Hitler’s takeover of the German Evangelical Church was resisted by a small number of dissenting pastors like Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945). Dietrich challenged his pastoral colleagues to stand for Christ and not succumb to Hitler’s fear tactics. The seminary Dietrich led was closed by the Gestapo in 1937. A year later, German pastors were ordered to swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler. Dietrich’s friends helped him flee to America in 1939.
After two weeks in New York, he announced to the seminary sponsoring him, “I have come to the conclusion that I made a mistake in coming to America. I must live through this difficult period of our national history with the Christian people of Germany. I have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people.” He returned to Germany on the last scheduled steamer to cross the Atlantic.
Dietrich was forbidden to speak in public and ostensibly went to work for German Military Intelligence. In reality, he continued his resistance work against the Nazis and was arrested in 1943. He wrote a letter from prison that he never regretted his decision to return to Germany. “You must never doubt that I’m traveling with gratitude and cheerfulness along the road where I’m being led,” he wrote. “My past life is brimful of God’s goodness, and my sins are covered by the forgiving love of Christ crucified.”
Just eleven days before Allied forces liberated Europe in 1945, Bonhoeffer was executed. Had he stayed in New York, America might have gained a theologian, but our world would have lost a martyr for peace and justice. Martin Luther said, “To go against conscience is neither right nor safe.” Dietrich was a man of conscience. A book compiled after his death, Letters and Prayers from Prison, includes this prayer: