Biographical History

Helmuth Hübener (1925-1942) was the youngest person to be sentenced to death for opposition to the Nazi regime of the Third Reich.

Helmuth Günther Guddat Hübener was born January 8, 1925, in Hamburg, Germany. He and some of his family belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His adoptive father was a Nazi sympather. Hübener was an active member of the Boy Scouts, but the organization was banned in 1935 by the National Socialists. He was then required to join the Hitler Youth, but quit after Kristallnacht. When one of the religious leaders of his congregation decided to ban Jews from attending worship services, Hübener found himself disagreeing with the new policy although he still attended church. After completing middle school in 1941, he began an apprenticeship at the Hamburg Social Authority. There he made friends and expanded his social circle. One such acquaintance was a Communist and listened to enemy radio broadcasts. Hübener began listening on his own, then began creating and distributing antiwar and anti-Nazi pamphlets with his friends. On February 5, 1942, Hübener was arrested by the Gestapo. He had been noticed by a Nazi sympathizing coworker while trying to translate the pamphlets into French for distribution among prisoners of war. On August 11, 1942, at the age of 17, he was tried before the Special People's Court in Berlin as an adult. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit treason and sentenced to death. Hübener was beheaded by guillotine in the execution room at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin on October 27, 1942. Ten days after his arrest in February of 1942, Latter-day Saint branch president and Nazi sympathizer Arthur Zander claimed to have excommunicated Hübener for his anti-Nazi beliefs. In 1946, at the end of the war, Hübener was posthumously reinstated into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by mission president Max Zimmer as the excommunication was not carried through with the proper authorities. He was also posthumously endowed in 1948.

Citation:

Wikipedia.com, via WWW, June 30, 2021 (b. Jan 8, 1925, Hamburg, Germany; d. Oct 27, 1942. Helmuth Günther Guddat Hübener; Hemuth and some of his family belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. His adoptive father was a Nazi sympather. Hübener was an active member of the Boy Scouts, but the organization was banned in 1935 by the National Socialists. He was then required to join the Hitler Youth, but quit after Kristallnacht. When one of the religious leaders of his congregation decided to ban Jews from attending worship services, Hübener found himself disagreeing with the new policy although he still attended church. After completing middle school in 1941, he began an apprenticeship at the Hamburg Social Authority; made friends and expanded his social circle. One acquaintance was a Communist and listened to enemy radio broadcasts. Hübener began listening on his own, then began creating and distributing antiwar and anti-Nazi pamphlets with his friends. On February 5, 1942, Hübener was arrested by the Gestapo. He had been noticed by a Nazi sympathizing coworker while trying to translate the pamphlets into French for distribution among prisoners of war. On August 11, 1942, at the age of 17, he was tried before the Special People's Court in Berlin as an adult; found guilty of conspiracy to commit treason and sentenced to death. Beheaded by guillotine in the execution room at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin on October 27, 1942. Ten days after his arrest, Latter-day Saint branch president and Nazi sympathizer Arthur Zander claimed to have excommunicated Hübener for his anti-Nazi beliefs. In 1946, at the end of the war, Hübener was posthumously reinstated into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by mission president Max Zimmer as the excommunication was not carried through with the proper authorities; posthumously endowed in 1948.)

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