Not all pivots have happy endings. In 1939, German pastor
Dietrich Bonhoeffer set sail for America, a trip that marked a
crucial turning point in his life. If he went in one direction,
he might surely die. If he went in the other, he would never
be able to live with himself.
A year earlier, thanks to his brother-in-law, he had met
the members of the German Resistance, an underground
group whose primary goal was to drum up support for a
military-led coup against Hitler. From this meeting, he
learned that the world was on the brink of war and that
Germany’s chancellor was more dangerous than most
realized.
A committed pacifist outspoken against the Nazis,
Bonhoeffer would never enlist in military service. At the
same time, he knew not doing so might create complications
for the church, as it would be viewed as an official stance.
Unsure of what to do, he left for the United States, invited
by Union Theological Seminary in New York.
Shortly after arriving, he regretted his decision. Some
knew the danger he was in and the tough position he faced,
so they urged him to stay. But he refused.^11
In a letter to his friend Reinhold Niebuhr, Bonhoeffer
described the two choices he had—stay in America and live,
or go back to Germany and possibly be killed. He wrote, “I
know which of these alternatives I must choose but I cannot
make that choice from security.”^12 He returned to
Germany, where he was eventually harassed, detained, and
executed for a plot to assassinate Hitler. He was hanged at