By Dennis Lund

Editor’s note: First of two parts. Part two will be published Sept. 9.

“With the tools of democracy, democracy was murdered and lawlessness made ‘legal.’ Raw power ruled, and its only real goal was to destroy all other powers besides itself.” ― Eric Metaxas, “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy”

RARE ARE THOSE WHO INFLUENCE HISTORY. Rarer still are those who act on opportunities to change history.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of those rarities.

Bonhoeffer, “theologian, martyr, a spiritual writer, a musician, a pastor, and an author of poetry and fiction,” was a Christian of deep integrity whose faith, he believed, supported his participation in several conspiracies to assassinate Adolf Hitler — to terminate a regime whose destiny he foresaw.

Author Eric Metaxas, in his book about Bonhoeffer, helps readers understand how the German people came to be under the control of a madman, and sheds light on the impact of the Nazi regime on Germans who rose in opposition to Nazi policies while remaining true to their faith in God.

Bonhoeffer’s lineage was exemplary. The Bonhoeffer family, from the city of Swabisch Hall in Baden-Württemberg, had included assorted doctors, lawyers, pastors, judges and professors, dozens of members of that city’s council as well as three of its mayors. Bonhoeffer’s loyalty to Germany was without question, and that loyalty would prove essential to his most critical decisions.

As a theologian and pastor, Bonhoeffer spent time in various countries: in England and Spain as pastor to the local expatriate German communities, and in America as a student at Columbia University’s Union Theological Seminary in New York City. His time abroad was a major influence, especially the time he spent in New York, even though it was an unsettled period for him because of theological differences, which he described in a letter home:

“There is no theology here. … They talk a blue streak without the slightest substantive foundation and with no evidence of any criteria. The students … are completely clueless with respect to what dogmatics is really about. They are unfamiliar with even the most basic questions.”

Though Union did not offer what he sought, Bonhoeffer found faith well represented when he was introduced to the Abyssinian Baptist Church of Harlem, then led by Adam Clayton Powell. Bonhoeffer was impressed with not only the spirit of that church, but also by the love for Christ that emanated from the parishioners, both of which he found to be lacking at Union.

Bonhoeffer found the music at Abyssinian to be wonderful and joyous in its expressiveness of the love of Christ and hope for salvation. The music so captivated him that he searched out local record shops for recordings of “Negro spirituals,” which he shared extensively with others upon his return to Germany.

Harlem, though, did not prepare Bonhoeffer for his trip to Washington, where he saw racism at levels previously unknown to him. In a letter to his brother, he described the situation as “quite peculiar,” saying “(I want) to know the situation of the Negroes in a bit more detail … especially since we don’t have an analogous situation in Germany.”

It was 1930-31. Bonhoeffer was describing the Germany he knew and loved — but it was the Germany of the past. The “analogous” situation was only a few years away.

As Hitler came to power, much of the German population had little understanding of his intentions, nor where the depth of his enmity toward Jews and other groups and ethnicities would lead. The speed at which this became clear was simultaneously dramatic and deeply disturbing.

An early indicator was the “Aryan Paragraph” issued in April 1933. It forbid government employment to anyone with Jewish blood. This order created deep turmoil within the German Church, as Metaxas describes: “Perhaps the most grievous aspect … was the willingness of mainstream Protestant Christian leaders to consider adopting the Aryan Paragaph.” Many ordained ministers, baptized as Christians, were of Jewish blood, though their families had long ago assimilated into German society. The impact on Bonhoeffer of this reclassification was significant, as he knew many of these ministers — including one who was a very close friend of the family.

This division — one group siding with the newly installed Hitler, others voicing their objection — led Bonhoeffer to his instrumental role in separating from the German Protestant Church to form a new, opposition church, one in alignment with their faith and free of influence by the state.

Masking Hitler’s true agenda, anti-Jewish policies were initially sold to the German people as the establishment of a system comparable to the “separate but equal” policies common in the U.S., a system Bonhoeffer had seen — and rejected — first-hand in the Jim Crow areas of America.

But the Bonhoeffer family, which had access to information to which others were not privy — information many would not have believed even if they’d been told — knew even this evil was only a cover for the Nazis’ true intent. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s brother-in-law, Hans Dohnanyi, was a lawyer who worked as the personal assistant to the Reich Minister of Justice (analogous to our Chief Justice) and later held other high-level positions within the German justice system. Dohnanyi’s disclosures were instrumental in convincing Bonhoeffer and others of the need to remove Hitler from power.

But how to do so? Options were discussed in depth among a select few well-placed individuals who concurred on the need, but may have differed on the method. In these early stages, about 1939-1941, Bonhoeffer was aware of the discussions but did not directly participate, acting rather as a counselor to the conspirators.

Germany was being led deeper down a catastrophic path that ultimately led to Bergen-Belsen, Flossenberg, Ravensbrück and 1,197 other concentration camps and subcamps. As this descent became more apparent, the method of stopping Hitler became secondary to the urgency to act.

It was this urgency that convinced Bonhoeffer that Hitler must be killed. He came to feel that the murder was justified even within his Christian faith — but he did not come to the conclusion lightly. He suffered tremendous internal discord that led him, at the urging of friends and family, to leave Germany in 1939 rather than face conscription and a destiny that had already befallen numerous friends and family.

Dennis Lund graduated from California State University-Long Beach with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1981 and has resided in Benicia since 1992.