Context

• The topic of this story is Deitrich Bonhoeffer and his involvement in an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. The learners are third year theology students studying recent Church History. The students have just studied the liberal theology movement started by Rudolf Bultmann and promulgated by the Faculty of Berlin University. Many view the influence of the liberal theologians as instrumental in the rise and reign of the third reich. Bonhoeffer, is a prominent leader in the Confessing Church, and movement in opposition to liberal theology.

• Title Page:

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Situational Pacifist

• Narration

• Many are familiar with Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theological works, however the following story details his journey being pastor and professor to Nazi resistor and would be accomplice in the assassination of Adolf Hitler.

• Media:

• Photo of Bonhoeffer running lengthwise

• Music: Nie Serdis, Maginot Minded, Bleak House, or the Loss

Frame 1

• Narration:

• Many students of theology are familiar with the Bonhoeffer’s writings on ethics, discipleship, and fellowship as a Christian community. He has been renowned as a pastor, professor, and author.

• Media

• Alternating pics of Bonhoeffer’s works Ethics, the Cost of Discipleship, & Life Together

Frame 2

• Narration:

• Bonhoeffer is well known as a pacifist, based on his theological work cost of discipleship. Until recently, with the advent of Eric Metaxas book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, Bonhoeffer’s role in an anti-Nazi movement had not been looked at seriously.

• Media

• Picture of Obama holding a copy of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

Frame 3

• Narration:

• To comprehend how Bonhoeffer moved from his role of influencing young aspiring ministers and pastoring his local congregation one must recognize the tension caused in the German church by the Nazi party and know a bit of his background.

• Media

• Image of Bonhoeffer with box

Frame 4

• Narration: Germany was home to the foremost theological school in the world, Berlin University. The faculty of the school was known for its Liberal Theology.

• Media

• Picture of Berlin University

Frame 5

• Narration: The early German churches and the nation as a whole were influened by this libaral theology. The nation prided itself in its son Martin Luther and considered itself a “Christian nation.” However, the general attitude of the German churchgoer was one of superficiality. This theological liberalism led to a nation that considered itself Christian becoming one of the greatest persecutors of the Jewish people.

• Media

• Image of a reich church pulpit

Frame 6

• Narration

• Bonhoeffer decided when he was 14 that he wanted to go to Berlin to study Theology.

• However, Bonhoeffer was not a Liberal theologian but a student of Karl Barth. Barth was opposed to Theological Liberaism.

• Media

• Time Magazine cover image of Karl Barth

Frame 7

• Narration

• Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany on January 30th 1933. In his early speeches as a rising leader of Germany and as Chancellor, Hitler marketed himself to the people as a Christian.

• Media

• Image of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Swaztika

Frame 8

• Narration

• He proves to be fundamentally opposed to Christianity and later in his rain declares “It’s been our misfortune to have the wrong religion. Why didn’t we have the religion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the highest good? The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?"

• Media

• Image of Hitler Saluting

Frame 9

• Narration

• Prior to anyone else making a declaration concerning Hitler and the Nazi regime, tow days after Hitler becomes chancellor and on national radio, Bonhoeffer, the young professor, dissects the Führer Principle espoused by the Hitler and the Nazi Party.

• Media

• image of Bonhoeffer hand to head,

Frame 10

• Narration

• Hitler used the Führer (literally the Leader) Principle to get to the position of chancellor and eventually to be called the Führer of Germany

• Media

• Image: Hitler “Der Fuhrer”

Frame 11

• Narration

• Bonhoeffer’s ancestory consists many prominent figures in Germany during this time. His father, Karl Bonhoeffer, was a prominent scientist. His father expected Dietrich and his siblings to be attentive thinkers. This and the fact that his family was among social circles that were privy to information led him to be one of the first to speak out against the rise of the Third Reich.

• Media

• Picture of Bonhoeffer's parents

Frame 12

• Narration

• Early in the 1930s most pastors in Germany gave in to the Hitler and the Nazis. But there was a remnant that understood that the Nazis needed t be stopped. Dietrich Bonhoeffer led the resistance against the Nazis and was a key player along with Martin Niemöller and Karl Barth to take a stand. Together, in 1934, they drafted the Barmen Declaration separating themselves from the Reich church. Those opposed to the Reich Church were referred to as the Confessing Church.

• Media

• Images of Neimöller, Barth, and Bonhoeffer

Frame 13

• Narration

• Bonhoeffer begins smuggling Jews out of Germany. After some close calls with Nazi officials he begins to feel them closing in on him and he travels to the United States to escape. Once he disembarks the ship in New York Harbor he realizes that he should be in Germany to stand with his people against Hitler.

• Media

• Image of New York harbor

Frame 13

• Narration

• Upon his return to Germany in 1940, as an opponent of Hitler, he becomes a spy. His brother-in-law, works for German Military Intelligence, Abwehr, which is the center of opposition against Hitler and the Gestapo. During this time he becomes a part of a plot to assassinate Hitler.

• Media

• Image of his arrest

Frame 15

• Narration

• In 1943, as part of his duties with Abwehr his spy work, Bonhoeffer is arrested when he is caught smuggling Jews from Germany to Switzerland. He is then sent to prison at Tegel. However, the Gestapo did not make the connection with the conspiracy.

• Media

• Picture of Tegel military prison

Frame 16

• Narration

• While in prison, on July 20, 1044, the Abwehr attempted to assassinate Hitler at the Wolf’s lair in their closest to success attempt. The attempt fails and exposes the efforts of the conspiracy. Bonhoeffer’s name was discovered as a part of the conspiracy and he was sentenced to death and transferred to Flossenbürg concentration camp.

• Media

• Image of the Wolf’s Lair after the explosion

Frame 17

• Narration

• On April 9, 1945 by a specific, direct order from Hitler himself, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was murdered execution style.

• Media

• Image of the location of Bonhoeffer’s execution.

Frame 18

• Bonhoeffer stays true to his faith as a Christian until his death. 18h hours before his execution he preaches a sermon to his fellow prisoners at Flossengürg. Holding true to this quote of him,"Silence in the face of evil is evil itself."

• Media

• Text of quote.

• Closing music.

Frame 19

MM Principles 1. Coherence Principle - Tried to eliminate extraneous information that is not

relevant to Bonhoeffer’s transition. 2. Signaling Principle - queuing schemas of Liberal theology that students

studied in the previous unit 3. Redundancy Principle - limited the presentation to images and narration or

narration and text. I did not use all three together 4. Temporal Contiguity Principle - Images are presented simultaneously with

related words 5. Modality Principle - The majority of the presentation is narration and images.

images and onscreen text are not used 8. Multimedia Principle - Images are used as well as narration 9. Personalization Principle - Presentation will be made in conversational style. 10.Voice Principle -The voice over will be done by a human and not automated.