Bonhoeffer leaves Germany for London
Bonhoeffer and a colleague were put in charge of drafting a theological confession which ultimately became so watered down as it was passed around that he refused to work on the final edition. But in this time he wrote to his grandmother stating his concern for the movements among the German church:
It is becoming increasingly clear to me that what we're going to get is a big, popular, national church whose nature cannot any longer be reconciled with Christianity and that we must be prepared to enter upon entirely new paths which we will have to tread. The question really is: Germanism or Christianity? The sooner the conflict comes out into the open, the better.In September there was the "brown synod," a conference of Lutheran church leaders in which the majority of delegates appeared in brown uniform. When the topic of the Aryan clause came up, the opposition was "literally shouted down." They left the hall and thus no member of the minority was present for the Prussian representatives for the national synod were elected. In the meetings that followed Bonhoeffer and Hildebrandt (Bonohoeffer's Jewish brother-in-law who was already a Christian pastor) argued for widespread resignation. However, the other leaders of the opposition, including Karl Barth, argued that they needed to save their ammunition for future battles.
In all of this Bonhoeffer was feeling a need for a retreat and honestly wondering if he was wrong on some of his reactions.
I feel that in some way I don't understand, I find myself in radical opposition to all my friends; I became increasingly isolated with my views of things, even though I was and remain personally close to these people. All this has frightened me and shaken my confidence so that I began to fear that dogmatism might be leading me astray--since there seemed no particular reason why my own view in these matters should be any better, any more right, than the views of many really capable pastors whom I sincerely respect--and so I thought it was about time to go into the wilderness for a spell ... It seems to me that at the moment it is more dangerous for me to make a gesture than to retreat into silence.On October 14, 1933, Hitler announced that Germany had left the League of Nations. This was the chancellor's reply to the rejection of his demand for "equality of status" and it was welcomed by all Germans, including the church opposition. In the name of the Pastors' Emergency League, Martin Niemoller immediately sent a telegram to the Fuhrer expressing gratitude and swearing loyal allegiance. This view was not shared by Bonhoeffer and Hildebrandt.
On October 16, Bonhoeffer and Hildebrandt departed for London. They planned to share Bonhoeffer's salary as pastor of a German congregation between them.
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