A Postscript to VE Day: Bonhoeffer’s Creed

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed for his resistance to Hitler on 9 April 1945 in Flossenbürg Concentration Camp, only four weeks before VE Day. He wrote this creed days before his execution by the Gestapo:

I believe that God can and will generate good out of everything, even out of the worst evil. For that, he needs people who allow that everything that happens fits into a pattern for good.

I believe that God will give us in each state of emergency as much power of resistance as we need. But he will not give in advance, so that we do not rely on ourselves but on him alone. Through such faith all anxiety concerning the future should be overcome.

I believe that even our mistakes and failings are not in vain, and that it is not more difficult for God to cope with these as with our assumed good deeds.

I believe that God is not a timeless fate, but that he waits for and responds to honest prayers and responsible action. Amen.

(Flossenbürg Concentration Camp today: Walking into the light)