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Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote theological books that have influenced multiple generations of pastors. He birthed the Confessing Church, and stood against the tyrannies of the Third Reich. The mighty accomplishments in his life are hard to quantify…and qualify.
But ironically, he is most remembered for his death.
Dietrich was born in Poland on February 4, 1906 along with a twin sister named Sabine. The Bonhoeffer family was a fairly impious – but affluent – one, and Dietrich would experience an outstanding education, both in Europe and in America. When he decided he would be a pastor, Dietrich’s older brothers discouraged his involvement in the “poor, feeble, boring” institution known as the church. Dietrich’s reply at the tender age of 14 foreshadowed the resolve he would show throughout his life: “If what you say is true, I shall reform it.”
The boy did, in fact, become a pastor. He served the Lutheran Church in Germany during its darkest days, those under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. Because of his anti-Hitler views, he was forbidden to speak in public, nor could he print any literature. Of course, these actions didn’t cease Bonhoeffer’s ministry or work.
But on April 6, 1943, he was arrested by the Gestapo for his alleged relationship to anti-war and anti-Hitler conspiracies. He was detained at Tegel Military Prison for a year and a half awaiting trial. After several moves, one of which was to Buchenwald, he arrived at Flossenbürg concentration camp.
On April 8, 1945, he was sentenced to death by hanging. The following morning, just three weeks before the Nazis capitulated to the Allied Powers, Bonhoeffer was stripped of his clothes and led to the gallows where a thin metal wire was slipped around his neck. The camp doctor overseeing Bonhoeffer that morning didn’t know who he was at the time, but later wrote:
On the morning of that day between five and six o’clock the prisoners were taken from their cells and the verdicts of the court martial read out to them. Through the half-open door in one room of the huts I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer, before taking off his prison garb, kneeling on the floor praying fervently to his God. I was most deeply moved by the way this unusually 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 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.
Bonhoeffer was a man of profound belief whose faith had been forged in some of the most horrific moments of the 20th Century. His comfort did not come from an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly one with an Eternal King who once claimed:
These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:8-10)
Because Jesus didn’t back down from death, neither did Dietrich. Because of his faithfulness “even to the point of death,” the One known as the First and the Last now has Rev. Bonhoeffer in His arms, comforted for all eternity.
That is the faith we need today.
Resource’s Origin:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A biography by Eberhard Bethge. Fortress Press, 2000, Page 927-928.
Topics Illustrated Include:
Death
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Execution
Faith
Faithful
God’s Will
History
Holocaust
Martyr
Pastor
Persecution
Taking a Stand
Witness
World War II
(Resource cataloged by David R Smith)
