Dietrich Bonhoeffer

[basquebromance]

I need to introduce many of you to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Google him please. Many of us, myself included, believe him to be one of the most important Christians in the modern history of the world. He was a Pastor and theologian during the rise of Hitler and Nazis. He actually spent a good deal of time in Harlem before he returned back to Europe. And while he was there, he began organizing an anti-Nazi resistance. He and many dear friends even developed a plot to kill Hitler. For that, and for his underground resistance, he was arrested and sent to a concentration camp himself - where he was executed and martyred in April of 1945. He was a HERO to many in the Civil Rights Movement as well as the Anti-Apartheid Movement. And he’s a hero to me. If your faith is not confronting injustice and oppression, it’s not faith. It’s just culture. It’s just a form of patriotism.

 

[whitehall]

Apparently he had a chance to stay in the U.S. or England during the 30's but he returned to Germany to work in the underground. Most of his siblings were executed by the Nazis. He might have been influential in world Christianity if he survived the war.