Questions to Consider
While Contemplating
the Life and Work of Deitrich Bonhoeffer
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Some who seek to escape from taking a stand publicly find a place of refuge in a private virtuousness. Such a man does not steal. He does not commit murder. He does not commit adultery. Within the limits of his powers he does good. But in his voluntary renunciation of publicity he knows how to remain punctiliously within the permitted bounds which preserve him from involvement in conflict. He must be blind and deaf to the wrongs which surround him. It is only at the price of an act of self-deception that he can safeguard his private blamelessness against contamination through responsible action in the world. Whatever he may do, that which he omits to do will give him no peace. Either this disquiet will destroy him or he will become the most hypocritical of Pharisee. 1
The Nazis allowed Bonhoeffer to live for a full twelve years. He faced death by hanging only after it was ascertained that he had been involved in the assassination attempt on Hitler's life. As a well known Christian teacher and clergyman, Bonhoeffer spoke and wrote in opposition to Nazism without serious punishment; he was allowed to have the privilege of foreign travel, and was even caught facilitating the escape of Jews to Switzerland. Yes, for helping Jews he was indeed imprisoned -- but not executed.
Could the Christian Cross have proven to be more powerful than the Sword of the State? If all of the German denominations of the Christian Church with their national as well as international power and influence, had followed Dietrich Bonhoeffer's example, what would have been the result? What if all of the world's Christian churches had united in such opposition?
Bonhoeffer and the Nazis
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Dietrich Boenhoeffer was one of the few German clergyman who steadfastly resisted the Nazi regime from its very beginning, and he was ultimately executed because of his involvement with the Twentieth of July failed attempt to assassinate Hitler.
The destruction of the life of another may be undertaken only on the basis of an unconditional necessity; when this necessity is present, then the killing must be performed, no matter how numerous or how good the reasons which weigh against it. 2
It was on the Twentieth of July in 1944, at the military command post in East Prussia referred to as the Wolfsshanz (Wolf's Lair), that the final attempt was made on Hitler's life. A bomb was successfully carried into the room where Hitler was holding a war conference and it exploded with devastating results; however, the bomb's unfavorable placement allowed him to escape with only minor injuries.
Hitler's revenge came swiftly and was incredibly brutal. Some of those involved were shot on the spot and later, on the eighth of August, after a humiliating mock trial in a Nazi Volk court, eight of the leading conspirators, high ranking military officers including a field marshal and four generals, were hung. Following Hitler's instructions they were slowly hoisted by piano wire or very thin cord attached to a row of meat hooks. The walls of the room were white. There were floodlights. Their death agonies were caught on film - again at Hitler's orders.
Ultimately, thousands of others were arrested, many of whom
were brutally interrogated, often with threats being made against their
families. The interrogations ultimately resulted in the exposure of about
200 more conspirators; they too fell victim to the bloody justice of the volk
courts and were executed. After Dietrich Boenhoeffer was discovered to have
been one of the conspirators he was hung on April the 9th, 1945 - it was only
moments before the war's
ending.
Success is simply identified with good. This attitude is genuine and pardonable only in a state of intoxication. When sobriety returns it can be achieved only at the price of a deep inner untruthfulness and conscious self-deception. This brings with it an inward rottenness from which there is scarcely a possibility of recovery. 3
When Hitler came to power (January 30th 1933) Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a member of the theological faculty at the University of Berlin and had international standing as a youth leader within the Christian ecumenical movement. He was soon to be confronted and challenged by the spectacle of serious controversy within the German Evangelical Church provoked by the new government's racial doctrines, its persecution of Jews and its intention to unify all Protestant churches under Nazi Leadership.
Revitalized by Nazi victories, a Protestant ultra nationalist pro-Hitler faction -- the members of which referred to themselves as the "German Christians" -- was seeking to rebuild the church on Volkish (racial/nationalist) foundations. In November, 1933, the group rallied in force at the Berlin Sports Palace and introduced the so called "Aryan clause" as a qualification for church membership. By its terms the Protestant Christian church would be for "Aryans only," excluding anyone deemed to be non Aryan -- particularly Jews. Even those Jews who were baptized Christians were to be denied membership. By a show of hands, thousands voted their support. But apparently only "German Christians" were present at the rally as there was only one dissenting vote.
Though the "German
Christians" soon broke into sectarian fragments they continued to poison
Protestantism with streams of anti-Semitic propaganda directed toward removing
all Jewish influence over German religious life. Their stated purpose was to de-Juify
(Entjudung) German religious life; German Christians even proposed
eliminating the Old Testament from the Christian Bible.
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Yet our business now is
to replace our rusty swords with sharp ones. 4
By the Spring of 1933, in an essay on "The Church and the Jewish Question," Bonhoeffer had openly criticized the Nazi government's persecution of Jews. And when confronted by the anti-Semitism of the German Christians, particularly after they had publicized the Aryan clause, he joined Martin Niemoller and others in convoking a Synod at Barmen (in late May, 1934) which led to the formation of the "Confessing Church." The Confessing Church proclaimed its opposition to the growing state interference in church affairs, especially its blatant attempt to permeate the church with Nazi racial ideals and hatred of Jews.
Bonhoeffer's prominence as a founder of the new Confessing Church as well as his work with youth, resulted in his selection to organize and direct a new seminary at Finkenwald. However, by early 1936, the unity of the Confessing Church was breaking under the Nazi government's pressure. At the Synod of Bad Oeynhausen in February, substantial numbers of churchmen backed away from further confrontation. Some refused to condemn the persecution of Jews and even expressed their willingness to cooperate with the government.
Niemoller and others, including Bonhoeffer, continued to resist the
Nazi's interference in church affairs, but by the end of 1936 the numbers of
those who stood with them had been seriously reduced; they found themselves
relatively isolated even as the government took further steps to silence them.
Over the next four years Bonhoeffer was to face setback after setback. In the
Fall of 1937 the Gestapo closed the seminary at Finkenwald and arrested many of
his students. Nevertheless, unwilling to abandon this ministry, he traveled to
supervise those students who were illegally working in rural village parishes.
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Their is no clearer indication of the idolization of death than when a period claims to be building for eternity and yet life has no value in this period, or when big words are spoken of a new man, of a new world and of a new society which is to be ushered in, and yet all that is new is the destruction of life as we have it. 5
In January, 1938, Bonhoeffer was banned from the city of Berlin, and other events that year most certainly punctuated his disappointment. In March Hitler presided over the German annexation of Austria, the Anschluss -- and most of Germany's churches joined with the rest of the country in celebration. Then, as the year was ending, he was forced to stand by helplessly as the Nazis savagely attacked the Jews during the night of November 9th, 1938. This was the "Crystal Night," or the "Night of Broken Glass," It was a night of pillaging, burning property and murder. Over 800 shops were destroyed; more than 170 homes and nearly 200 synagogues set on fire. Over 70 of the synagogues were totally destroyed. At least 70 people were killed or seriously injured. Bonhoeffer inscribed the date, November 9, 1938, in his Bible next to Psalm 74, verses 8-10.
They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
Given Hitler's enormous popularity, Bonhoeffer's hopeful attempt to use the church as a non-violent instrument of change was surely an exercise in futility. Thus he was receptive when his brother in law, Hans von Dohnanyi, introduced him to the German resistance movement which was dedicated to Hitler's overthrow. And in early 1939 Bonhoeffer began to attend its meetings. Doubtlessly reinforcing his turn toward political resistance, on September1st, Hitler ordered the unprovoked German attack on Poland which marked the outset of the Second World War. [ Back To Top ]
Strength is disastrously confused with weakness and historical continuity with decadence. The absence of anything lasting means the collapse of the foundation of historical life, confidence, in all its forms. Since there is no confidence in truth, the place of truth is usurped by sophistic propaganda. Since there is no confidence in justice, whatever is useful is declared to be just. And even the tacit confidence in one's fellow man, which rests on the certainty of permanence and constancy, is now superseded by suspicion and an hour-to-hour watch on ones neighbour.6
As the war expanded and intensified the government took steps to completely terminate Bonhoeffer's influence as a religious leader: in September, 1940 he was forbidden from public speaking; then in the Spring of 1941 he was banned from publishing. In October, his open Christian ministry blocked, Bonhoeffer found employment as an agent for the Abwehr, (the Department of Military Intelligence). This was certainly a most significant step as under Adm. William Canaris the Abwehr was a center of the resistance.
As an agent of the Abwehr conspirators, Bonhoeffer flew to Sweden to propose a negotiated settlement to end the war. Needless to say, this course of action was doomed to failure as Hitler survived all assassination attempts and the Allies refused to negotiate any settlement short of unconditional surrender. Bonhoeffer also became involved in the work of helping Jews to escape into Switzerland and afterwards sending support money to them. It was Bonhoeffer's misfortune that some of this money was traced back to him. On April 5th 1943, he was arrested and brought to the Tegel Interrogation Prison in Berlin where he was charged with having helped Jews to escape and also with other crimes against the state including that of having abused his privilege as an employee of the Abwehr. [ Back To Top ]
The Church [must] confess that she has witnessed the lawless application of brutal force, the physical and spiritual suffering of countless innocent people, oppression, hatred and murder, and that she has not raised her voice on behalf of the victims and has not found ways to hasten to their aid. She is guilty of the deaths of the weakest and most defenseless brothers of Jesus Christ. 7
Until the evidence was revealed during the brutal
interrogations following the Twentieth of July 1944 assassination attempt, the
Nazis apparently never suspected that Bonhoeffer, even when faced with the
horror of German atrocities, would abandon the devout Pacifism that had marked
his life and writings. When they discovered that he had been a participant in
the plot to kill Hitler the reaction was swift and certain. Bonhoeffer was
removed to the concentration camp at Flossenburg where he was murdered by
hanging on the 9th of April, 1945.
-- PNB '00 --
Notes:
--------------------------
1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Ethics, Translated from the German Ethik.
New York: Touchstone, 1995, p. 69.
2. Ethics, p. 159.
3. Ibid., p. 78.
4. Ibid., p. 70.
5. Ibid., p. 80.
6. Ibid., p. 108.
7. Ibid., p. 114.
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