Periodically over the last twenty years or so, I have heard about the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. But, I have not until recently taken time to learn about his life. Oddly, on the “pre-WOFF” bookshelf, I found two of his works. “Letters & Papers From Prison” published by Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc; this edition is the fourth printing in 1975 and was edited by Eberhard Bethage, a very good friend of Dietrich. The second book I found was “The Cost of Discipleship”, written by Bonhoeffer and first published in 1949 as a translation from a work titled “NACHFOLGE” in 1937. This paperback edition was published in 1963 by Macmillan Publishing Company of New York. Honestly, I have not read either book. It was not until I recently viewed a documentary film released in 2003 by Journey Films titled “Bonhoeffer” that I learned more about his life. The documentary contained interviews with relatives of Bonhoeffer as well as some of his students, historians of the time and leaders in the church. It outlined the major events preceding the end of Bonhoeffer’s life in 1945. This film is the resource for this post unless otherwise noted.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born February 4, 1906 in Breslau, Germany. His father was a university professor and his mother had aristocracy in her family history. He had a twin sister and six other siblings in total. He was the youngest boy in the family. His oldest brother Walter, at 18 years old joined the German army to fight in World War I. He was killed within two weeks of joining. This event seemed to have a profound effect on Dietrich and some would say this helped him decide to join the ministry and later be a pacifist.