WCC central committee moderator visits Bonhoeffer House

"The ecumenical movement was one of the most important influences on the theology and faith witness of German theologian and anti-Nazi resistance fighter Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” reflected Bedford-Strohm.”History became alive when the group met in the former home of the Bonhoeffer family with the grand piano, on which Bonhoeffer used to play, right beside them.”

Parts of Bonhoeffer‘s "Ethics" were written in the study. “It was there that Bonhoeffer was arrested by the Gestapo on 5 April 1943 and put into prison before he was executed as a resistance fighter on 9 April 1945,” said Bedford-Strohm. “Today, the Bonhoeffer House is a memorial and place of encounter, run by a church-related nonprofit association.”

Groups from all over the world visit to experience the house, exhibition, and atmosphere. “Public events in the house include talks and discussions on the German anti-Nazi resistance or on civil courage in the threats to human dignity today,” said Bedford-Strohm. 

In an exchange, Tobias Korenke, one of Bonhoeffer`s grandnephews and now deputy chair of the board, shared his own insights on Bonhoeffer and the relevance of his witness for today. 

Bedford-Strohm underlined the central importance of Bonhoeffer to the ecumenical movement, but also, vice versa, how important ecumenism was to his own thinking. “It is reflected in the remarkable fact that the first publication of those of Bonhoeffer's texts after his death, which are now among the best known, came from the headquarters of the forerunner of the World Council of Churches in Geneva,” noted Bedford-Strohm. “Under the title ’The Testimony of a Messenger: In Memory of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,’ a 60-page booklet was published there in 1945, only a few months after his death, with an introduction, an essay by Visser't Hooft on his encounters with Bonhoeffer, and Bonhoeffer's own texts, including the treatise ‘After Ten Years,’ passages from ‘The Cost of Discipleship,’ poems such as ‘Christians and Pagans,’ and ‘Who Am I,’ as well as his thoughts on the worldliness of Christianity.”

Arno Helwig, manager of the Bonhoeffer House, reported about already existing international cooperations and shared plans of strengthening the international outreach of this unique historical site in the near future. 

“Considering the enormous inspirational force of Bonhoeffer’s theology and witness all over the world, the Bonhoeffer House can be an international place of inspiration and reflection on how to live the Bonhoeffer legacy today,” said Bedford-Strohm.