Letters and Papers From Prison (13 page)

19.
A slip of the pen; it has to be 4May 1943.

20.
A national, middle-class daily newspaper, at one time close to Stresemann; not all its contents had yet been brought into line.

21.
The wedding took place on the twentieth anniversary of the Schleicher parents’ wedding day.

22.
E. von Hase in Breslau, sister of Bonhoeffer’s mother.

23.
‘Over night, over night, come joy and sorrow, and before you know it, both leave you and go to the Lord, to say how you have borne them.’

24.
From Fritz and Margret Onnasch; the husband was a pastor in the Pomeranian council of brethren and had been inspector of studies in Finkenwalde and Köslin.

25.
A slip of the pen; it has to be 5May 1943.

26.
Written on a leaf from a registration pad from the guard room at Tegel on which his father had made notes about utensils and food that he had brought for his son, see DB, p. 735.

27.
Undated page from a notebook.

28.
May 1943: ‘Always be prepared to make a defence to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you’ (I Peter 3.15b).

29.
‘My time is in your hands.’

30.
Prov. 31.25.

31.
‘Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.’

32.
Son of Hans Jürgen von Kleist-Retzow in Kieckow, grandson of Ruth von Kleist-Retzow, cousin of Maria von Wedemeyer.

33.
Richard Schöne, neighbour and cousin of the Bonhoeffer family, General Director of the Berlin museums.

34.
Eberhard Bethge is meant.

35.
Christine Schleicher.

36.
Michael and Andreas Dress, Cornelie and Walter Bonhoeffer. The latter were children of Dr Klaus Bonhoeffer, syndic at Lufthansa in Berlin, and Emmi, née Delbrück.

37.
Grete Bonhoeffer, née von Dohnanyi.

38.
The authorities only allowed him to write to his fiancée after the conclusion of the first phase of the investigation, at the end of July, 1943.

39.
Ruth-Alice, née von Wedemeyer, from Pätzig, wife of Klaus von Bismarck.

40.
The whole letter is written with an eye to the censor.

41.
Composed between June and August 1943. To serve his own defence as well as to conceal afar-reaching conspiracy, true details usually appear in a fictitious context; see DB, pp.714ff.

42.
General Superintendent Otto Dibelius, at that time under suspension, in Berlin.

43.
One of the two church groups in Further Pomerania, in which Bonhoeffer trained candidates in a collective pastorate until March 1940;this was his official residence, from which he had to report to the police.

44.
Superintendent Eduard Block.

45.
Supreme Military Command.

46.
Attorney at law and Portuguese consul in Munich. He was a member of the
Abwehr
department there and was arrested as early as October 1942.

47.
Fräulein Friedenthal, a colleague in the provisional governing body of the Confessing Church, was one of a group of Jews whom Canaris and Dohnanyi evacuated safely to Switzerland on the pretext that they were
Abwehr
agents. Dr Arnold was the spokesman of the group. For Operation 7’, see DB, pp. 651-53, 721.

48.
By means of a late date, Roeder wanted to prove that von Dohnanyi and Bonhoeffer had sabotaged the Reich policy of deportation. Bonhoeffer therefore had to prove that this date lay before the beginning of the deportation in October 1942, in Berlin; see DB, pp. 721f.

49.
President of the Swiss Evangelical Church Alliance, who was approached for an affidavit and for help for the Jews to be rescued.

50.
On the draft outline of the letter to his parents dated 24 June 1943 (Thursday).

51.
Wilhelm Niesel, at that time in the Old Prussian Council of Brethren and,
inter alia,
a director of training.

52.
See DB, pp-593f

53.
His cousin, Christine, Countess Kalckreuth.

54.
Ernst Wolf, at that time Professor of Church History in Halle, member of various Councils of Brethren.

55.
Wilhelm Jannasch, at that time pastor and member of the National Council of Brethren, on behalf of whose son Bonhoeffer had intervened.

56.
Prof. Walter Dress as pastor in Dahlem.

57.
Bonhoeffer means his great-grandfather, the church historian Karl August von Hase, and his autobiography
Ideale und Irrtümer,
7thed., 1917.

58.
Commandant of the Wehrmacht Interrogation Prison at Tegel.

59.
Marianne Leibholz, daughter of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s twin sister Sabine and Gerhard Leibholz, Professor of International Law, at that time in Oxford.

60.
Wife of Klaus Bonhoeffer.

61.
1928, see DB, p. 73.

62.
Rüdiger Graf von der Goltz, lawyer and state adviser, son of a sister of Bonhoeffer’s mother.

63.
See DB, p. 724. Bonhoeffer is indicating his excellent contacts to the censor.

64.
See DB, pp.198f.

65.
A hint that none of the lawyers associated with the Confessing Church in general and Martin Niemöller in particular, e.g. Horst Holstein, should be involved in his political, military trial.

II

Waiting for the Trial

August 1943 to April 1944

To his parents

[Tegel] 3 August 1943

Dear parents,

I’m really very happy and thankful that I can write to you oftener now, as I’m afraid you must be worrying about me, first because of the heat in my cell just under the roof, and secondly because of my asking for a lawyer. Your wonderful parcel has just come with tomatoes, apples, bottled fruit, thermos flask, etc., and the cooling salt, which is fantastic - I never knew there was such a thing. What trouble you have taken for me again. Please don’t worry; I’ve often had to put up with worse heat in Italy, Africa, Spain, Mexico, and, almost the worst of all, in New York in July 1939; so I’ve a fairly good idea what to do about it. I don’t eat or drink much,
¹
I sit quietly at my desk, and so manage to work unhindered. From time to time I refresh my body and soul with your lovely things. I don’t want to ask to be moved to another floor, as that would not be fair to the other prisoner who would have to come into my cell, probably without such things as tomatoes; and besides, it does not make much difference whether the temperature in the cell is 34 or only 30. Unfortunately I know that Hans always finds the heat trying; I’m sorry about that. One sees again and again how much easier it is to put up with a thing if one knows it cannot be changed, than if there seems to be a chance of relief round the corner.

About my request for a lawyer to defend me, I very much hope that this has not caused you any great anxiety, but that you are waiting, as I am, for things to take their course. You really mustn’t imagine that I am uneasy or depressed. Of course, this has been a disappointment for me, as I suppose it has been for you too. But in a way I feel freer now that I know my case will soon be finally cleared up, after we have been kept waiting for so long. I’m expecting more information any day.

It doesn’t matter if Rüdiger Goltz cannot now make himself available so quickly. Dr Roeder expressed the opinion that it is a case that any decent lawyer can cope with, and if he’s a competent, warm-hearted, respectable man who also can argue quietly and with distinction, keeping the tone that has so far been maintained
in the proceedings
²
- and you can best judge that - I am fully in agreement. Personally, I really have the feeling that one best says oneself what one has to say; but for legal matters, which. I do not understand, I imagine that a lawyer is necessary.

I sometimes wonder whether you wouldn’t do better for the immediate future to go to Sakrow in case of possible alerts.
³
Maria also suggested Pätzig, but communications there are so complicated and I don’t imagine that you will want to travel before my case is settled. Wouldn’t it be sensible for Renate to stay a while in the country with her mother-in-law and for her husband to try to arrange his work to fit in with that? It’s only an hour’s journey. But perhaps all my anxieties, as so often, are quite unnecessary. I hope so!

Once again I’ve been reading a number of good things.
J
ü
rg Jenatsch
brought back youthful memories and gave me a good deal of pleasure and interest. On historical matters I found the work about the Venetians very instructive and arresting. Will you please: send me some Fontane:
Frau Jenny Treibel, Irrungen und Wirrungen,
and
Stechltn?
This concentrated reading of the last few months; will be very useful for my work; one often learns more about: ethics from such books as these than from text-books. I like: Reuter’s
Kein Hüsung
as much as you do, mother. I expect I’ve: finished the Reuters now - or have you anything else particularly good?

By the way, another thought has struck me about the lawyer: it would be a good thing if the man could spare some time for me, and wasn’t too hasty. I think he should be like a doctor, who shouldn’t give the impression that he has a great many things to do.

I’ve just eaten a couple of the marvellous tomatoes from the: garden for my lunch, and thought of the work you’ve had in. picking them. But they’ve really ripened most gloriously. Very many thanks. And thank you, father, for your letter. I don’t suppose that any one of us loves Friedrichsbrunn less than anyone else. Just think, it’s thirty years this year since you bought it. I very much hope for a couple of fine days there with you. Perhaps it will also cure my lumbago.

I’ve already been allowed to write to Maria again since I saw her. I was very glad about that. I’m always so fearfully sorry about her going to court. But I found her looking better.

Are these hot days especially trying for Renate’s condition? I would be very sad about that. Many greetings to her and her husband, and of course to all the family. The other day I read this pretty verse in
Der Grüne Heinrich:

Und durch den starken Wellengang         
der See, die gegen mich verschworen,
geht mir von Euerem Gesang,                  
      wenn auch gedämpft, kein Ton verloren
⁴

With much love and good confidence,

your grateful Dietrich

I’ve just read the appeal for evacuation; couldn’t you at least spend the night in Sakrow for a while? The others will all have made their plans already. It’s really very annoying to have to sit here unnecessarily at the moment and wait. I hope we shall see each other soon!

D.

To his parents

[Tegel] 7 August 1943

Dear parents,

This letter is now going to you again instead of to Maria, as originally planned. I don’t know whether it is right to send letters to her with my present address on the envelope. All that sort of thing gets talked about in the village,
⁵
and there could be someone there who knows what Tegel, Seidelstrasse 39, means. I would rather that Maria were spared that. Besides, at the moment she is not even at home, and I want to be all the more careful not to put her in a position which I cannot look after from here. She already has enough to put up with. So I’m waiting until I hear from her what she thinks about it all. This having to wait for everything is the dominating feature of my present condition, and the nearer
one hopes to be getting to the end, the more difficult it is to be patient.

The heat has broken now, and once again I’m sitting at the table in my jacket. But I would like to thank you again for having eased the hot days so much for me. The journey to Tegel was always a great chore for you, I know.

I wonder whether you are still very much occupied with airraid precautions. After all that has been in the papers lately, one cannot help thinking out the whole matter afresh. I just remember that we talked once about the beams in the cellar and were rather doubtful about them; were not some alterations going to be made in the central beam? I wonder whether you are still thinking of it, and whether you can get anyone to help with the work. I think it might be very difficult now. How I should love to help you with it myself. Do tell me all about it; I’m interested in every detail.

What plans do my brothers and sisters have for the children? Will you be going to Sakrow, at least for nights?

To drag myself from these thoughts, at least for a short while, I’ve recently been reading Hauff’s fairy tales with great satisfaction. One is transported into a quite diffèrent world; the only thing is that one is always afraid of being aroused from the realm of fantasy and dreams to all too sober reality! I would very much like to read Lichtenstein again; I’ve a Reclam edition at home. The small print would not trouble me.