The Boy Who Dared Blog #2

So far, in the book The Boy Who Dared, Helmuth has contemplated his thoughts on how the Nazis were treating the Jewish people. This book has also left a lot of questions unanswered. Some of the questions left unanswered are able to be inferred, and some are not.

One unanswered question is why Helmuth is in jail. It has talked about how he is in jail, but it does not explain what he did to be put in jail. “On that bed, a thin, huddled figure, Helmuth, a boy of seventeen, lies awake. Shivering. Trembling. It’s a Tuesday. The executioner works on Tuesdays.” (p. 3, The Boy Who Dared). From this, and the back ground knowledge gained throughout the beginning of the book, we can infer that he might be in jail because he has questioned verbally what Hitler is doing, or he may have disobeyed an order. A question I have is what did Helmuth do to place him in jail. It sounds like he might have done something considered horrible in Germany. Also, we can guess that he is scared that he might be executed.

Another inference I can make from the text is that Helmuth might fight for Germany someday. In one of his flashbacks, he remembers when he was three years old and he was asked by a soldier if he would fight for Germany someday. He said that he would. It also talks about how he wanted to go to the parade celebrating Hitler being sworn in as the Chancellor. This shows that subconsciously he supported Hitler. “Soldiers like you. The praise squares Helmuth’s shoulders and he beams at the storm trooper.” (p. 16, The Boy Who Dared). Helmuth appreciated how the soldiers would say that he would make a good soldier. That is why I think that he might become a soldier for Germany someday. I wonder if he becomes a soldier, will he be a soldier for long. Since he is in jail, I think he must have defied his responsibilities as a soldier.