― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I have always been fascinated by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an outspoken Lutheran minister and theologian who advocated for the Jewish people during the Nazi reign of terror in Germany. Bonhoeffer was born into a life of affluence and education. His father was a renowned psychologist and neurologist. His mother was a teacher. Bonhoeffer himself developed an early interest in theology traveling to New York City in his twenties to study at a seminary where he developed a friendship with an African American named Albert Fisher. 

Albert introduced Bonhoeffer to Harlem, jazz, and the Abyssinian Baptist Church then pastored by Adam Clayton Powell. There he was awed by the idea of using God’s word in pursuit of social justice for the underserved. He revelled in the spirituals and joy of the Black congregants of the church. It changed the direction of his own spiritual journey as he realized that the real message of Jesus is to serve others, even those that we may not understand. 

The inspired Bonhoeffer returned to a Germany that he did not understand. He saw that the Hitler regime had taken over all aspects of communication, even the messages of ministers in the churches. Politics and religion had become entwined. The Reich had even added two additional commandments to the original ten suggesting that Hitler and his regime had been sent to Germany by God. Additionally, the Jews were being openly harassed and sent away. Bonhoeffer was incensed and he bravely voiced his distaste for Hitler and his support for all people.

Eventually Bonhoeffer was under so much scrutiny that he had to flee to a protected place where a select group of young men were being trained to become ministers. For a time his work there was joyous but the Nazis eventually found out about what was happening there and forced all the the young men into military service. 

As the atmosphere in Germany was becoming more and more dangerous Bonhoeffer was sent to London as a liaison to inform the clergy there of the oppression that the German people and most especially the Jews were facing. He persuaded them to ban together in both revealing and protesting what Hitler was doing.

Bonhoeffer might have stayed safely in England for the duration of Hitler’s reign of terror but he felt that his work had to be done in Germany for the sake of the people there. He returned to an even more dangerous situation than ever and even became involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler. When the attempt failed he and the others knew that they might be found out sooner or later so once again his family and leaders of the church suggested that Bonhoeffer return to New York City to enlist the support of the people he had met there. 

With great reluctance Bonhoeffer agreed but once he arrived in America he knew that his place was back in Germany despite the danger. Rather than embrace the safety of the moment he made his way back to his homeland where he was almost immediately arrested and sent to a concentration camp. There he wrote one of his most famous and widely admired books books. 

After a year and a half of imprisonment Bonhoeffer was set to be put to death by direct order from Hitler. A German guard whom he had befriended over time offered a plan to free him but Bonhoeffer worried that the guard, his family, and others would face retribution. He told the guard that he was ready to see God. 

On the day of his hanging Bonhoeffer held a church service for the other prisoners. He gave the writings that he had composed to the guard. He bravely walked to the gallows and prayed before dying. He was thirty nine years old. Only days later the Allied army defeated the Germans and freed the members of the concentration camp. Hitler committed suicide and the war was over. 

Bonhoeffer was most certainly a martyr and probably even a saint. He wrote numerous texts and books that are still read and studied by theologians and ordinary readers to this very day. There is even a society of people who work to keep his ideas alive. Perhaps his words that have most impacted me are summed up in this passage, “Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”

Our own times are dangerous and filled with much anger. We might do well to consider the wisdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who seemed to truly understand two main lessons from Jesus. The first is that we love our neighbors and the other is that we not judge them. It is up to us to break the wheels of injustice wherever and whenever we see any of our fellow humans being harmed. Each of us has work to do.