The Aftermath of the World Wars in Europe

We ended the previous study with the sermon preached by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1933 on
the very day on which the German state church reached an accommodation with the Nazis
in the form of a concordat between official Lutheranism and the itler re!ime" #s is well
$nown% Bonhoeffer was arrested in 19&3 accused of bein! involved in plot to assassinate
itler" e spent the last two years of his life in prison awaitin! e'ecution% which finally too$
place in #pril% 19&(" Durin! those prison years% isolated and under sentence of death%
Bonhoeffer constantly wrestled with the central )uestions which came out of the crisis of
the times throu!h which he had lived" e is deeply conscious of the seriousness of the
situation and says that there *has never been a !eneration in human history with so little
!round under its feet*" +he rationalist tradition stemmin! from the ,nli!htenment is in
tatters and the *!reat mas)uerade of evil* in the twentieth century has *wrou!ht havoc with
our ethical preconceptions*" But the crisis confronts reli!ion and the church with searchin!
)uestions as well% and Bonhoeffer says that he $eeps returnin! to the issue of what
-hristianity is. What *is -hrist for us today.* /eli!ion is discredited and in retreat and this
compels the )uestion how -hrist can become the Lord *even of those with no reli!ion*. 0n
a famous phrase he as$s whether there can be a *reli!ionless -hristianity*. e confesses
that he is drawn more toward people without reli!ion than to those who retain it1 *While 0
often shrin$ with reli!ious people from spea$in! of God""" because 2that3 Name somehow
seems here not to rin! true""" with people who have no reli!ion 0 am able to spea$ of God
)uite openly and naturally*" 0n a famous passa!e from a letter written in 19&&% he writes
that the God of the Bible allowed himself *to be ed!ed out of the world and on to the cross*"
+he Bible directs reveals *the powerlessness and sufferin! of God4 only a suffering God
can help' " #lmost at the end of his life Bonhoeffer writes notes reflectin! on the baptism of
one of his nephews% and as he contemplates what lies ahead for this child he says1

We are !ropin! after somethin! new and revolutionary without bein! able to
understand or e'press it yet""""" By the time you are !rown up the form of the -hurch
will have chan!ed beyond reco!nition"""" 0t is not for us to prophesy the day% but the
day will come when men will be called a!ain to utter the word of God with such power
as will chan!e and renew the world" 0t will be a new lan!ua!e that will horrify men%
but yet overwhelm them by its power""" 5ntil then the -hristian cause will be a silent
and hidden affair% but there will be those who pray and do ri!ht and wait for God*s
own time"
1
Bonhoeffer*s wor$ was% and remains% one of the most important le!acies for ,uropean
-hristianity in the postwar period" is thou!hts on the crisis of reli!ion became
increasin!ly si!nificant in the aftermath of the war" 0t is impossible to e'a!!erate the sense
of complete e'haustion and despair e'perienced across the continent when the conflict
came to an end" ,uropean cities without number were left desolate and ruined" #erial
bombardment had be!un with the German bombin! of /otterdam% -oventry and London%
but the retribution inflicted by allied bombin!s in 19&& and 19&( resulted in terrible
dama!e" 0n addition% the advance of the /ed #rmy from the east brou!ht a foretaste of
#rma!eddon% so that an #merican diplomat could say that the disaster which came to this
area as the /ussians pushed West had *no parallel in modern ,uropean e'perience*" 0n
many places the violence was such that literally no6one was left alive4 in 7ienna% 89%:::
1 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 'Thoughts on the Baptism of DWR' in Letters and Papers from Prison (London:Fontana,1959,
1!"
women were reported to have been raped by ;oviet soldiers" u!e numbers of children
were left orphaned and abandoned1 in Berlin (3%::: children were on the what was left of
the streets4 in -zechoslova$ia% &9%:::4 in the Netherlands% <:%:::= But the sufferin! of
civilian populations in the ,ast was also massive1 9:%::: villa!es and 1%9:: towns were
completely destroyed in the ;oviet 5nion% while cities li$e >iev and Warsaw were reduced
to smoulderin! piles of rubble" 0t has been estimated that over 3< million ,uropeans were
$illed between 1939 and 19&( as a direct result of the war% a fi!ure which far e'ceeds the
death toll in World War ?ne"
@

0t is worth pausin! to notice the ministry of one e'traordinary German pastor in the midst of
this devastation and death" elmut +hielic$e preached to a lar!e con!re!ation in the
German city of ;tutt!art throu!hout the war" e describes the way in which his sermons
on the Lord*s Arayer were delivered durin! air raids which eventually destroyed every
church buildin! in the city and $illed most of his hearers" ?ne of these messa!es on the
petition% *+hy >in!dom -ome*% has a footnote which says1 *+his sermon was delivered"""
when the church had been reduced to pitiful ruins 2and3 the centre of ;tutt!art was totally
destroyed*" e describes how in this situation he had been overwhelmed with distress1 *my
listeners scattered to the four winds4 the churches in rubble and ashes*" e had been
loo$in! into a bomb crater where fifty youn! people had died when a youn! woman
approached him and said1 *By husband died down there""" +he clean6up s)uad could find
no trace of him4 all that was left was his cap""" ere before this pit 0 want to than$ you for
preparin! him for eternity*" +hielic$e responded% *+here are moments when we become
speechless children" #nd God can ta$e our lac$ of words and ma$e of it a praise" That's
how God can comfort; that's how he can let his kingdom come'.
3

# The figures are ta$en from Ton% &udt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (London:'intage Boo$s,#"1",
1!(#)
* +e,mut Thie,ic$e, The Prayer That Spans The Word (-am.ridge: &ames -,ar$e19!5, !5(!!