Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Feb. 4, 1906 – April 9,
1945) was a Protestant Lutheran Pastor, theologian, and active in the German
resistance to the policies of Hitler and Nazism. Due to his opposition to the
Nazi regime, Bonhoeffer was arrested and executed at the Flossian concentration
camp, during the last month of the war. He remains an important symbol of
opposition to Hitler, and his views on Christianity increasingly influential.
Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau,
Germany, in 1906. His family were not religious but had a strong musical and
artistic heritage. From an early age, Bonhoeffer displayed great musical
talent, and the pursuit of music was important throughout his life. His family
were quite taken aback when, at the age of 14, he announced he wanted to train
and become a priest. In 1927, he graduated from the University of Berlin. He
gained a doctorate in theology for his influential thesis, Sanctorum Communio
(Communion of Saints.) After graduating, he spent time in Spain and America;
these gave him a wider outlook on life and helped him move from academic study
to a more practical interpretation of the Gospels. He was moved by the concept
of the Church’s involvement in social justice and protection of those who were
oppressed. His wide travels also encouraged a greater interest in ecumenism
(outreach to other churches). In 1931, he returned to Berlin and was ordained
as a priest, aged 25. The early 1930s were a period of great upheaval in
Germany, with the instability of Weimar Germany and the mass unemployment of
the Great Depression leading to the election of Adolf Hitler in 1933. While the
election of Hitler was widely welcomed by the German population, including
significant parts of the Church, Bonhoeffer was a firm opponent of Hitler’s
philosophy. Two days after Hitler’s election as Chancellor in Jan 1933,
Bonhoeffer made a radio broadcast criticising Hitler, and in particular the
danger of an idolatrous cult of the Fuhrer. His radio broadcast was cut off
mid-air.
In April 1933, Bonhoeffer raised opposition to
the persecution of Jews and argued that the Church had a responsibility to act
against this kind of policy. Bonhoeffer sought to organise the Protestant
Church to reject Nazi ideology from infiltrating the church. This led to a
breakaway church – The Confessing Church which Bonhoeffer helped form with
Martin Niemoller. The Confessing Church sought to stand in contrast to the
Nazi-supported, German Christian movement. However, in practice, it was
difficult to agree on bold initiatives to oppose the Nazification of society
and the church. Bonhoeffer felt disillusioned by the weakness of the church and
opposition, and in the autumn of 1933, he took a two-year appointment to a
German-speaking Protestant church in London. After two years in London, Bonhoeffer
returned to Berlin. He felt a call to return to his native country and share in
its struggles, despite the bleak outlook. Shortly after his return, one leader
of the Confessing Church was arrested and another fled to Switzerland;
Bonhoeffer had his authorization to teach revoked in 1936, after being
denounced as a pacifist and enemy of the state. As the Nazi control of the
country intensified, in 1937, the Confessing Church seminary was closed down by
Himmler. Over the next two years, Bonhoeffer travelled throughout Eastern
Germany, conducting seminaries in private to sympathetic students. During this
period, Bonhoeffer wrote extensively on subjects of theological interest. This
included ‘The Cost of Discipleship‘ a study on the Sermon on the Mount and
argued for greater spiritual discipline and practise to achieve ‘the costly
grace’. “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the
preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church
discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without
discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and
incarnate.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship) Worried by a fear
of being asked to take an oath to Hitler or be arrested, Bonhoeffer left
Germany for the United States in June 1939. After less than two years, he
returned to Germany because he felt guilty for seeking sanctuary and not having
the courage to practice what he preached. “I have come to the conclusion that I
made a mistake in coming to America. … Christians in Germany will have to face
the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their nation in order
that Christian civilization may survive or willing the victory of their nation
and thereby destroying civilization. I know which of these alternatives I must
choose but I cannot make that choice from security.”
On his return to Germany,
Bonhoeffer was denied the right to speak in public or publish any article.
However, he managed to join the Abwehr, the German military intelligence
agency. Before his visit to the US, Bonhoeffer had already made contacts with
some military officers who were opposed to Hitler. It was within the Abwehr
that the strongest opposition to Hitler occurred. Bonhoeffer was aware of
various assassination plots to kill Hitler. It was during the darkest hours of
the Second World War that he began to question his pacifism, as he saw the need
for violent opposition to a regime such as Hitler. Bonhoeffer struggled with
how to respond to the evil nature of the Nazi regime. “The great masquerade of
evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts. For evil to appear
disguised as light, charity, historical necessity or social justice is quite
bewildering to anyone brought up on our traditional ethical concepts, while for
the Christian who bases his life on the Bible, it merely confirms the
fundamental wickedness of evil.” Letters and Papers from Prison (1967; 1997)
When Visser’t Hooft, the General Secretary of The World Council of Churches,
asked him, “What do you pray for in these days?” Bonhoeffer replied: “If you
want to know the truth, I pray for the defeat of my nation.” Within the cover
of the Abwehr, Bonhoeffer, served as a messenger for the small German
resistance movement. He made contact with associates of the British government
– though the feelers of the German resistance were ignored as the Allies
pursued a policy of requiring ‘unconditional surrender.’ Within the Abwehr,
efforts were made to help some German Jews escape to neutral Switzerland. It
was Bonhoeffer’s involvement in this activity that led to his arrest in April
1943. As the Gestapo sought to take over the responsibilities of the Abwehr,
they uncovered Bonhoeffer’s involvement in escape plans. For a year and a half,
Bonhoeffer was imprisoned at Tegel Military prison. Here he continued his
writings such as ‘Ethics‘. Helped by
sympathetic guards, his writings were smuggled out. In his letters from prison,
Bonhoeffer reflected on the significance of his imprisonment: “There remains an
experience of incomparable value. We have for once learned to see the great
events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcasts, the
suspects, the maltreated — in short, from the perspective of those who suffer.
Mere waiting and looking on is not Christian behavior. Christians are called to
compassion and to action.” (Letters from Prison, p.16)
After the failed bomb plot of
July 20th, 1944, Bonhoeffer was moved to the Gestapo’s high-security prison,
before being transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp and finally
Flossenburg concentration camp.Even during the privations of the concentration
camp, Bonhoeffer retained a deep spirituality which was evident to other
prisoners. Bonhoeffer continued to minister his fellow prisoners. Payne Best, a
fellow inmate and officer of the British Army, wrote this observation of
Bonhoeffer. “Bonhoeffer was different, just quite calm and normal, seemingly
perfectly at his ease… his soul really shone in the dark desperation of our prison.
He was one of the very few men I have ever met to whom God was real and ever
close to him.”
On April 8th, 1945, Bonhoeffer
was given a cursory court martial and sentenced to death by hanging. Like many
of the conspirators, he was hung by wire, to prolong the death. He was executed
with fellow conspirators such as Admiral Wilhelm Canaris and Hans Oster. Just
before his execution, he asked a fellow inmate to relate a message to the
Bishop George Bell of Chichester ‘This is the end – for me the beginning of
life.’ The camp doctor who witnessed the execution of Bonhoeffer later wrote,
“I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer … kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I
was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so
certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a
short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed.
His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked
as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the
will of God.”
Theology of Bonhoeffer: “In following Jesus, people are released
from the hard yoke of their own laws to be under the gentle yoke of Jesus
Christ. … Jesus’ commandment never wishes to destroy life, but rather to
preserve, strengthen, and heal life.” Discipleship (1937) Because of its
fragmentary nature, his theology is open to different interpretations. However,
the central themes of his theology are: The responsibility of social action to
implement the ideals of the Gospels in the midst of life. Bonhoeffer also gave
greater importance to the central nature of Jesus Christ, and the
responsibility of Christians to imitate his life and teachings. In particular,
he sought to teach the necessity of striving for spiritual perfection and
forgiveness of sins. Bonhoeffer’s principled resistance to Hitler’s regime was
a source of inspiration for other figures such as Martin Luther King and
Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Bonhoeffer also shared many ideals with Mahatma Gandhi.
(In 1935 he turned down an opportunity to learn in Gandhi’s ashram)
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