On April 23, Good Friday, Hans wrote to Dietrich””not knowing, of course, whether the letter would be delivered. His message was one of soul-searing regret:
That I am responsible for you, Christel, the children, and the parents having to bear this pain, that my beloved wife and you are robbed of freedom””you won’t believe how this depresses me”¦. If I knew that you all””and you personally””don’t think of me with reproaches, a weight would be lifted from my soul.
Dietrich quickly reassured him:
There is not a grain of reproach or bitterness in me regarding what has happened to you and me. Such things come from God, and only Him. And I know that you and Christel are at one with me, that before Him there is only submission, endurance, patience””and gratitude.
Read it all.
Elisabeth Sifton and Fritz Stern–The Tragedy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Hans von Dohnanyi
On April 23, Good Friday, Hans wrote to Dietrich””not knowing, of course, whether the letter would be delivered. His message was one of soul-searing regret:
That I am responsible for you, Christel, the children, and the parents having to bear this pain, that my beloved wife and you are robbed of freedom””you won’t believe how this depresses me”¦. If I knew that you all””and you personally””don’t think of me with reproaches, a weight would be lifted from my soul.
Dietrich quickly reassured him:
There is not a grain of reproach or bitterness in me regarding what has happened to you and me. Such things come from God, and only Him. And I know that you and Christel are at one with me, that before Him there is only submission, endurance, patience””and gratitude.
Read it all.