On April 9, 1945, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazis shortly before the end of World War Two. Bonhoeffer, who had coined the phrase “cheap grace” to describe Christian belief that did not involve personal transformation, had been a longtime critic of the Third Reich and National Socialism and had been arrested for being loosely implicated in a nineteen forty-four assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler.
Deitrich Bonhoeffer was just 39 when he was hung at Flossenburg Concenration Camp. For years he had tried to warn German churches that they would not escape the atrocities of the Nazis and that they should stand up against The Reich. Unfortunately, most didn’t listen. Bonhoeffer is a historical person families should be sure their children learn about.
