The story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer tells me that technology can only do so much. Our presence is required, for without us, there is no witness.
For those who do not know his story, Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran Pastor in Germany. In the 1930s, before the rise of Hitler, Bonhoeffer studied theology in New York where he “met Frank Fisher, a black fellow seminarian who introduced him to Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem where Bonhoeffer taught Sunday school… and heard Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., preach the Gospel of Social Justice.”
Bonhoeffer wrote of this experience “Here one can truly speak and hear about sin and grace and the love of God…the Black Christ is preached with rapturous passion and vision.” His writings on this experience are inspiring (he collected gospel music and took it back to Germany)
Three years after Bonhoeffer returned to Germany, Hitler came to power. For the next 10 years, Bonhoeffer spoke strongly and loudly against Hitler. Following his failed assassination attempt on Hitler, Bonhoeffer was arrested.
In 1945, Bonhoeffer was hung in Flossenbürg concentration camp (just two weeks before soldiers from the United States 90th and 97th Infantry Divisions liberated the camp, three weeks before the Soviet capture of Berlin and a month before the capitulation of Nazi Germany).
We are, one and all, bound together by our stories. Thank you for your thoughtful reply. Clearly, you inspire.
For the seekers among us…
Harlem Magazine
https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/dietrich-bonhoeffer-pastor-martyr-prophet-spy-harlem-ny-1920s/
Samford University at Howard University
United States Holocaust Museum
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/dietrich-bonhoeffer
