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Dietrich Bonhoeffer Photo By Tomasz Kmita-Skarsgård Wikimedia

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born on February 4, 1906, in Breslau Silesia, Prussia, Germany and died on April 9, 1945, in Flossenburg, Bavaria, Germany. He was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and a key founding member of the Confessing Church.

 He was the son of Karl Bonhoeffer (father), a neurologist and a psychiatrist and Paula Bonhoeffer (mother), a teacher. He came from a family of theologians since her mother was the granddaughter of theologian Karl von Hase. His family was well up and his parent ensured that he received a high level of education. Dietrich left an impressive record after accomplishing his doctorate at the age of 21.

Bonhoeffer was against the Nazi regime since day one. When the Nazis ascent to power and Hitler was installed as Chancellor, he delivered a radio address in which he attacked the new chancellor of Nazi, Hitler and warned Germany against idolizing any leader. However, his broadcast was cut off, but it is never clear whether the Nazi regime was behind it or not.

1. Bonhoeffer Declared he will be Theologian at Young Age

Bonhoeffer was born to a prosperous German family. All his siblings were educated and held big titles in German. Dietrich declared he would be a theologian at a young age (14yrs).

He later gained a sterling academic reputation in his early twenties. He completed his Staatsexamen, the same as a master’s degree, at the Protestant Faculty of Theology of the University of Tubingen.

On December 1927, he went back to school to complete his Doctor of Theology degree at the Humboldt University of Berlin and graduated summa cum laude.

2. He Taught at Finkenwalde Seminary

The Confessing Church in German created an underground School called Finkenwalde Seminary and they invited the still-young Dietrich Bonhoeffer to be the first director.

The Seminary existed for two years before the Gestapo ordered it closed in August 1937. For the time of Finkenwalde’s existence, it produced some of Bonhoeffer’s most significant theological work as he prepared the young seminarians for the turbulence and risk of parish ministry in the Confessing Church.

3. He Stood Against Racism

The theologian was a person who fought for social injustice and stood against racism. Bonhoeffer had a seminarian friend called Frank Fisher who was an African-American.

Fisher introduced him to Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem when he was living in the United States. Dietrich saw racism for the first time in this neighbourhood and he was disgusted by it. One famous story he recalls is when Fisher, himself and some other friends attended a restaurant and the waiter ignored Fisher.

He was mad and together with his friends left the restaurant in protest and defending the oppressed became key to his theology.

4. He Stood Against the Nazis from the Start

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Photo By Tomasz Kmita-Skarsgård

When the Nazi ascent to power on January 30 1933, Dietrich was a determined opponent of the regime from its first days and stood against it.

Two days after Hitler, a Nazi member was installed as Chancellor, Bonhoeffer delivered a radio address in which he attacked Hitler the chancellor and warned young Germans not to idolize their Leader, who could very well turn out to be a misleader. However, his broadcast was cut off and it is never clear whether the newly elected Nazi regime was responsible.  

5. Bonhoeffer Wrote a Book

When things become uncontrollable and the Gestapo closed the seminary at Finkenwalde of Confession Church in September 1937 and arrested 27 pastors and former students of the seminary by November, is at that time Dietrich publish the book known as ‘The Cost of Discipleship’.

That was the only way left to educate the people of Germany about the bad effect of accepting the Nazi regime in German.

6. He Got Engaged Two Months Before He Went to Prison

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Photo By Tomasz Kmita-Skarsgård

Dietrich was engaged two months before he was arrested by authorities for smuggling Jews out of the country. He was engaged to Maria daughter of Berlin’s Wedemeyer family.

During his early years as a scholar and teacher, he became friends with Berlin’s Wedemeyer family by giving confirmation classes to two of their sons. He stayed friends with the family and become close to their daughter Maria, to whom later he engaged in January 1943.

7. He Build an Impressive Academic Record

When Dietrich was still young, he announced he would be a theologian which he became later leaving an impressive academic record.

It is interesting to know that the theologist received his doctorate at 21 years old at the Humboldt University of Berlin leaving a legacy.

8. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Key Founder of Confessing Church

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Photo By Tomasz Kmita-Skarsgård

The theologist was a key founder of the confessing church since he was the first person to oppose the Nazi regime. In his book, he attacked the ‘cheap grace’ as a cover for ethical laxity and also preached on ‘costly grace’.

The Confessing Church was a movement within German Protestantism during Nazi Germany that arose to oppose the government-sponsored efforts to unify all Protestant churches into a single Pro-Nazi German Evangelical Church.

9. He Came From a Family of Theologians

Dietrich showed interest in becoming a theologian when he was young. At the age of 14 years, he declared that when he grows up, he will be a theologian. He later became a German Lutheran pastor and theologian.

It is interesting to know that Dietrich came from a theologian family. He was the son of Karl Bonhoeffer, a psychiatrist and neurologist, and Paula Bonhoeffer, her mother, a teacher. His mother’s grandfather, Karl von Hase, was a protestant theologian. This shows that the generation of theologists in the family also started with the past generation.

10. He was a Lecturer in Systematic Theology

 Bonhoeffer come back to Germany in 1931, from America where he had gone in 1930, after completing his studies and he was still young to be ordained as a theologist.

On his return, he became a lecturer in Systematic theology (a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith) at the University of Berlin.