Bonhoeffer

Prophet and Martyr

John Queripel

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781498229609
  9781498229623
• eBook ISBN:
  9781498229616
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

In the final days of World War II, early one frosty morning, a young German pastor was taken from his cell by his Nazi captors and led to his place of execution. Coming from one of Berlin's leading families, Dietrich Bonhoeffer's already brilliant academic and church career was thus brutally terminated. Bonhoeffer found himself in such a strange place for a theologian, being one of the very few in the German Church who stood resolutely opposed to the Nazis to the point where he, as a one-time pacifist, became deeply involved in the conspiratorial plot to kill Hitler and bring down the regime. This course of action saw him enter the murky sphere of secrecy and duplicity as a member of the conspiracy, while two-timing the Nazis as a member of military intelligence. Using that official role, Bonhoeffer was able to travel and communicate with his international ecumenical contacts as part of the conspiracy's attempt to strike a deal with the Allies to end the war. From a dark period, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, brave and resolute, stands as a bright and shining light.

Bonhoeffer

Prophet and Martyr

A play by John Queripel

List of Characters

Bonhoeffer—Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Paula Bonhoeffer—Mother of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Karl Bonhoeffer—Father of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Radio announcer for the Berlin Broadcasting Company

Bethge—Student and friend of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Gerhard Leibhotz—Husband of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s twin sister, Sabine

Sabine Liebhotz—Twin sister of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bell—George, bishop of the Church of England, long-time ecumenical contact who made representations for the conspirators to the British government

Von Dohnanyi—Hans, husband of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s sister Christine, employed in the Ministry of Justice and a fellow conspirator

Von Kleist Retzow—Ruth, friend and patron of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Von Wedemeyer—Fiancée of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, granddaughter of Ruth von Kleist Retzow

Beck—General Ludwig Beck, one of the chief conspirators in the attempts to kill Hitler

Ostler—Hans Ostler, one of the leaders in military security, fellow conspirator

Conspirator 1

Conspirator 2

Conspirator 3

Rudiger Schleiecher—Husband of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s sister Ursula, a lawyer and fellow conspirator

Klaus Bonhoeffer—Brother of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a lawyer and fellow conspirator

Ursula Schleiecher—Sister of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wife of fellow conspirator Rudiger Schleicher

Officer 1—Agent of the Reich’s security office, the Gestapo

Officer 2—Agent of the Reich’s security office, the Gestapo

Roeder—Judge Advocate Manfred Roeder

Knobloch—A corporal, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s guard and a conduit for uncensored correspondence; a working-class North Berlin man, of whom nothing was heard after the entry of the Soviet Army into Berlin

Radio Announcer for the British Broadcasting Commission

Act 1

Scene 1

Stockholm, in the quarters of Bishop George Bell, 1 June 1942. Bell pours a whisky.

Bell: This Hitler is insane, a madman, a . . .

Bonhoeffer: If only he could be so easily dismissed. Do you think a whole nation would blindly follow one just simply mad, an escapee from some asylum? No. Hitler is cunning, devious, and clever—yes George, clever. He draws from a dark side of history, a side we, bathed in the Enlightenment and rationality, would rather ignore. Not everyone, however, bathes in such clear waters.

Bell: True, true, Dietrich, but surely you must take your opportunity to escape from the clutches of this . . . demonic tyrant.

Bonhoeffer: That I could, but you know for me that is not an option.

Bell: Dietrich, of course it is an option. You are safe here now. You don’t have to return to Germany.

Bonhoeffer: I know very well I don’t have to return to Germany, but I must return to Germany. There is a difference.

Bell: But you have everything to live for. I am sure you know the great danger in which you are placing yourself if you return. The church after this war will so need leaders like you, Dietrich. And I know a whole host of academic posts will open for you. What you are currently exploring, experiencing—your writings—must not be allowed to die with you. Your theological work is profound and will grow ever more so. It can’t be thrown away. The ecumenical movement, the role it must play in rehabilitating Europe after the war . . .

Bonhoeffer: George, you make it sound as though I won’t be around. I have no plans for dying. Martyrdom holds no sort of romantic ideal about it for me.

Bell: But you must know on what thin ice you are walking with this double play of yours.

Bonhoeffer: We—all of us in the resistance—are walking on the same thin ice, and we are no saints. Why, some of us don’t even write tomes on ethics, God, meaning, purpose.

Bell: But Dietrich . . .

Bonhoeffer: No George! If I am to be truly ethical, to truly do God’s will, be Christ’s disciple, what is my option? I know God can choose as the divine instruments those who make no mention of his name, those whose ethics are questionable, but do you really thi...

Table of contents

• Essay: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Play: Bonhoeffer