When Truth Was Treason: German Youth Against Hitler: The Story of the Helmuth Hubener Group

Early in WWII, four Hamburg members of the Hitler Youth who became disillusioned with the Nazi regime began writing and distributing leaflets revealing the Allies' version of the war, which they heard while covertly listening to the BBC. For this they were interrogated, tortured and tried. Three of the boys received long prison sentences; the leader, Helmut Hubener, 17, was guillotined. Based largely on the recollections of one of the surviving conspirators, this compelling and well-documented study offers a detailed account of the motivations and actions of this resistance group. Included in the text are contents of the leaflets, Hubener's confession at Gestapo headquarters and letters from the boys' parents asking the court for leniency. There is also an informative foreword on Mormonism in Hitler's Germany, since three of the boys were members of the Latter-Day Saints church. The editors teach at Brigham Young University, Holmes history and Keele German. Photos. (Nov.)