Details from the Life of the Bonhoeffer Family: New Insights about the Biography and Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the Memoirs of his Youngest Sister Susanne

Abstract

Just recently, the autobiography of Susanne Bonhoeffer, the younger sister of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, has been rediscovered. She has bequeathed an excellent and extensive description of her family’s life and reveals new insights about the Bonhoeffer family and the history of her time. Her work will be a substantial contribution to further research. As the editor of this challenging project, I would like to investigate how this text may affect our perception of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s biography and theology. A lot of information about Dietrich Bonhoeffer is offered in the autobiography of his sister Susanne – last but not least about his time in prison, when Susanne was sent by her family to visit him every week and support him as far as possible. Besides, her biographical accounts often contain theological insights – e.g. when Susanne relates how Dietrich supported her on the occasion of her confirmation. Most of this confirms the image which has been established by earlier publications, especially those of Eberhard Bethge. This is not surprising, since Bethge extensively made use of the manuscript of Susanne. However, even if our perception of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is hardly altered by the material of Susanne, it is deepened in many ways. It helps us to understand more fully the personality and character of Dietrich Bonhoeffer – and indirectly, it sometimes also allows to draw conclusions regarding his theology. In this article, I investigate the most relevant passages with reference to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and show what conclusions we can draw from this about his life and faith. The new primary source material of Dietrich’s sister Susanne was made available to the public in October 2018; it is here for the first time presented to an English speaking audience.