LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE CHURCH IN GERMANY
SIR,—The accompanying statement has just reached me through a chaplain to the Forces temporarily attached to the British troops in Berlin. It gives a vivid picture of the position in that city, as seen by a well-known Evangelical Churchman with whom I had close ties in the years before the war. I send it just as I received it in its original English text, with the omission of a few words only, and the substitution in two cases of initials for names. All those mentioned are absolutely trustworthy, having resisted Hitler strenuously from the first, and with a single exception are well known personally to myself.—Yours faith-
The Palace, Chichester.
" ON THE ECCLESIASTICAL SITUATION IN GERMANY.
" Obviously, people have got an entirely wrong impression abroad about the situation in Germany. The emergency grows from day to day. A terrible famine threatens Germany if there will not be speedy help. The rations which are conceded to the population it does not get. Especially there is hardly any meat, fat and milk. This need is raised immensely through the misery of the fugitives who come from the eastern parts of Germany. The Polish occupy all German provinces on the right hand side of the Oder and drive out the German inhabitants of that territory. Often the fugitives have only what they wear on their bodies. The misery amongst them is indescribable. According to approximate taxation [calculation] seven to eight millions are con- cerned. All of them stream into the small room between Oder and Elbe, and they are being driven from town to town and village to village because nobody can lodge and feed them. The Church tries to help by asking the congregations for self-redress. But that is only a drop on a hot stone. There is a lack of almost everything, especially of medicaments. Innumerable men die because of debilitation, especially little children. Many others do not see a way out and commit suicide. A Swiss friend said, after having seen a little of the situation in Germany, that what he has seen and heard by far exceeds what even the worst pessimists feared abroad. Therefore, it would be urgently necessary that a neutral observer from abroad could make himself an adequate picture of the true situation.
" The ecclesiastical life in some sense can be called favourable. Many chains which were laid on the Church have been broken. Church services can take place again. tht clergymen are free to do their duty, and there is a big demand for services of the Church and are very well attended. So many who have suffered bodily and spiritually seek comfort and help in the Word of God. Of course, there are so many who through the troubles and trials of the past years have lost their moral strength, and there is a great problem especially concerning the youth. The Confessional Church at once took over the ecclesiastical government after the breakdown of Hitlerism. Dr. Dibelius, D.D., is at present the Bishop of Berlin and Brandenburg, and has the leadership of the Consistorium ' and the remainder of the Oberkirchenrat ' (?) of Berlin. Pastor Grueber and Pastor Dr. Boehm assist him as newly appointed provosts. The task of reorganising the Church is full of difficulties. But they are full of enthusiasm, and with trust in God's help have commenced the great work. The Synod of the Confessional Church of the Church province of Berlin takes place from July 29th to the 31st in Spandau in order to form a new basis for the Church government.
" Dr. X. was through God's grace set free the last moment after he had been imprisoned for eight months in 1941, followed by four months' punishment. On account of the happenings of July loth, 1944, he was arrested again in January of this year, and but for the timely entrance of the Russians to Berlin would have had to suffer toting sentenced by the. People's Court. He was liberated on April 23rd, after many of his companion prisoners had had to lose their lives. On the next day fighting began in Zehlendorf, which he experienced together with his family, whereby his parents and brother-in-law met their death. He was very thankful that during the time of Russian occupation he was in his own parish, and was able to offer his home as a sanctuary for many fugitives. The Superintendent Y. has been wounded in the face, but is recovering. His wife was shot dead. Pastor Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whc was last seen in February in prison according to the last news, has been killed by the S.S. He will be missed very much in conversations with ecumenical friends. He was one of the bravest brethren. Some of the brethren who survived their imprisonment in concentration camps have returned to their parishes. Their state of health is very weak. A great deal of the pastors who stayed with their congregations, and by far the greatest part of those who had been soldiers (apart from the great percentage of younger brethren who were killed in the war), are still missing. Only very few managed somehow to get home again. There is practically no connection with the brethren in the Western and Southern parts of Germany. Super- intendent Albertz, the Reformed member of the Provisional Govern- ment of the Confessional Church, who with Martin Niemoeller com- posed and signed the Memorandum to Hitler, has been several times sent to prison, in all two and a half years.
" God has let the German people wander through the dark valley, but they trust that His rod and staff will remain with them, and that He who has made the dead rise again will give their Church and people new life and grace, and not only them but the whole people of the world who have seen so much blood and tears. They wish to the English nation a new beginning in God's strength."
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