Finding himself under Nazi rule in 1941, then-16-year-old Helmuth Hübener exemplified courage by choosing to oppose the Nazi regime and spread a series of anti-Nazi leaflets throughout Hamburg, Germany. These leaflets contained political commentary from Hübener, as well as transcriptions of Allied radio broadcasts.
“Do not allow your free will, the most precious thing you possess, to be taken away from you,” Hübener wrote in a 1941 leaflet. The teenager was executed in 1942 for “conspiracy to commit high treason.”
Now, 100 years after his birth, Church members, communities and individuals in Germany and around the world continue to honor Hübener’s legacy of faith and courage as a member of the Church and the youngest executed member of the German resistance to Nazism.
Hübener’s 100th birthday celebrations
Latter-day Saints and community members in Hamburg and Berlin, Germany, gathered Jan. 8 in events commemorating Hübener’s life and legacy on what would have been his 100th birthday.
In Hamburg, Stadtteilschule Helmuth Hübener, a secondary school named after Hübener, held an assembly in his honor. Students, teachers, parents and other guests filled the school’s auditorium to capacity, for speeches, presentations and musical performances that paid tribute to the school’s namesake.
Bianca Thies, the school’s principal, opened the assembly with a speech that highlighted Hübener’s historical significance and the relevance of his example.
“Helmuth Hübener showed that courage does not mean having no fear. It means doing the right thing despite fear. Let us take this lesson to heart — we owe it to him and to all those who have offered resistance amid great peril,” Thies said.
Among guests who participated was Alan Keele, a Brigham Young University emeritus professor of German studies. Having conducted extensive research on Hübener’s life, Keele spoke on behalf of a delegation from the Church, according to the Church’s Germany Newsroom. Recognizing Hübener’s courage, Keele said, “Helmuth Hübener was a human being who refused to be dehumanized.”
Also in Hamburg, Church members met in the morning to help transfer Hübener’s brick-sized memorial plaque to his actual last voluntary place of residence. According to the Church, the plaque forms part of the Stolperstein, an art project created by German sculptor Gunter Demnig that honors victims of the Nazi regime.
Later that evening, Church members and others in Hamburg participated in a guided tour of the permanent exhibition on Hübener at the Hamburg School of Administration. The Church reported that Hübener attended this school until his arrest in February 1942.
In Berlin, Church members met for a wreath-laying ceremony at the Gedenkstätte Plötzensee Memorial Wall. According to the Church, this memorial honors the more than 2,800 prisoners — among whom Hübener is counted — who were either hanged or beheaded at the former Berlin-Plötzensee prison between 1933 and 1945. Present at the ceremony were Daniel Fingerle, the Church’s country communications director in Germany; Hartmut Woite, high councilor in the Berlin Germany Stake; and Ralf Grünke, assistant area communications director in the Europe Central Area.
Hübener’s legacy of faith and courage
Growing up during the Nazi regime as a member of the Church in Hamburg, Germany, Hübener witnessed the wide range of opinions that existed among Church members.
Like their neighbors, many German Latter-day Saints joined and supported the Nazi Party, finding hope in its promises of economic stability and national pride. Others actively opposed the regime or chose to remain neutral.
According to the Church, Hübener’s branch president, Arthur Zander, was an active member of the Nazi Party. As such, he encouraged branch members to tune in to the party’s radio broadcasts, threatening to report members for any anti-government activities. In 1938, Zander prohibited Jews from entering the meetinghouse by placing a notice on the meetinghouse door.
Conversely, Otto Berndt, the Church’s district president in Hamburg, spoke against government policy, encouraging members to resist the regime.
In this setting, Hübener, who had initially participated in the local Jungvolk — a Nazi-organized group for younger children — came to reject Nazi ideologies.
“Come to my house tonight. I want you to hear something,” Hübener whispered to his friend Karl-Heinz Schnibbe according to “Saints, Volume 3.”
Having discovered a shortwave radio that his older brother Gerhard, a German soldier, had brought home from France, Hübener took the risk of inviting two of his friends from Church, Schnibbe and Rudolf Wobbe, to hear enemy radio broadcasts from the British Broadcasting Corp. during summer 1941.
“I’m convinced they’re telling the truth and we’re lying,” Hübener told Schnibbe. “Our news reports sound like a lot of boasting — a lot of propaganda.”
Using carbon paper and a couple of typewriters borrowed from the branch, Hübener began producing anti-Nazi leaflets relaying information from the forbidden broadcasts alongside his own commentary. With the help of Schnibbe, Wobbe and several other teenage acquaintances that he recruited, Hübener distributed leaflets throughout Hamburg over the course of 10 months. One of these teenagers was Gerhard Düwer, who worked as an apprentice with Hübener at the Hamburg Social Authority.
When a flyer found its way to the wrong hands in February 1942, Gestapo agents arrested Hübener, Wobbe, Schnibbe and Düwer on various charges, including “conspiracy to commit high treason.” On Aug. 11, 1942, the four were found guilty.
Hübener was the only one sentenced to death and was executed at 17 years old at the Berlin-Plötzensee prison on Oct. 27, 1942. The rest were sentenced to labor camps until the end of World War II.
Schnibbe later reported that Hübener’s last words to him were: “I hope you have a better life and a better Germany.”
“I will never forget that,” Schnibbe said. “That was so heartbreaking.”
While branch president Zander excommunicated Hübener from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after his arrest, Hübener was reinstated in the Church and received temple ordinances by proxy in 1948.
In the years following World War II, Hübener has been honored for his courage to oppose the Nazi regime. According to the Church, multiple schools and streets bear his name, and memorial exhibits have been established at a vocational school in Hamburg, the German Resistance Memorial in Berlin and the Gedenkstätte Plötzensee Memorial Wall in Berlin, where Hübener was executed.
Visiting the Plötzensee memorial wall in 2018, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles paid tribute to Hübener, saying: “Helmuth Hübener’s courage and willingness to stand for what is good will always serve as a reminder and an invitation to follow the teachings of Christ.”
Other political, social and religious groups have also honored Hübener’s legacy by hosting various celebrations on Jan. 8, his birthday, and Oct. 27, his execution date, since the 1940s.
Some minor changes have been made to this article regarding 1940s local Church leaders’ participation with Hübener and regarding the Nazi Party.
