Letters Papers from Prison [Paperback]

An excellent selfportrait of Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran minister, while in a nazi German prison during the war.
It reveals the immense power of the spirit that helps us go through the most cruel experiences life can have awaiting for us. My first book by Bonhoeffer and I am glad I started with this one. What a great man!

In late 1942, theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "... the power of some needs the folly of others. It is not that [intellectual capacities] become stunted or destroyed, but rather that the upsurge of power makes such an overwhelming impression that men are deprived of their independent judgment, and -- more or less unconsciously -- give up trying to assess the new state of affairs for themselves. The fact that the fool is often stubborn must not mislead us into thinking that he is independent. One feels in fact, when talking to him, that one is dealing, not with the man himself, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like, which have taken hold of him. ... folly can be overcome, not by instruction, but only by an act of liberation... a person's inward liberation to live a responsible life before God is the only real cure for folly."
Folly and Bonhoeffer were on a collision course.
During his long imprisonment by the Nazi regime, Bonhoeffer corresponded with members of his family. Many of these letters were collected, and later published, by Eberhard Bethge, Bonhoeffer's niece's husband. The letters between Bonhoeffer and Bethge, his intellectual and spiritual confidant, are the most insightful in terms of revealing the intellectual Bonhoeffer. Although his life hangs in the balance, Bonhoeffer only occasionally speaks of his own welfare, and then apologetically and only in passing. With Bethge, and to a lesser extent with his father and others, he prefers directing his thoughts to a great breadth of interests -- art, history, music, philosophy, physics, psychology, sociology, theology. With all correspondents, Bonhoeffer expresses constant concern for their welfare, as well as for the welfare of his fellow prisoners and even his Nazi guards. We continually have statements like this one:
"I wish you much joy and don't want you to be disturbed by any thoughts about me. I have every reason to be so infinitely grateful about everything. ... the prisoners and guards here keep saying how they are 'amazed' (?!) at my tranquillity and cheerfulness. I myself am always amazed about remarks of this kind. But isn't it rather nice?"
To 'flesh-out' the context for Bonhoeffer's letters, Bethge has included much of the letter writing of his correspondents, and you may choose not to read all of this material. The reader should quickly notice that the language of the letters is, in some passages, less than frank, as in Bonhoeffer's seemingly exaggerated statements of patriotism. One must remember his position, and that of his family. Bonhoeffer speaks of a desire to be able to speak freely one day, to converse face to face. To serve as a pastor, to counsel others, to be a husband to his fiancee, to support and care for his family, to study and write.
The Nazis, sadly, had a different agenda.

From April 1943 to April 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a prisoner of the Gestapo. Suspected of participating in a plot against Hitler, he was eventually executed in the closing days of World War II. This book is a collection of letters he wrote from prison to his family, his fiancee Maria, and his dearest friend Eberhard.

Bonhoeffer was in his late 30s when he was arrested. He was a Lutheran theologian, who had publicly questioned the rise of fascism and anti-Semitism in Germany and was systematically silenced by Hitler's government, unable finally to publish any of his writings or to preach in any pulpit. Along with other members of his family, Bonhoeffer secretly participated in an effort led by officers of Army Intelligence to undermine the war effort. Attempting to build a case against him, the Gestapo kept him a prisoner, awaiting trial. Incriminating evidence did not emerge until after the July 1944 attempt on Hitler's life. And at this point the letters stop, as Bonhoeffer was transported to another prison and eventually to a series of concentration camps.

The letters in this volume describe in detail the routines of prison life. And they offer a glimpse of life lived by ordinary civilians during months of aerial bombardments, as the fabric of daily life slowly crumbles. They also reveal the thoughts and emotions of a man whose faith in God and trust in survival are put to the severest test. While he is remembered by those who knew him in his last months as a fiercely brave, courageous, and selfless man, we see in the letters his inner turmoil, his fear, loneliness, and sense of isolation in a world his theology never imagined.

Included in the collection are polite and cheerful love letters to the young Maria von Wedemeyer, to whom he has proposed marriage. And more deeply moving still are his heart-felt letters to Eberhard Bethge, a fellow clergyman and dearly loved friend. It was Bethge, many years later, who collected these letters and published them; he has also written an extensive biography of Bonhoeffer. (The letters to Maria von Wedemeyer have been published separately as "Love Letters from Cell 92"). A collection of Bethge's essays on Dietrich Bonhoeffer was publisehd in 1995 under the title "Friendship and Resistance." They portray Bonhoeffer's friendship with Bethge and describe how the prison letters between them survived.

Bonhoeffer's life should have been that of a theologian much respected in his own time who, in a large body of work, advanced an understanding of God for a modern, secular world. His years cut short, we can only guess what his final contribution would have been. But the letters are an inspiring testament to a life lived without compromise or despair, in the face of overwhelmingly destructive forces.