The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Introduction–Chapter 3

by Phillip Hoose
In 1940, a group of Danish teens formed a secret resistance group called the Churchill Club in order to oppose the Nazi regime. In this nonfiction account, Phillip Hoose traces the development and accomplishments of the club.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Introduction–Chapter 3, Chapters 4–8, Chapters 9–14, Chapter 15–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. complacent
    contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions
    The Churchill Club’s sabotage spree awakened the complacent nation.
  2. curator
    the custodian of a collection, as a museum or library
    The museum curator said a few of the boys — now old men — were still alive.
  3. warren
    a series of underground tunnels occupied by rabbits
    The library is a below-street-level warren of rooms, some of which contain hundreds of paintings, kept off the ground in wooden racks.
  4. protectorate
    a state or territory partly controlled by a stronger state
    German warplanes buzzed Denmark on April 9, 1940, dropping leaflets informing Danes that their nation had just become a “protectorate” of Germany.
  5. transpire
    come about, happen, or occur
    As these events transpired, fourteen-year-old Knud Pedersen, a lanky schoolboy growing up in the industrial city of Odense, Denmark, experienced deep emotions, some for the first time.
  6. terse
    brief and to the point
    A terse proclamation explained Denmark’s official position:
    The government has acted in the honest conviction that in so doing we have saved the country from an even worse fate.
  7. undue
    beyond normal limits
    Before its planes arrived on April 9, Germany had seemed no more than the neighborhood bully, a bordering country with twenty times Denmark’s population and an undue influence on Danish history and culture.
  8. mired
    entangled or hindered
    Germans were at work while many other nations were still mired in a worldwide economic depression.
  9. buffer
    a neutral zone between two rival powers
    Geographically, Denmark stood between Britain and Germany — a valuable buffer.
  10. exemplar
    a person or thing to be imitated; ideal model
    Many were blond and blue-eyed, exemplars of the “master race” Hitler believed in — the perfect people.
  11. saboteur
    a member of a clandestine subversive organization
    The RAF Club may have been the first saboteurs in Denmark to strike from bicycles, but they were far from the last.
  12. teeming
    abundantly filled with especially living things
    Aalborg, Denmark’s fourth-largest city, was teeming with German soldiers.
  13. placate
    cause to be more favorably inclined
    Norwegians were our brothers, we reminded each other, our good neighbors who had the courage to stand up. By contrast, our leaders traded with Germany and sought to placate the Nazis.
  14. profusely
    in very large amounts or quantities; extremely
    It was absurd: if you accidentally bumped into a German on the street, you were expected to strip the hat from your head, lower your eyes, and apologize profusely for disturbing a soldier of the master race.
  15. insignia
    a distinguishing mark or symbol
    We made up our own insignia that day, an imitation of the ridiculous Nazi swastika. Our tilted cross had arrows shooting out of the top of each arm, like thunderbolts.
Created on Sat Jan 04 12:00:05 EST 2020 (updated Thu Aug 07 17:31:21 EDT 2025)

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