Significant Passage from The Boys Who Challenged Hitler

 

            “Jens and I, and our closest friends, were totally ashamed of our government. At least the Norwegian victims had gone down in a country they could be proud of. Our small army had surrendered to German forces within a few hours on April 9. Now there was no armed, uniformed force to stand up for us. We were furious at our leaders. One thing had become very clear:  now any resistance in Denmark would have to come from ordinary citizens, not from trained soldiers.” (Hoose 18) This passage from the novel explains the motivation and passion of the Danish teens during the German occupation of Denmark. Knud and Jens Pedersen with their friends were reading about the Nazi’s destruction of Norway and how innocent Norwegians were shot in the back and killed while running away from the German soldiers. The boys listened to the BBC radio station late at night to get news about the Allies. They had hoped that British troops would come to rescue Denmark and Norway but the Allies were strapped down just keeping Germany out of Britain. Instead of sitting and waiting, the boys jumped into action. Knud and Jens Pedersen founded a youth resistance-the Churchill Club. This passage marks the idea of their plan. This passage is the hint of the theme throughout the novel that anyone even a teen can be an agent of change in the world. The Churchill Club ignited the Danish Resistance during World War II. It all started with acknowledging the wrong in the world and realizing that they were the only ones to save themselves and their country.

 

Bibliography

Hoose, Phillip. The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2015.