History Recap: Germany Pre-WWII The once flourishing country had been crippled economically and politically by the first World War 1921: 75 marks = $1 U.S. 1923: 4 billion marks = $1 U.S. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's dad used an insurance policy, which he had invested in for decades, to purchase a measly few strawberries Instability, depression, and humiliation were the necessary factors for Hilter's acension. Hilter, a cunning and ruthless manipulator, branded himself a champion of the German people and of the church Where Dietrich Bonhoeffer Fits In At this point in time, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was studying at the university in Berlin. He had a brilliant mind. He took his first doctorate at 21 and a second three years later He loved academia, but he loved the church more Bonhoeffer was essentially a professor by day and a youth pastor by night Hilter and Bonhoeffer: On a Collision Course In 1933, Hitler passed the Aryan Paragraph, effectively removing anyone of non-Aryan or Jewish heritage from civil service, including the church Most church leaders compromised, but Bonhoeffer responded with a prophetic charisma, calling Christians to action He said, “It is not enough just to bandage the victims under the wheel–but to put a spoke in the wheel itself” Bonhoeffer would be joined by thousands of German church leaders, forming a resistance movement known as the Confessing Church It was too little, too late Hilter made it illegal to associate with non-Nazi churches Bonhoeffer could not stand idly by and made the difficult decision to align himself with the conspiracy movement After three failed assassination attempts, Bonhoeffer and his co-conspirators were arrested by the Gestapo. He would spend the next two years in prison The End–For Me the Beginning Dietrich left behind a complicated legacy. Was he right? wrong? God only knows What Bonhoeffer does teach us is the difference between “cheap grace” and "costly grace" According to Bonhoeffer, costly grace is “costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life” On April 8, 1945, Bonhoeffer was shuttled to his execution His final recorded words were this, “This is the end–for me the beginning of life”