A young man is going to be executed. He has been tried and convicted of being an enemy of the state. Beaten and tortured, he sits in his cold dark cell on this last day of his life, remembering the events that brought him to this moment. He is seventeen years old.
A year ago Helmuth Hubener was just a 16-year-old school boy swept up in the rousing patriotic excitement created by Adolph Hitler. Young Helmuth believed Hitler's promise to end
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the recession, unemployment, poverty, and bitter feeling of defeat that the Germans have endured since their defeat in World War I. Encouraged by his family and drawn to the flashy uniforms and shiny boots, Helmuth joined Hitler's Youth Group.
But flashy uniforms couldn't hide the truths Helmuth witnessed. People's rights were diminished by harsh laws, truth was censored, books were burned, and raging anti-Semitism
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