By this point, Bonhoeffer is working for the Abwehr, a military intelligence group that hides German resistance activities.ġ943: Bonhoeffer is arrested for helping smuggle Jews into Switzerland.ġ944: Operation Valkyrie, the plot to kill Hitler, fails. Bonhoeffer is invited to attend Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, transforming his spiritual outlook.ġ933: Gives a radio address warning young Germans not to idolize their leaders, two days after Hitler has become Chancellor.ġ940: Gestapo shut down the underground seminary. 10 Important Events in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Lifeġ906: Bonhoeffer is born in Breslau, Germany, with his twin sister Sabine.ġ920: Bonhoeffer declares at 14 years old that he wants to be a theologian when he grows up.ġ930: Comes to New York to study at Union Theological Seminary for a year.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Dnalor 01ĭead before he was 40 years old, Bonhoeffer's words and actions have helped many consider their relationship to God and how Christians can live out their allegiance to Christ. In 1998, Bonhoeffer was one of 10 Christians who were commemorated as 20th-century martyrs in Westminster Abbey, his statue next to Elizabeth of Russia, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Oscar Romero. The resistance work connected Bonhoeffer to a failed Hitler assassination attempt, and he was executed in 1945. During World War II, Bonhoeffer was actively involved in underground church operations to provide solid teaching and German resistance work to undermine the Nazis. When the Nazi regime took over Germany, Bonhoeffer joined church leaders who refused to follow the government’s censorship and anti-Semitic policies. Overseas experiences made Bonhoeffer’s faith more than just intellectual and convinced him to fight against corrupt governments and inequality. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) didn’t live long, but he left an example that has inspired generations.īorn into a prosperous German family, Bonhoeffer decided he would be a theologian at a young age and gained a sterling academic reputation in his early twenties.

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