In June, Adolf von Harnack died. The Kaiser Wilhelm Society would hold a memorial service for him on June 15, and the list of speakers was impressive, as befitted the legendary figure. One of them was twenty-fouryear-old Dietrich Bonhoeffer, speaking on behalf of Harnack’s former students. Bethge stated that what he said “compared favorably with the older and eminent speakers who preceded him.” These included the nation’s culture minister, the minister of state, the interior minister, and other such luminaries. “Many were astonished,” Bethge wrote, “at the breadth of vision and sympathy he
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