Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

by Eric Metaxas

The breathtaking climax of this magnificent drama was destroyed by Britain’s prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, who suddenly appeared in the unprecedented role of appeaser ex machina. It was as though he had commandeered a hot air balloon, floated by, and offered Herr Hitler a nice, civilized ride to the ground. Hitler accepted, although he was thunderstruck by Chamberlain’s unsolicited and unnecessary offer. He was not one-tenth as thunderstruck as the generals, who had been a hair’s breadth from action and couldn’t fathom why Chamberlain would have done such a thing! And Chamberlain was willing to meet with Hitler personally, wherever Hitler wished, with no concern for protocol. The sixty-nine-year-old prime minister had never been in an airplane before, but he would now fly seven hours from London to Berchtesgaden on the far side of Germany to meet with the ill-mannered tyrant. His badly timed efforts would serve for generations as the textbook example of cheap grace in geopolitical terms: it was “peace” on the house, with a side order of Czechoslovakia.