crimes for four judges, who took legal decisions that previewed sterilization policies and ethnic cleansing in Hitler 's Germany. Judgement at Nuremberg, based on the real Case Katzenberger, is a demonstration of the efforts of a judge at the tribunal to determine how the defendants, and even also the German themselves, could have been involved in the Holocaust’s atrocities. Judgment at Nuremberg is a representation of the first trial, that is mainly based on justice principles and international law, of the country leaders that pursued threatening battles and were involved in crimes against humanity. This film is an overview of real events that highlights the conflict between morality enclosing both the behaviour of the defendants and the process of providing them with justice (Teach With Movies, 2015). These processes offered the opportunity of enhancing the debate between positivism and natural law, highlighting that the position taken would have significant consequences
Helmuth had three main traits that led to his execution. He was unafraid, smart, and reckless. His constant lust for the truth and his ability to spread it continually prompted him to do reckless, and usually illegal things. He was smart when he used tactics in the court to get the blame mostly on him, thus saving his friends. This showed he was loyal to his friends and unafraid of death.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Hans Hubermann stood strong through moments of adversity. He stuck to his beliefs and personal opinions under the unrelenting reign of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. In The Book Thief Hans Hubermann displayed his morals, a comforting essence, and trustworthiness under horribly negative conditions. First off, Hans Hubermann kept to his own moral beliefs despite the ever-changing society that surrounded him.