Love Letters from Cell 92: The Correspondence Between Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Maria Von Wedemeyer, 1943-45 [Hardcover]

Ruth-Alice Von Bismarck (Author), Ulrich Itz (Author), Ulrich Kabitz (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995

A brilliant theologian hanged by the Nazis in 1945 for taking part in a plot to kill Hitler, Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived out his Christian commitment to the very end of his life. This collection of correspondence between Bonhoeffer and von Wedemeyer--long anticipated but never before published--offers an understanding of a mature theologian who was in love with a 19-year-old woman.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It is now 50 years since the pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed for his part in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Yet Bonhoeffer's ideas on the costliness of grace, the religionless character of Christianity and the Christocentric nature of the church continue to exert extraordinary influence on contemporary theology. While Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison (Macmillan, 1972) powerfully reveals his struggle to think and to live his religionless Christianity in the face of powerful evil, this newest collection unveils a side of Bonhoeffer seldom seen in the earlier one. Bonhoeffer's humor and compassion, as well as many of his characteristic theological concerns, are certainly here; but in his letters to Maria, and in hers to him, we glimpse the depth of Bonhoeffer's expectations and anxieties, his love of family and his passion for his beloved. A splendid introduction and set of notes provide the context for the letters themselves. Love Letters opens new insights into the life of a theologian whose work, we now know, focused on both the heart and the head.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Hardcover: 378 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Pr (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0687010985
• ISBN-13: 978-0687010981
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #605,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau in 1906. The son of a famous German psychiatrist, he studied in Berlin and New York City. He left the safety of America to return to Germany and continue his public repudiation of the Naz*s, which led to his arrest in 1943. Linked to the group of conspirators whose attempted assassination of Hitlerr failed, he was hanged in April 1945.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Look into Devotion, January 28, 2002

By 

Justin Custer (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love Letters from Cell 92: The Correspondence Between Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Maria Von Wedemeyer, 1943-45 (Hardcover)

I had a difficult time reading this book. It is quite time-consuming (because of it's unusual format) and emotionally difficult due to its content. However, I'm glad I've read this book. It gave me a wonderful insight into a couple's very devoted relationship even though they were separated very soon into their relationship. The way their story plays out is heart-wrenching and difficult to read. But because this was an actual relationship, it's very worth-while.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most amazingly tragic love story, February 25, 2010

By 

Jon C. Paulus (Parma, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Love Letters from Cell 92: The Correspondence Between Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Maria Von Wedemeyer, 1943-45 (Hardcover)

This book is the collection of letters between Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian, and his fiancee, Maria Von Wedemeyer, during Bonhoeffer's imprisonment by the Nazis during WWII. I'm a huge Bonhoeffer fan, and only "knew" him through his rather brilliant theological writings. Those theological tomes are astonishing, knowing that he wrote everything before he turned 40 (he was executed at the age of 39). These love letters between mathemetician Maria, 18 years his junior, and the pastor are beautiful and heart wrenching. They were engaged shortly before the Nazis took him to prison for his part in an assassination plot againts Hitler. The love they express is profoundly deep- and has the elements of play and joy, as all true love ought. When she writes that she is picking out furniture for the apartment in which they will live after he is freed and the war is over it is just as beautiful, but oh so tragic. We all know the rest of the story- he dies just weeks before V-E day. If you're at all interested in Bonhoeffer, or if you have just one romantic bone in your body, buy this book, then read it with your lover.

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More Information About an Old Friend, February 24, 2002

By 

Charles W. Bachman (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Love Letters from Cell 92: The Correspondence Between Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Maria Von Wedemeyer, 1943-45 (Hardcover)

Maria Weller, as I knew her in Boston in the early 1970's, was a marvellous person who worked with me at Honeywell Information Systems. My wife and I became good friends of Maria's and saw her frequently both before and during her illness. We knew her two sons and her daughter.

Ruth-Alice Von Bismark, Maria's sister, came to visit us after Maria's death to find our more about Maria's life in Boston and about her Boston friends.

I found the book fascinating, both for the letters and for Ruth-Alice historical notes that helped me to better understand Maria and Dietrich Bonhoffer.