Summary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 Bonhoeffer wrote this final paragraph at the end of 1942 or in autumn 1943. It was never completed, but it was planned as part of After Ten Years. The German text does not appear in the new German edition of Letters and Papers, but in Gesammelte Schriften II, p. 441.

#2 I am fine, and I am grateful for the small things in prison. I am anxious about my fiancée, though, who has only recently lost her father and brother in the East.

#3 Dietrich had not thought of the most obvious things first. He had not written to Dietrich, but he wanted to let him know that people were thinking about him. He had many heartfelt questions, but this note could not be more than the need to tell him all sorts of inconsequential matters.

#4 I want you to know that I am grateful to you for everything you have been and are to my wife, my children, and myself. I hope that you can be free soon, and that the two of you can be together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669372844

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Insights on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Bonhoeffer wrote this final paragraph at the end of 1942 or in autumn 1943. It was never completed, but it was planned as part of After Ten Years. The German text does not appear in the new German edition of Letters and Papers, but in Gesammelte Schriften II, p. 441.

#2

I am fine, and I am grateful for the small things in prison. I am anxious about my fiancée, though, who has only recently lost her father and brother in the East.

#3

Dietrich had not thought of the most obvious things first. He had not written to Dietrich, but he wanted to let him know that people were thinking about him. He had many heartfelt questions, but this note could not be more than the need to tell him all sorts of inconsequential matters.

#4

I want you to know that I am grateful to you for everything you have been and are to my wife, my children, and myself. I hope that you can be free soon, and that the two of you can be together.

#5

I am still being treated well, and I am allowed out of doors for half an hour every day. I am reading a lot, and I am reading the Bible. I am very thankful for everything.

#6

I have been in Austria for three weeks now. I like going to bed at eight o’clock, and I look forward to my dreams. I never knew before what a source of pleasure dreaming can be. I dream every day, and always about something pleasant.

#7

I was outside with Susi when I brought you the things. I hope I’ve sent you the items roughly what you wanted. You must see that you keep your strength up. We have just received a letter from you, and we are eagerly awaiting the next.

#8

Easter is over, and everyday life now has its due. We have missed you very much in the past days. We’ve chiefly been working in the garden and music has taken a back place. But it has not been absent altogether.

#9

I have had four weeks in prison. I was able to accept my lot from the beginning, but I am now getting used to it in a natural and unconscious way. I am learning to live without trust, but I hope that one day I will be able to share the joys of their home.

#10

I received many gifts from my friends, including a clothes brush, mirror, towel, face-cloth, and warm socks. I was also given Holl, Church History, the volume on the West, and something to smoke.

#11

The how is more important than anything that happens to you from outside. It allays all the anxieties about the future which sometimes torment us. Thank you again for remembering me every day and for all that you are doing on my behalf.

#12

I am writing to you to tell you that I have been engaged to Maria von Wedemeyer since January. It was not to be mentioned until the summer, and I was only to tell my parents. It’s a severe trial for Maria, but she is brave, cheerful, and confident, so I am very encouraged.

#13

The past is important because it teaches us what not to do. It is important to be realistic and not to idealize it, and to remember that we are all subject to self-deception.

#14

The present is determined by what is uppermost in the memory. The past and future are interrupted by a gap of indifference, boredom, and sickness.

#15

I asked the Judge Advocate of the War Court on 20 April 1943 for permission to visit my son Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was under investigation for five weeks. My request was refused. I repeated this request for my wife and myself since my son had been under investigation for more than thirty years.

#16

The wedding was on Saturday, and the family planned to celebrate it happily. They were