Helmuth Hübener and Humanity’s Endless Reenactments

Editor's Note:

The story of Helmuth Hübener reminds us that true intelligence is not measured by IQ, but by courage — the courage to feel, to think for oneself, and to resist lies and propaganda even when the world demands silence. Humanity’s tragedy is not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of emotional truth.

---

Helmuth Hübener and Humanity’s Endless Reenactments

When I think of Helmuth Hübener, the sixteen-year-old boy who dared to expose the lies of the Nazi regime, my heart aches. He was executed in 1942 for speaking the truth, while so many adults around him obeyed blindly. In 2025, humanity should have broken free from such cruelty—but we continue to repeat it, only in more sophisticated ways.

We live in an age where humans can split atoms, map galaxies, and send machines into space, yet still cannot split their egos to face their own emotional truth. Many possess high IQs but dangerously low EQs. They understand the laws of physics but remain ignorant of the laws of psychology—the laws that govern the human soul.

We celebrate intelligence that conquers the external world but neglect the courage required to conquer the inner world—to feel, to grieve, and to see through the lies we inherited in childhood. Without that emotional awakening, history keeps reenacting itself like a broken record. The tragedy of Helmuth Hübener is not only a story from the past—it’s the mirror of our present.

As Alice Miller wrote:

“If we hate hypocrisy, insincerity, and mendacity, then we grant ourselves the right to fight them wherever we can, or to withdraw from people who only trust in lies. But if we pretend that we are impervious to these things, then we are betraying ourselves.”
—Alice Miller, Free from Lies, p. 55

And she reminds us of what could save the future:

“Children who are told the truth and are not brought up to tolerate lies and cruelty can develop as freely as a plant whose roots have not been attacked by pests (in our case, lies).”
—Alice Miller

Helmuth was such a child—a truth-seeker born in a world addicted to lies. Humanity will only break free when more people find the courage he had: the courage to think, feel, and speak truth even when surrounded by denial.