What did The Boy Who Dared Dare to Do?

Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s book, The Boy Who Dared, opens with an obvious problem. The main character, seventeen year old, Helmuth Huebner, is awaiting his execution in a prison cell in Berlin, Germany, in 1942. Helmuth spends time in his prison cell reflecting on his childhood in Hamburg, Germany. It is through his flashback memories that the reader will learn the events that led to his imprisonment.

The first flashback Helmuth had was when he was three. He was walking with his mother, Mutti, and his half-brothers, Hans and Gerhard near where they live. They came across a German soldier who asked him if he wanted to be a soldier for the Fatherland. When Helmuth responded “Yes!” the reader gets the first sense that this may have been part of the reason he winds up in prison later. Helmuth was raised in the Mormon religion by his single mother, and lives next door to his grandparents, Oma and Opa, who also help care for him.

Hitler began his rise to power when Helmuth was a young boy. He listened to his mother who was in favor of Hitler’s rise, because she thought he would bring prosperity and relieve the depression Germany was in after the Great War. He also listened to his Grandfather, Opa, who was against Hitler because he was fearful of the “lunatic” that would bring war to their country. Helmuth was confused by his grandfather’s reasoning and wondered why Opa wasn’t in favor of someone who wanted to help Germany.

A later reflection Helmuth had was when he was in the fifth grade, and news broke that Hitler had been sworn in as the leader of the Reich. Helmuth recalled felling very patriotic toward helping his country and wanted to be a part of the parade to honor Hitler. His mother celebrated Hitler’s victory by cooking a special meal, but would not let Helmut go to the parade with his older brothers because she felt he was too young. Helmut laid in bed alone that night listening to the radio, “imagining the streets booming with Nazi storm troopers, hundreds of them…”(20) wishing he could have been a part of it.