Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer was a good man who paid the ultimate price for standing up for his faith and his refusal to bow down to the Nazis. Bonhoeffer chose to come back to Germany when he felt they needed him before the outbreak of war. He was a minister, theologian and taught classes in Germany. The Nazis forbid him to speak in public or publish anymore works. He was also told to report to the Gustapo once a week. He helped his sister and her husband, who was Jewish, to flee the country and get to safety. The Germans attacked Poland and soon after France and England declared war on Germany. The Nazi shut down Bonhoeffer's school and made the students enlist in the army. One of his friends that worked for military intelligence asked him to become a spy and shows him all the war crimes that the Nazis have committed. After seeing this Bonhoeffer aggress to help. He starts helping sneak Jews out of the country and gathering evidence against the 3rd Reich.

He is sent to Sweden where he talks to an allied minister. He says two quotes that I feel are important to understand his way of thinking, teaching and believing in the faith. The first is " less to do evil than be evil" and later he goes on to tell a Young 17 year old girl, Maria who he will soon be engaged to, "it is better for a person of truth to tell a lie than a liar to tell the truth." Maria loses her father and brother in the war in Stalingrad and finds comfort and safety with Bonhoeffer. When they go back to Germany they meet up with their friends Hans and Crystal but they are being watched by the Gustapo and are later arrested and interrogated about different acts of treason going on in the 3rd Reich.

The interrogator made an interesting statement when questioning Bonhoeffer. He said, " I am looking for the truth and you as a minister seek to evade it by your silence." Bonhoeffer tells him nothing of the secret resistance in military intelligence and sits in silence for most of the interrogations. Maria comes to visit him a few times while imprisoned and sends him codes in the books she gives him. She tells him they are trying to get him out and that the Gustapo suspect not that he his working with the resistance but that he is just part of the corruption in military intelligence. One night in his cell he hears a young man in the cell next to him. He places his hands on the wall and tells the young man to do the same and pray with him. The young man says he does not believe in God. The next day he was executed and a guard came in and told Bonhoeffer that the young man had found God. Even imprisoned Bonhoeffer was trying to take care of people and help them.

While Bonhoeffer is imprisoned the Gustapo and SS find the papers Bonhoeffer and his friends had hidden that show all the Nazi war crimes and also implicate them in plots against the 3rd Reich. One of the guards says he can help him escape and gives him a Nazi uniform but Bonhoeffer refuses. He does not want to run. The Gustapo then give Bonhoeffer another chance when they ask him to negotiate for Germany with the allies. If he does this they say they will save him and his family. Bonhoeffer again refuses and will have no part in the 3rd Reich. The next day they load Bonhoeffer up in a truck with other