The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Chapters 9–14

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. dissuade
    turn away from by persuasion
    I told Børge our strike was much more important than biking out to Nibe to quench some boy’s bloodlust. But Børge had his mind made up. I didn’t waste time trying to dissuade him.
  2. docile
    easily handled or managed
    This would wake up the docile Danes.
  3. clamor
    a loud, harsh, or strident noise
    The yard, lit with floodlights, screeched with the clamor of groaning engines and banging doors and wheels scraping on iron rails.
  4. sentry
    a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event
    One of us would remain on the path as a sentry, chatting with the guards if necessary, clanging an alarm on a metal fence post if something went wrong.
  5. fuselage
    the central body of an airplane holding crew and passengers
    It was full of airplane wings! Better still, there were paper drawings showing how to attach the wings to the fuselage of a plane.
  6. brandish
    exhibit aggressively
    Brandishing their pistols, the Germans shouted at them to move, but it was obvious that the firemen were stalling to let the fire take hold and damage the Third Reich’s treasure.
  7. reprove
    reprimand, scold, or express dissatisfaction with
    Jens and I didn’t expect that our parents would reprove or punish us for what we had done.
  8. berate
    censure severely or angrily
    For almost a semester now he had yelled at Knud, berating him as lazy, calling him inept in front of the other students.
  9. unconscionable
    lacking a sense of right conduct
    One Aalborg newspaper columnist lashed the boys for “foolish acts against foreign troops....They are not heroes, but fools and rascals who, through their irresponsible and unconscionable behavior, are guilty of crimes that put our city and our country in further danger....They should be whipped until they learn to realize this.”
  10. ire
    anger; irritability
    His plays Han Sidder ved Smeltediglen (He Sits by the Melting Pot) and Niels Ebbesen were direct, powerful attacks on Nazism that aroused Hitler’s ire.
  11. subsequently
    happening at a time later than another time
    The author was arrested and subsequently assassinated by the Gestapo on January 4, 1944.
  12. consul
    a diplomat appointed to protect a government's interests
    You better remember that the German consul in Aalborg will report straight to Berlin. Hitler will hear about this!
  13. inept
    revealing lack of perceptiveness or judgment or finesse
    Gertrud soon brought us a letter from Preben that said, basically, “You guys are out of your minds. I’ll have nothing to do with this idiocy. If you persist in this inept escape fantasy, I myself will turn you over to the police to save your lives. I’ll think of something when the time is right. Sit tight.”
  14. supple
    moving and bending with ease
    Inside was a hacksaw blade, about fourteen inches long. By the time a guard asked to see the magazine, Alf had already concealed the sharp, supple blade, dropping it into a hole in his jacket pocket that he had cut the week before when Tage told him to expect the tool.
  15. elation
    a feeling of joy and pride
    The first-night shock of seeing the boys at the front door soon gave way to elation — and scheming.
Created on Sat Jan 04 12:07:04 EST 2020 (updated Thu Aug 07 17:48:27 EDT 2025)

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