Karl-Heinz Schnibbe (January 5, 1924 – May 9, 2010) was a

German Resistance to Nazism Many individuals and groups in Germany that were opposed to the Nazi Germany, Nazi regime engaged in active resistance, including assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler, attempts to remove Adolf Hitler from power by assassination or by overthro ...

member during World War II who, as a 17-year-old growing up in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1941, was an accomplice in a plan by three German teenagers, members of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS), to distribute information to the citizens of Germany on the evils of the Nazi regime during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Led by 16-year-old

Helmuth Hübener Helmuth Günther Guddat Hübener (8 January 1925 – 27 October 1942) was a German youth who was executed at age 17 by beheading for his opposition to the Nazi Germany, Nazi regime. He was the youngest person of the German resistance to Naz ...

, the three boys created, posted and distributed cards and pamphlets denouncing Hitler and the Nazi party. They were eventually caught by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

and, after repeated beatings, were convicted and sentenced. Hübener was executed, the youngest person to be sentenced to death for opposing the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, and Schnibbe was sentenced to five years in a labor camp. After the war and his release from a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

POW camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...

, Schnibbe emigrated to the United States in 1952, living in the

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

area until his death on May 9, 2010.

Early life

Schnibbe joined the

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...

at the age of twelve, against the wishes of his father, and was sworn in on April 20, 1936 (

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

's birthday). At first, he was entranced by the campfires and parades in which the Hitler Youth participated, but eventually grew weary of the constant pressure and conformity. He was expelled from the organization for punching his youth leader in the face, and was relieved that he had finally gotten out of the group's clutches. He later became active in

resistance during World War II Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation to propaganda, hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. In many countries, r ...

in 1941.

Resistance activities

Schnibbe and his friend

often listened to the German-language broadcast of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

on Hübener's

shortwave radio Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

. Listening to radio stations not approved by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

was illegal, but they were both intrigued by the differences in information that the legal German stations reported and the British newscasts. They both concluded that the German stations were spouting propaganda and withholding the real information from German citizens. Hübener decided that he had to do something about this, to inform the public that the Nazi Government was lying to them. He began typing up articles critical of the government and

. Though originally apprehensive of his friend's work, Schnibbe began helping Hübener's cause, along with 15-year-old Rudolf Wobbe, the third member of the teenage group, and started distributing flyers throughout the city of Hamburg. He constantly was on the lookout for the numerous Nazi informants that lurked in the city. The boys agreed that if one of them was captured, that boy would take full responsibility for the work and protect the other two. They distributed flyers for several months, putting them in mail boxes and dropping them in public places. The

began an investigation to find the authors, and they found out that Hübener was involved. They arrested him, and after days of torture and interrogation, he told them of his accomplices. However, Hübener said that he was the mastermind and only gave the flyers to them, and took all of the blame. This spared the lives of the two other boys from the death penalty, and Schnibbe and Wobbe were sentenced to ten years and five years imprisonment, respectively, while Hübener was executed by beheading.

Aftermath

Schnibbe was released from prison to serve in the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

before the end of

. After he was captured by advancing

forces, he was held as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

in a Soviet POW labour camp for four years. He eventually emigrated to the United States and lived in the

area. On 8 January 1985, Schnibbe and Wobbe were honored guests and speakers at ceremonies held in Hamburg by city officials to commemorate Hübener's death and their heroic resistance. The previous year, Schnibbe had written a book about his experience, ''The Price: The True Story of a Mormon Who Defied Hitler''. Later, in 1995, that book was substantially revised by Schnibbe himself, as well as co-authors Alan F. Keele and Blair R. Holmes, in a book entitled ''When Truth Was Treason'', (University of Illinois Press and Academic Research Foundation/Stratford Books of Provo, Utah). Schnibbe died from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

in a care facility in

Holladay, Utah Holladay is a city in central Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area and abuts the Wasatch National Forest. The population was 31,965 at the 2020 census, a significant increas ...

on May 9, 2010.

Media

The story of Schnibbe and his youthful comrades was documented in the 2003 film ''Truth & Conviction,'' written and directed by

Rick McFarland Rick McFarland (born July 1970) is an American film executive who served as executive producer at Cosmic Pictures and has been owner of fiftyfilms llc since July 2006. Early life McFarland was born in the city of Whittier, 12 miles southeast of L ...

and Matt Whitaker. The film was later released on DVD, sponsored by the BYU College of Humanities.

Early life

Resistance activities

Aftermath

Media

References

Further reading