Review of Bonhoeffer (2003) by Edith N — 01 Mar 2009

People forget, I think, that the Nazi movement was, at least nominally, Christian. (Ben Stein certainly forgot.) In 1933, the Protestant Reich Church became the official church of Germany, and all Protestant churches were ordered to blend into it. (The Catholics came to a separate arrangement.) The Reich Church threw out the Old Testament, in fact, as Jewish elements to be purged. Actually, a fascinating Wikipedia trail can be followed by entering an element or two into the system. Still, not all German pastors bought into the notion, and several very prominent ones rebelled. Martin Niemöller was one of them, possibly the best-known, but one of the most important, arguably, was Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Bonhoeffer was born into a well-off Silesian family. Bonhoeffer was expected to follow his father into psychology, but he became a theologian instead. He spent time in New York, coming to learn about both black spirituality and the oppression they experienced. He brought that knowledge back to Germany, where Nazism was on the rise. He became a leader of the Confessing Church, the church formed in opposition to the Reich Church. He led their seminary. He spoke openly against the Reich's anti-Semitism; because of this, he was eventually banned from public speaking. He joined the resistance, was captured, put into a concentration camp, and eventually hanged after the July 20 Plot (yes, the one that [i]Valkyrie[/i] is about).

A lot of people have wondered why more average Germans didn't do more to fight Nazism and its anti-Semitism. Bonhoeffer would wonder the same thing. Did, in fact. He hoped the Confessing Church would work to create outrage and save lives. He was horribly disappointed by the rest of the church's failure to do so. The more-famous Niemöller was himself not exactly fond of the Jews. The movie brags of the literally dozens of Jews saved by the Confessing Church. It's true that I don't think Bonhoeffer himself actively saved any lives, but I also believe that his work on assassination plots against Hitler was in part inspired by that very cause. He did, after all, spend a lot of his time trying to get the Confessing Church to be more outspoken.

This documentary doesn't get much into the broader aspects of the common philosophy. Even the Catholic Church's compromise with the Reich is only briefly touched on. Mostly, there are interviews with those who knew him or those who have studied his work. Even some of his family gets interviewed. We spend more time learning about his theological beliefs than the time he spent working with the resistance. In fact, I don't recall any evidence mentioned that would suggest he had anything to do with the July 20 plot in the first place. However, he had been arrested for participation in another plot, and probably Hitler wasn't inclined to be fussy at that point. He really would like people to stop trying to kill him, thank you.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is not the best-known fighter of Nazism. He's never going to be as famous as Oskar Schindler. What Bonhoeffer did was more behind the scenes. He provided moral support, I'm sure, and he was, apparently, instrumental in smuggling messages in and out of the prison where he was held. By his work with the Confessing Church and its seminary, he encouraged young people to help fight the Reich. He was at least a minor thorn in Hitler's side, which is more than quite a lot of people could say. Why the common people did not do more to oppose the genocide is an argument that will occupy historians for a very long time. However, through all of that, there will be stories of the courage of men like Bonhoeffer, who was eventually stripped naked and slowly strangled with piano wire. That's a much more personal death than most victims got.