We condemn the political appropriation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Who is Bonhoeffer for us today?
An comment marking the 80th anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s assassination
Read: joint statement by the Bonhoeffer House and the EKBO
The following statement by the Bonhoeffer House in Berlin appeared in the culture section of the Berliner Morgenpost on November 19, 2024, together with an article by Tobias Korenke, a member of the Bonhoeffer family and vice-chairman of the Bonhoeffer House Association.
The article and statement can be viewed and read here.
Statement by the “Bonhoeffer House – Memorial and Place of Encounter” on the political appropriation of Bonhoeffer by religious nationalists:
As a memorial and place of encounter that documents and passes on the spirit and attitude of the Bonhoeffer family, we join the petition of the International Bonhoeffer Society and the open letter of the Bonhoeffer family.
The Bonhoeffer House was built in 1935 as a retirement home for Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s parents, Paula and Karl Bonhoeffer. Whenever Dietrich Bonhoeffer was in Berlin, he lived here. He wrote parts of his book Ethics in the attic room. Numerous meetings of members of the resistance against the Nazis took place here, with the decisive participation of family members. On April 5, 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested in this building. In April 1945, he was murdered by the Nazis, as were his brother Klaus and his brothers-in-law Hans von Dohnanyi and Rüdiger Schleicher.
Today, countless people from all countries visit the house to understand the spirit in which the family resisted and to learn from the Bonhoeffers’ courageous attitude for their own lives. It is easy to see for anyone who seriously studies the writings and lives of the Bonhoeffers that they deeply abhorred all forms of political extremism, nationalism, and the exclusion of people. The fact that today, of all people, violent nationalists believe they can invoke Dietrich Bonhoeffer is an intolerable denigration of those who gave their lives in the cause of human rights, political freedom, and Christian charity.
In conversations and encounters at historical sites, we remember Karl’s decisive rejection of any kind of personality cult, Paula’s maternal admonition to her children to stand up for the weaker members of society, Julie’s backbone even in old age, and Dietrich’s decision to live his life for others.
As a historical place of learning, a vibrant association, and a church organization, we strongly condemn the ideological exploitation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s legacy. We call on you to support the petition of the International Bonhoeffer Society:
In his famous analysis of the resistance, “After Ten Years”, which Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in this building at the turn of 1942/43, he states: “The great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts. For evil to appear disguised as light, charity, historical necessity, or social justice is quite bewildering to anyone brought up on our traditional ethical concepts, while for the Christian who bases his life on the Bible it merely confirms the fundamental wickedness of evil.”
We must never again allow ourselves to be confused by evil.
Board and staff of the Bonhoeffer House – Memorial and Place of Encounter in Berlin:
Gottfried Brezger, Martina Dethloff, Arno Helwig, Hans-Karl Kahlbaum, Tobias Korenke, Kurt Kreibohm, Christina Lange, Ulrich Luig, Ulrike Trautwein, Silke Tournay, Ingrid Portmann, Konrad Raiser, Christian Zeiske
Read more:
Read the open letter from members of the Bonhoeffer family here:
Don’t distort and misuse Dietrich Bonhoeffer!
The actors in the film “Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.” speak out against the marketing and political exploitation of the film in their own statement here:
Statement by the actors