[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 17 (Wednesday, February 7, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S1152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

 Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I rise today to bring attention to 
the life of one of the 20th-century's most inspirational leaders, the 
anti-Nazi theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The author of numerous 
books, most notably, ``The Cost of Discipleship'' and ``Letter and 
Papers From Prison,'' Mr. Bonhoeffer spent time in the United States as 
a student at Union Seminary in New York.
  It was after his stay in the United States that Dietrich Bonhoeffer 
returned to his native Germany and voiced opposition to the practices 
of Hitler and his Nazi regime. As an ardent pacifist, not only did he 
speak out against Nazi terrors and propaganda, but Mr. Bonhoeffer was 
centrally involved in transporting Jews from Germany to Switzerland in 
an effort to spare them from the Nazis.
  In 1943 Mr. Bonhoeffer was arrested and sent to the Buchenwald 
concentration camp. Then, at the age of 39, on April 9, 1945, just 2 
days before the arrival of the Allied forces, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was 
hanged by the Nazis.
  Despite Dietrich Bonhoeffer's heroics, he is still regarded by German 
law as a traitor. Ten years ago, German Parliament condemned Nazi 
``people's courts'' and voided their convictions. However, the 
declaration did not pertain to the SS courts, where Mr. Bonhoeffer was 
condemned. today, I formally urge my colleagues on both sides of the 
isle to support posthumous rehabilitation for Mr. Bonhoeffer and to 
urge the German Parliament to declare that all convictions by the SS 
courts were illegal.
  Mr. President, Dietrich Bonhoeffer should serve as an inspiration to 
all of us for he sought change where change often times seemed 
impossible. He joined his church, and changed it. He lived in Nazi 
Germany where the message of a superior Aryan race separated man from 
man and thus man from God. But, rather than accept the Nazi 
dictatorship, he openly opposed Hitler and the regime. for his 
conviction to justice, equality, and peace, Dietrich Bonhoeffer had his 
life violently taken from him. Surely he deserves our best efforts to 
legally clear his name and to celebrate his legacy of courage and 
commitment.

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