Day of the Christian Martyr: 7 notable Christian martyrdoms

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Twitter

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A blown-up image of the site at Flossenberg Concentration Camp where Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed in 1945 is shown in an image gallery at the Becket Fund's Canterbury Medal Dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C., May, 12, 2011. Author Eric Metaxas received the medal this year.
A blown-up image of the site at Flossenberg Concentration Camp where Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed in 1945 is shown in an image gallery at the Becket Fund's Canterbury Medal Dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C., May, 12, 2011. Author Eric Metaxas received the medal this year. | (Photo: The Christian Post)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a notable 20th century German theologian who authored the influential book The Cost of Discipleship, from which the phrase “cheap grace” was first coined.

Bonhoeffer had been a longtime critic of the Third Reich, criticizing the Nazi regime in a radio broadcast two days after Adolf Hitler became chancellor.

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Following a failed plot to assassinate Hitler during World War II, Bonhoeffer was one of many arrested and imprisoned for his connection to the attempt on the German dictator’s life.

Less than a month before Germany surrendered to Allied forces, Bonhoeffer was executed by hanging. His last recorded words were: “This is the end–for me, the beginning of life.”

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