Sacrifice and Faith

On this day in 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by Nazi guards at Flossenbürg concentration camp, where he had been moved from Buchenwald. It was just a month before the surrender of Germany. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran minister, a considerable theologian and academic, author of books, some actually written in prison, on the relationship of our lives to Christian faith. He could have had an academic career in this country, but chose to return to Germany after a time at the Union Theological Seminary in New York. He had worked to establish the German Confessing Church, which opposed Nazism in a number of ways.

The monstrous evils committed by the Nazis were opposed by a few brave Germans, most of whom were at least imprisoned; some, like Bonhoeffer, were executed.

He is worth remembering. For that reason, the Episcopal Church, among others, marks this day with prayers and bible readings. Lectionary reading for Bonhoeffer.

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