Bonhoeffer - pt. 1

"True Patriotism" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer is mainly a collection of letters Dr. Bonhoeffer has written during WWII. He was a German pastor, who remained faithful to Christ, and encouraged others to do the same.

He also recognized the evil inherent in the Nazi regime and actively sought to overthrow it. He helped smuggle 7 Jews into Switzerland, which resulted in his arrest and subsequent execution.

He was involved in the underground resistance, and went so far as to draft a detailed plan to ensure the continuation of a stable and free Germany in the event of a successful coup d'etat.

Many of the details in the personal letters (often to conscripted pastors) are touching, surprising, and put a personal face on the individual Germans who were conscripted to fight in the German war effort.

Some excerpts that stood out:

-"One of you writes in some distress that he can only be a soldier among soldiers and that in so doing he is trying to remain a Christian, but that he has no strength for more than this."(p.59)

-"I find Konigsberg to be a town in which a man can live well, unlike Stettin. But behind everything that one sees stands the spectre of other events" (Stettin was where "the Jews first began that ghastly episode of transportation.") -p.63

-"With regard to the attitude to the war, it is generally recognized among believing Christians that a victory of their (German) government will have the most fateful consequences for the Church in their own country as well as in other countries. On the other hand, they consider that a defeat of their country would probably mean its end as a nation. thus many have come to believe that whatever the outcome of it all will be, it will be an evil thing for them. One hears, however, also voices which say that after all the suffering which their country has brought upon others, they almost hope for an opportunity to pay the price by suffering themselves." -p.98-9

- [Included in a September 1941 letter proposing sedition against Germany, including naming likely leaders in a provisional government was the following statement. The group referred to is a small international body of Christians participating in the conspiracy and who are looking ahead to the post-war rebuilding period]
"Those who are conscious of their membership in this fellowship are as yet a small group, but they are nevertheless not unimportant, because they are practically the only international community which remains united in spite of war and conflict." -p.110

-[later in the same letter] "The deepest reason for the moral confusion in Germany, and to some extent in Europe as a whole, is not merely the opposition against Christian ethical convictions (for this by itself might have created clear fronts rather than 'chaos'), but rather the ability of National Socialism to present its injustice as the true justice. The railway wagon of Compiegne is as it were the symbol of this masking of injustice. There was just enough relative justice in some of Germany's claims to make it possible for Hitler to present himself as a prophet who came to re-establish justice. This is the main source of the present moral confusion. And it should not be forgotten that, by making concessions to Hitler which had been refused to his predecessors, the statesmen of other nations became the supporters of Hitler against the opposition groups in Germany. In this way it is explicable that it has become increasingly difficult for the German nation to understand the true character of the regime, and that relatively few have remained unshaken in their own conviction that it represented Satan masquerading as an angel of light." (p.111-2)

-[same letter again] The Anglo-Saxon world summarizes the struggle against the omnipotence of the State in the word 'freedom'. And Paton gives us a charter of human 'rights and liberties' which are to provide the norm of action by the State. but these expressions must, as Paton indicates, 'be translated into terms which relate them more closely to the life of other peoples'. For freedom is too negative a word to be used in a situation where all order has been destroyed. And liberties are not enough when men seek first of all for some minimum security. These words remind too much of the old liberalism which because of its failures is itself largely responsible for the development towards State absolutism." (p.113)

- "Apart from these brothers, who were particularly close to us throught our work together, others have been killed: [lists 5, with details about their lives before adding] Some of you will remember from my confirmation class Hans Friedrich von Kleist-Retzow and his brother Jurgen Christoph from Stettin. Both were killed in the east. An open copy of the New Testament was found beside Hans Friedrich."-(p.124)

- [speaking after encouraging friends and ministers in military service to find comfort by turning their thoughts to some great biblical truths]
Dear brothers, it may be that you now have little time or inclination for such thoughts. There are times in which all reality is so mysterious and oppresses us so much that any direct word seems to destroy the mystery of God for us, that we speak about and would like to hear about the last things only in hints. Everything that we can say about our belief then seems so flat and empty against the reality which we experience and behind which we believe there is an unspeakable mystery. It is the same with those of you at the front as it is with us at home: whateve is uttered vanishes in a flash, all formulas no longer make contact with reality. There can be something very real in all this, as long as one word does not vanish within us, namely the name of Jesus Christ. this name remains a word, the word around which we gather all our words. In this word alone lies clarity and strength. -(p.125-6)

- [In October 1941, writing to the president of the Federation of Swiss Churches, begging to allow even some Jews asylum]
"It is a question of the extreme distress in which many of our non-Aryan brothers and sisters have been in for some weeks... Since the middle of October the practice has been started of transporting to the east non-Aryans from Berlin and other towns. The whole matter confronts the Christian Churches with questions and needs in the face of which we are almost entirely helpless." -(p.131-2)

- "I have been struck, by reading about it in so many letters from the front, how the Bible, and even meditation, go with you right into the shell craters." -(p.130)

- Gerard Vibrans was hit by a flying-bomb just as he was about to join companions in singing from the New Hymnal. Anyone who knew this pure, selfless brother..." -(p.164-5)

There will likely be more thoughts to jot down as I am just getting to his time as a prisoner.

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