[Looking at history and our area’s unique political and religious attitudes.]

Dietrich Bonhoeffer. What sense does the name evoke? Who is he? Do you know his family?

Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) with a twin sister Sabine. Their father was a professor of neurology and psychiatry, who opposed the Fuehrer’s euthanasia program of those he thought unsuited to live. Disturbingly, the program was endorsed by the medical community and became a precursor to the extermination camps.

Bonhoeffer decided at fourteen to be a theologian and had his doctorate by twenty-one. Young Dr. Dietrich spent a year as an assistant pastor in Spain, before another year as a post-graduate student to Union Theological Seminary in New York.

In an interesting juxtaposition, the German intellectual from a culture who thought African heritage was inferior, became friends with a collegian Frank Fisher, who introduced him to Abyssinian (Ethiopian) Baptist Church in Harlem. The Church, originally established in 1808, exposed him to social injustice, racial inequality, but Christian brotherhood. He later attributed this experience to his becoming radically changed as a devout Christian.

When Bonhoeffer returned home in 1931, the fatherland had succumbed to the influence of a charismatic politician, with no particular experience or skills. The economy and society were still in shambles, little more than a decade after defeat in World War I.

The National Socialist party pandered to churches with its Article 24 on positive Christianity. “We demand the freedom of all religious confessions in the state, insofar as they do not jeopardize the state’s existence or conflict with the manners and moral sentiments of the Germanic race. The Party as such upholds the point of view of a positive Christianity without tying itself confessionally to any one confession. It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit at home and abroad and is convinced that a permanent recovery of our people can only be achieved from within on the basis of the common good before individual good.”

German Evangelical Church, an ecumenical community of the three traditions of Lutheran, Reformed, and United was the largest Protestant affiliation. The group largely embraced the National Socialist rise to power. Two days after the Chancellor was installed, Dr. Bonhoeffer gave an opposing radio address which was cut-off the air.

Opposing the anti-Semitism of the church and government, a very few leaders spoke up. Karl Barth, a Swiss academic and leading proponent of conservative theology, wrote the Barmen Confession. He was deported back to Switzerland. His younger colleague, Bonhoeffer, was an outspoken critic. Dietrich’s brother-in-law, Hans von Dohnanyi, who was a Supreme Court Justice, arranged an appointment for Bonhoeffer in Abwehr, the Military Intelligence Service of spies. Under Admiral Canaris, the office was the center of German military resistance.

The position allowed Bonhoeffer to travel and to help Jews escape. He and his brother-in-law were arrested in April 1943. The Abwehr tried a coup on 20 July1944, to rescue the government from the National Socialists.

Bonhoeffer, it was found, supported the plot. The young intellectual was moved to the Gestapo prison, then to Buchenwald, finally to Flossenburg concentration camp, where he was hanged with Admiral Canaris, three generals, and two judges on 9 April 1945 via express orders of the Fuehrer. Four of the highly educated group had doctorate degrees.

His judge brother-in-law Hans was executed at Sachsenhausen. His attorney brother Klaus and his attorney brother-in-law Rüdiger Schleicher were executed by firing squad for resistance on 23 April 1945. Another brother-in-law, Justus Delbrück, was in the Abwehr, but survived the war to die at the hands of the Soviets.

The German dictator ostensibly committed suicide on 30 April 1945. The war was over on 8 May 1945.

But we are ahead of the story. Dietrich was engaged to be married before prison. While in prison, he wrote an extensive compilation of how to live an effective life and the role of Christianity in a secular world, which she helped smuggle out. He was a pastor, academic, dissident, double agent, and martyr, as was his family. Was his life effective? He is still studied eight decades after his passing.

Look at then and now. The dominant church was largely silent, turned it’s head from government activity, and did little to protect the Jews in World War II Germany. There are obvious parallels with the protection of unborn children. Is there a difference?

Dr. Bonhoeffer and the Fuehrer both died in April 1945. Can you imagine what each heard, one moment later?

Few of us have the cape or powers to be super-heroes, but we are all expected to use our talent (opportunity) when it is available. Voting is one opportunity you have. Not voting is hiding under a bushel.

To not vote is a vote. Then to wonder why there is so much negativity and evil, because it is allowed by non-voters and those constrained to their old practices. How you vote matters. Do the homework, seriously.

Think about it. In voting, you are not selecting a pope, priest, or preacher. You are selecting secular leaders who are more likely aligned with your culture and to allow you to live life. It is a binary choice.