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6 February 2006
Deputy-Ambassador Blomeyer-Bartenstein honours Christian Martyr and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer at Westminister Abbey
 Deputy-Ambassador
Blomeyer-Bartenstein
co-hosted a special service at Westminster Abbey on Sunday 5 February, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the German protestant theologian and Christian
Martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was murdered by the Nazis in the Flossenbürg concentration camp in April 1945.
The ecumenical mass at Westminster Abbey on Sunday was conducted by Canon Sagovsky and Bishop Margot Käßmann, and was preceded by a
service at St George's German Lutheran Church, where Bonhoeffer himself had worked as a pastor during his stay in London from 1933-35.
Among the 1,000 guests at the service in Westminster Abbey were close relatives of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who had travelled especially to London for
the event. Speaking at Sunday's service Deputy-Ambassador Blomeyer-Bartenstein emphasised the continued importance of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life:
 "Like many of his
contemporaries in the struggle against National Socialist tyranny, it was not granted to him to experience the restoration of freedom and justice in Germany. His sacrifice stands both as a
warning and a lasting obligation for future generations. The values for which Bonhoeffer fought and paid with his life must never again be cast into doubt in Germany".
Deputy-Ambassador Blomeyer-Bartenstein with Canon Sagorsky
Parallel ceremonies were held in Berlin on 4 and 5 February and were attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury,  Rowan Williams. The ceremonies in London and Berlin, are the conclusion of a year of commemoration of
German Christian Martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who in July 1998 was honoured with the unveiling of a statue - one of ten on the Abbey's West Front which celebrate the lives of Christian Martyrs in the 20
Century - by HM the Queen.
Bonhoeffer, who as a young man studied at the Humboldt University in Berlin, was not just an outstanding intellectual. He saw his main task in criticising Nazi ideology, which he vehemently and publicly opposed. In
1933, Bonhoeffer took up a post as pastor of two German-speaking parishes in London. On his return to Germany, he resumed his struggle against the Nazi regime, not only protesting against the exclusion of people of
Jewish origin from Church offices, but risking his own life by smuggling Jewish fellow-citizens across the border to safety.
The period from the 60th anniversary of his death on 9 April 2005 to the 100th anniversary of his birth in February 2006 is being marked by numerous commemorative events, including the recent international
conference "Bonhoeffer's Theology through the Lens of his Poetry" at Harris Manchester College, Oxford, from 4-6 January 2006. An overview of all the events to conclude the Bonhoeffer Commemorative Year:
- "Resisting Tyranny", an exhibition of works of art documenting Bonhoeffer's life and work in cooperation with Amnesty International. Methodist Central Hall,
Westminster, 25 January - 19 February 2006,
Monday - Sunday 10 am – 4 pm, and Thursday, 10 am - 8 pm
- Commemorative Service on 29 January 2006 at 11 a.m. at the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Church, 50 Dacres Road, Forest Hill, London SE23 2NR
- "Bonhoeffer in London 1933-1935", an exhibition accompanied by readings and organ music at St. George's Church, Saturday, 4 February 2006, from 2.30 p.m. (55 Alie
Street, Tower Hamlets, London E1 8EB)
- World Premiere of Richard von Schoor's Bonhoeffer Mass during Morning Service at St George's Church, 5 February 2005 at 11 a.m. (55 Alie Street, Tower Hamlets, London E1
8EB). Following the service the Minister Plenipotentiary of the German Embassy in London, Mr. Blomeyer-Bartenstein, will those present.
- Concluding Event:
Ecumenical Service at Westminster Abbey on 5 February 2005 at 6.30 pm, guest preacher Landesbischöfin Dr.
Margot Käßmann, Hanover. Followed by a private reception at the Westminster Abbey Jerusalem Chamber hosted by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster and the Minister
Plenipotentiary of the German Embassy London, Mr. Blomeyer-Bartenstein.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was honoured in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey on 1 April 2005, just days before the 60th Anniversary of his
execution by the Nazis on 9 April 1945. A statue of Bonhoeffer, one of ten on the Abbey's West Front which celebrate the lives of Christian Martyrs in the 20 Century, was unveiled by HM the Queen on 9 July 1998.
 German Ambassador Thomas Matussek
addressed the ceremony, which was opened by the Dean of Westminster Cathedral, the Very Reverend Dr Wesley Carr. Pastor Dr Bindewald, representing the German Evangelical Church, also
spoke at the ceremony. A bouquet of flowers was layed at the statue.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in 1906 in Breslau and at 13 decided to join the church. He was distinguished early on by his exceptional
intelligence and intellectual curiosity and openness towards other faiths. Within the church he was an early opponent of the Nazi regime, and saw
its ideology as a counter-religion, and thus a threat to Christianity itself. In October 1933 he moved to Britain where he received the support of
Bishop Bell of Chichester. On his return to Germany he set up an illegal seminary which was shut down by the Gestapo in 1937. In 1939 he travelled to the USA, but on the outbreak of war, and ignoring the obvious
dangers to himself, returned immediately to Germany, convinced that a Nazi victory would destroy Christian civilisation.
 Henceforth he saw it as
his Christain duty to actively oppose this criminal regime and became increasingly involved with groups dedicated to its overthrow. In March 1943 he was arrested and incarcerated. Following the failed
assassination plot against Hitler in July 1944, hundreds of political prisoners were executed. Bonhoeffer himself survived until 9 April 1945, just days before the end of the war.
Speech of the Ambassador Thomas Matussek at the Ceremony to remember Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed in April 1945
Dr. Carr,
My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,
 And an especially warm
welcome to all those with us today who are connected – by kinship or by friendship – with Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his family.
It gives me very great pleasure to be able to welcome you here at Westminster Abbey. We are guests of the Abbey and the Church of England. For this I would like to express my special
thanks to the Dean of Westminster Abbey, Dr. Wesley Carr.
We have gathered to remember a great figure. Here above the West Front of Westminister Abbey stand the statues of ten Martyrs of the Twentieth Century: men and women who
paid for their beliefs with their lives. One of them is Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
All are from different continents and different churches. And there is further testimony to the monstrosity of the Nazi regime – alongside
Dietrich Bonhoeffer stands the Polish Franciscan Maximilian Kolbe, a victim of that same brutal tyranny.
One thing they all had in common: their belief.
 Dietrich Bonhoeffer started
out as a brilliant theologian, and today he remains central to the doctrinal thinking of the Evangelical Church, a guiding figure for future generations. But beyond this, his life calls upon us to reflect on what it
means to live under a dictatorship, and the terrible challenges it brings. Dietrich Bonhoeffer took up those challenges.
The life and work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer cast more light both on the dictatorship and the resistance than could any historical study. His priesthood in London and work with the
Ecumenical movement (1933-35), his teaching mission, conducted first legally and then in secret, at the Training Seminary of Finkenwalde (1935-37), the ever-worsening situation in Germany, and his return just before
the outbreak of the war – all this provides deep insights into an inexorable and terrible process. All these were stations on a journey "from criticism
to resistance". Today we can follow Dietrich Bonhoeffer on this path, through his thoughts, his work and his suffering in the German resistance.
He is a model for us, and a sign that there is always an alternative. That gives him his value in our own time too. We owe him a great deal. He is one of those lights in the darkness which allow us to hope.
At the heart of all remembrance of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is his faith. From this he drew the courage and determination to face and fight the evil of his
time. For this, in the end, he gave his life.
Through his time as priest here, Dietrich Bonhoeffer had a special relationship with Britain. In Bishop Bell of Chichester he found a congenial
friend with whom he pursued common goals, especially in the ecumenical cause. They met during Bonhoeffer's time in London and afterwards maintained their close spiritual bond, holding simultaneous prayers in their
congregations. They saw each other for the last time in 1942, in Sweden, from where Bonhoeffer returned to Germany, where he was arrested in 1943 on a pretext and detained in the Flossenbürg concentration camp. It
testifies to the intensity of this spiritual and personal relationship that Bonhoeffer's very last words in prison were addressed to Bishop Bell.
They were passed on by a fellow-prisoner, and Bishop Bell learnt of them when he visited Bonhoeffer's parents in Berlin in October 1945:
"Tell him that this is for me the end, but also the beginning – with him I believe in the principle of our Universal Christian Brotherhood which rises
above all national hatreds and that our victory is certain."
My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Just one month before the end of the war, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the National Socialist regime in Germany. Today we remember him with gratitude and reverence.
Ambassador's speech for the 50th Anniversary of the German Speaking Synod in Britain.
Frau Deprés,
My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Meine Damen und Herren,
Most of you I have already seen at Westminster Abbey. Nevertheless, I would like once again to welcome you all most warmly here in the Residence.
A few moments ago, we witnessed a moving commemoration at Westminster Abbey. I would like to express my warmest gratitude to the
German Congregations in the United Kingdom for so enthusiastically supporting our initiative of a special event in honour of Dietrich Bonhoeffer at Westminster Abbey. My special thanks again to the Dean of
Westminster Abbey, Dr. Wesley Carr, for his kind hospitality towards us. To be honest, we were very surprised by the overwhelming response, but of course absolutely delighted.
But I would like also to welcome you here for a quite different occasion. Today the "Evangelische Synode der deutschsprachigen Gemeinden in
Großbritannien" begins its annual conference. Its special focus, together with the remembrance and commemoration of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is to look back at its founding fifty years ago, in 1955.
In fact, the history of German-speaking congregations in Britain goes even further back. The first merger took place in Liverpool in 1904. The same
year saw the consecration of the new Christuskirche in Knightsbridge, in November 1904. Some of you were already guests here last November, when we celebrated the one-hundred year history of the Christuskirche
and its service to the community. Other German congregrations go back still further, the oldest indeed to the 17th century.
It is not my task to give a detailed history of the Synod. But I would just like to highlight two points.
First: I believe it is of great importance that the relations between the Synod and the Evangelische Kirche in Germany have stabilised and
strengthened in the last two decades. I consider the ties between the German-speaking congregations here in Britain and their sister Church in Germany to be of great importance.
Secondly: the relationship between the Evangelical Church in Germany and the Anglican Church has undergone a profound development. The
most important factor in this has been the Meissen Agreement of 1991. Since then, the two Churches have moved forward in many areas of fellowship and collaboration, both within our countries and as part of
worldwide ecumenism. This development has also benefited the German-speaking congregrations of the Synod. In the words of the last report of the Meissen Commission: "The close relationships that already exist in
many places have deepened. The inclusion of the Synod in the relationship between the EKD and the Church of England has resulted in an increase in joint work."
You can imagine that I am extremely delighted by the strengthening ties between the Churches in Germany and Britain, but also especially by the
ever greater cooperation between the German-speaking congregations here in Britain and their counterparts in the Anglican Church, as this contributes significantly to friendship and fellowship between our two
countries and their peoples.
Allow me to add a personal word. We live in a time of great upheaval. In the age of globalisation, people in our western societies in particular seem
to possess endless possibilities. But I believe that in these times we need not less, but more orientation, including religious orientation and therefore faith.
The German-speaking congregations in the United Kingdom have long played an important and essential role. I would like to thank everyone
who, both professionally and voluntarily, has contributed to this.
I wish the 50th Synod every success.
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