“But God would not bring down the walls of the prison like those of Jericho. They were carefully composed after hours of prayer and meditation.Ĭharles Marsh wrote these revealing words about Bonhoeffer: He would mail them to his parents who in turn would mail them directly to prisoners. Once he was released from solitary and given pen and paper, he would write prayers and blessings for his fellow prisoners.

Nights carried the sobs of his fellow prisoners broken by confinement - his new congregation. His first twelve days were spent in solitary confinement, shackled hand and foot. It would be four months before he was shown the warrant for his arrest. The staff had been instructed not to speak to the new arrival. The next morning dry bread was tossed through a crack in the door. For a young man of privilege who had slept on the best linen and was always German clean, it this was very unclean. The blankets were soiled and the wooden bed very hard. That night, April 5,1943, even though his Uncle had been the Commandant of Berlin, Bonhoeffer shivered from the cold in his reception cell. He was escorted from his home in handcuffs to their black Mercedes. He went to see them and took his Bible and a copy of Plutarch.

Around 4:00 pm, his father came over and told him that there were two men upstairs that wanted to talk to him. He returned to his room, put his papers in order, and had a meal with his father. He informed his sister, Ursula, and told her he would be next. He knew that the Gestapo had made their move. Their phone was answered by an unfamiliar man’s voice, so Bonhoeffer hung up. On April 5th Bonhoeffer was at home and called the home of his sister and brother-in-law, the Von Dohananyis, around noon.

By early April 1943, the Gestapo had gathered enough evidence to arrest Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Dietrich bonhoeffer letters from prison