Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Martyr for Christian Ethics

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A German Lutheran pastor and theologian. Opposing the Nazi regime's control of the church and persecution of Jews, he was involved in the formation of the Confessing Church and the anti-Nazi movement. During World War II, as a member of the German military intelligence agency Abwehr, he established contact with the German resistance movement and was involved in helping Jews escape the country as well as making contact with the Allied powers. Arrested in 1943, he was transferred to Flossenbürg concentration camp via Berlin's Tegel Prison and executed on April 9, 1945. As a theologian, he discussed the contrast between "cheap grace" and "costly grace," significantly influencing 20th-century Christian thought through works such as "The Cost of Discipleship."

Timeline

Category
Element

Year	Dietrich Bonhoeffer
1906	Birth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Period: February 4, 1906, Location: Wrocław (now Poland))
1914	World War I (Age: 7 years old, Period: 1914–1918, Location: Western Front, Belgium and France)
1927	Theological Studies and Doctorate (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Age: 21 years old, Period: December 17, 1927, Location: Berlin)
1930	Theological Studies in New York (Age: 23 years old, Period: 1930–1931, Location: New York, United States)
1931	Ordination as Pastor (Age: 25 years old, Period: November 15, 1931, Location: St. Matthias Church, Tiergarten, Berlin)
1933	Establishing of Nazi Regime and Nazification of Churches (Age: 26 years old, Period: From 1933 onwards, Location: Germany) Participation in the Confessing Church Movement (Age: 26 years old, Period: From 1933–1934 onwards, Location: Various places in Germany) Pastoral Activities in London (Age: 26 years old, Period: 1933–1935, Location: London, United Kingdom) Bonhoeffer's Anti-Nazi Broadcast (Age: 26 years old, Period: February 1, 1933, Location: Berlin)
1935	Pastor Training at Finkenwalde Seminary (Age: 28 years old, Period: 1935–1937, Location: Finkenwalde)
1937	Closure of Finkenwalde Seminary (Age: 31 years old, Period: September 1937, Location: Finkenwalde (then Germany, around present-day Szczecin, Poland))
1939	World War II (Age: 32 years old, Period: 1939–1945, Location: UK, France, North Africa, Mediterranean, Atlantic, etc.)
1941	Joining the Abwehr and Cooperation with the German Resistance (Age: 34 years old, Period: 1941–1943, Location: Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, etc.)
1942	Support for Jewish Emigration and Arrest (Age: 35 years old, Period: 1942–1943, Location: Germany, Switzerland, etc.) Contact with Bishop George Bell (Age: 36 years old, Period: May 1942, Location: Sweden)
1943	Writing Philosophical Works Leading to "Letters and Papers from Prison" (Age: 36 years old, Period: 1943–1945, Location: Tegel Prison, Berlin, etc.) Engagement to Maria von Wedemeyer (Age: 36 years old, Period: January 13, 1943, Location: Germany) Marriage (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Maria von Wedemeyer, Age: 36 years old, Period: Marriage not realized, engaged on January 13, 1943, Location: Not Applicable) Imprisonment at Tegel Prison (Age: 37 years old, Period: April 5, 1943 – Autumn 1944, Location: Tegel Prison, Berlin)
1944	Discovery and Transfer of Zossen Documents (Age: 38 years old, Period: From September 22, 1944 onwards, Location: Zossen, Germany / Berlin)
1945	Execution at Flossenbürg Concentration Camp (Age: 39 years old, Period: April 8–9, 1945, Location: Flossenbürg Concentration Camp (Germany)) Death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Age: 39 years old, Period: April 9, 1945)

Map

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Europe World

Related Links

Group	List
Nazi Germany	Adolf Hitler Paul von Hindenburg Hermann Göring Joseph Goebbels Heinrich Himmler Rudolf Hess Martin Ludwig Bormann Joachim von Ribbentrop Albert Speer Hermann Wilhelm Göring Paul Joseph Goebbels
Weimar Republic	Friedrich Ebert Gustav Stresemann Wilhelm Marx Heinrich Brüning Hermann Müller Friedrich Naumann Matthias Erzberger Walther Rathenau
German Anti-Nazis	Dietrich Bonhoeffer Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg Hans Oster Ludwig Beck Carl Friedrich Goerdeler Erwin von Witzleben Hans Scholl Sophie Scholl Alexander Schmorell Christoph Probst
Warsaw Ghetto	Mordechai Anielewicz Marek Edelman Tuvia Bielski Abba Kovner Henryk Goldszmit Emanuel Ringelblum
Arts & Music	Pablo Picasso Paul Klee Wassily Kandinsky Käthe Schmidt Oskar Kokoschka Egon Schiele Arnold Schoenberg Alban Berg Anton Webern

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Español) Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Français) Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Deutsch) 迪特里希·朋霍费尔 (中文) ディートリヒ・ボンヘッファー (日本語)

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Martyr for Christian Ethics