The Boys Who Challenged Hitler
This was the title of a recent book I'd read by Phillip Hoose (ISBN 9780374300227), a true story about on some teenage boys in Nazi-occupied Denmark, one European country that fell to the Germans with practically no resistance because the leadership -- and this is where it gets hazy -- saw the advantages to collaborating with their conquerors outweighing the disadvantages of getting shot or carted off to concentration camps as Austrians, Norwegians, French, and others were. The subtitle of this book, Knud Petersen and The Churchill Club, refers to a young man who with a group of his friends organized a resistance and sabotage effort and took the name for their collective efforts of someone (Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain) who would not back down from the Nazis. And Pedersen, who was in his late eighties by the time the author was able to interview him via email for this book. And the author keeps his "voice" to a minimum, letting Knud tell it.
Of course, there was some prison time involved as well.
But as the judges were Danish, the officers were Danish, even under Nazi occupation and especially with minors they were apt to be lenient in doling out prison terms. And while Knud and his friends were in prison, that's when the Danish resistance began springing up in earnest so by the time they were released there was a command structure and big-league activities were happening. Besides, I'm a sucker for anything even tangentially related to Winston Churchill -- who visited Denmark and had the members of the Churchill Club line up in parade review for him after World War II ended in Europe -- and the fact that many people seem to be thinking today we're headed for if not in a similar situation. But I approach that cautiously; I'm reminded of what he once said about anyone under thirty-five who isn't a liberal having no heart and anyone over thirty-five who isn't a conservative having no brains.
So what if you ARE thirty-five?
Here we are, end of January.
David
Of course, there was some prison time involved as well.
But as the judges were Danish, the officers were Danish, even under Nazi occupation and especially with minors they were apt to be lenient in doling out prison terms. And while Knud and his friends were in prison, that's when the Danish resistance began springing up in earnest so by the time they were released there was a command structure and big-league activities were happening. Besides, I'm a sucker for anything even tangentially related to Winston Churchill -- who visited Denmark and had the members of the Churchill Club line up in parade review for him after World War II ended in Europe -- and the fact that many people seem to be thinking today we're headed for if not in a similar situation. But I approach that cautiously; I'm reminded of what he once said about anyone under thirty-five who isn't a liberal having no heart and anyone over thirty-five who isn't a conservative having no brains.
So what if you ARE thirty-five?
Here we are, end of January.
David
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