During the Holocaust, those who opposed Nazi actions against the Jews were as vulnerable to persecution as the Jews themselves, and many paid the ultimate price. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident, was among them.
The final days of his life are explored in this historical fiction play, Bonhoeffer – The Last Encounter, by Jeurgen K. Tossman, to be presented by Bunbury Theatre Company April 9-26.
Bonhoeffer was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity’s role in the secular world have become widely influential, and his book, The Cost of Discipleship, is regarded as a modern classic.
Apart from his theological writings, Bonhoeffer was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship, and was vocal in his opposition to Hitler’s euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews.
He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned at Tegel prison for a year and a half. Later, he was transferred to a Nazi concentration camp.
Accused of being associated with the plot to assassinate Adlof Hitler, Bonhoeffer was tried briefly along with other accused plotters including former members of the Abwehr, the German Military Intelligence Office.
He was hanged by the Nazis at Flossenburg Concentration Camp on April 9, 1945, just two weeks before the camp was liberated by the Second U.S. Cavalry.
Bunbury Theatre promises a urprise encounter at the end of the play that promises to have you thinking long after the curtain falls.
For ticket information, go to bunburytheatre.org or call 502-585-5306.
