Modern Martyr

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

What's a peaceful, loving Christian to do when he sees evil?  Mennonites and Quakers are committed pacifists who won't respond with violence.  Churches under Hitler became docile wards of the government that stayed silent to preserve their safety.  But German theologian Deitrich Bonhoeffer saw things differently.

Joseph Loconte, reviewing the book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas in The Wall Street Journal notes that amidst the capitulation of churches in the Third Reich, the 27 year-old Bonhoeffer "challenged the legitimacy of a regime that contravened the tenets of Christianity."  He believed German churches were obligated to help the victimized even if they weren't Christians.  He also believed Christians should go further and stop the political/military machine that was persecuting them.

Bonhoeffer was a pacifist until he saw the evil around him and decided to fight it.  He wrote, "Only at the cost of self-deception can observant Christians preserve a facade of private blamelessness clean from the stains of responsible action in the world"  His pacifism withered when he was compelled to demonstrate love for his fellow man by stopping the carnage.

He became a double agent for a military intelligence agency that was home to anti-Hitler conspirators.  In addition to conveying information to the group of resisters, which was called the "Black Orchestra" by the Gestapo, he obtained falsified travel documents and met with foreign officials to pave the way for recognition of a new government once Hitler was deposed.

Bonhoeffer was arrested for misusing state funds to transport Jews out of Germany.  While he was officially charged with embezzlement, the arrest was part of an effort by the secret police to destroy the Black Orchestra.  Later, the Operation Valkyrie attempt to kill Hitler with a briefcase bomb narrowly failed and led to the frenzied elimination of anti-Reich elements.  Still imprisoned, Pastor Bonhoeffer's involvement in the conspiracy was uncovered. He was given a perfunctory military trial and sentenced to death.  Like other conspiracy leaders he was stripped and hung from a meat hook on a noose of piano wire as the executions were filmed and used to warn others.

An observer said,"At the place of execution, he said a short prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, brave and composed...In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God."

Bonhoeffer had stood at a crossroad in Nazi Germany.  Should he stick with his pacifism or actively resist evil that was destroying millions of lives?  He justified Christian resistance this way: "Before other men he is justified by necessity, before himself he is acquitted by his conscience, but before God he hopes only for grace."

God is graceful, and knowing Dietrich Bonhoeffer's heart He no doubt lovingly embraced him.


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