Board and staff members of the Bonhoeffer Haus Association – Memorial and Place of Encounter in Berlin have issued a statement condemning the political appropriation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Bonhoeffer House Berlin Condemns Political Appropriation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (November 2024)
As a Memorial and Place of Encounter that documents and passes on the spirit and attitude of the Bonhoeffer family, we endorse the petition of the International Bonhoeffer Society and the open letter from Members of the extended 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 stayed here. He wrote parts of his book, Ethics, in the attic room. Numerous meetings of members of the resistance against the National Socialists took place here, with the decisive participation of family members. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested in this house on 5 April 1943. In April 1945, he was murdered by the National Socialists, as were his brother, Klaus Bonhoeffer, and his brothers-in-law, Hans von Dohnanyi and Rüdiger Schleicher.
Today, countless people from all over the world meet in the house in order to understand the spirit of the family’s resistance and to learn from the Bonhoeffers’ courageous attitude for their own lives. Anyone who takes a serious look at Bonhoeffer’s writings and life can easily see that he deeply despises all forms of political extremism, nationalism, and the marginalization of people. The fact that today, of all people, violent nationalists think they can refer to Dietrich Bonhoeffer is an intolerable denigration of the people who gave their lives in defense of human rights, political freedom, and Christian charity.
In conversations and encounters at this historical site, we recall father Karl’s resolute rejection of any kind of personality cult, Paula’s maternal admonition to her children to stand up for the weaker members of society, grandmother Julie’s show of backbone even in her old age, and Dietrich’s decision to live his life for others. As an historical place of learning, as a lively association, and as part of the church, we firmly condemn the ideological misusing of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s legacy. We call on you to support the petition of the International Bonhoeffer Society:
In his famous analysis of resistance ‘After Ten Years,’ which Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in this house at the turn of the year 1942/43, he says:
“The huge masquerade of evil has thrown all ethical concepts into confusion. That evil should appear in the form of light, good deeds, historical necessity, social justice is absolutely bewildering for one coming from the world of ethical concepts that we have received. For the Christian who lives by the Bible, it is the very confirmation of the abysmal wickedness of evil.”
We must never allow ourselves to be confused by evil again.
November 2024
Board and staff of the Bonhoeffer-Haus association – 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