The Second World War ended just over eighty years ago, and this month, German church figures have remembered German theologian and anti-Nazi resistance fighter Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed as the war was drawing to a close in Europe.

World Council of Churches Central Committee Moderator Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm recently met with members of the board of the "Bonhoeffer House – Memorial and Place of Encounter" in Berlin.

"The ecumenical movement was one of the most important influences on the theology and faith witness of German theologian and anti-Nazi resistance fighter Dietrich Bonhoeffer," reflected Bedford-Strohm, who moderates the main governing body of the WCC between its assemblies held nearly every seven years.

"History became alive when the group met in the former home of the Bonhoeffer family with the grand piano, on which Bonhoeffer used to play, right beside them."

Visser 't Hooft was active in the resistance against Nazism, noted Wikipedia, citing the WCC.

His apartment in Geneva, Switzerland, served as a meeting place for members of the German Resistance against the Third Reich between March and April 1944.

Bedford-Strohm said that parts of Bonhoeffer's "Ethics" were written in the Berlin study.

          - ARRESTED BY THE GESTAPO

"It was there that Bonhoeffer was arrested by the Gestapo on 5 April 1943 and put into prison before he was executed as a resistance fighter on 9 April 1945," said Bedford-Strohm.

He said that today, the Bonhoeffer House is a memorial and place of encounter, run by a church-related nonprofit association.

Groups from all over the world visit to experience the house, exhibition, and atmosphere.

"Public events in the house include talks and discussions on the German anti-Nazi resistance or on civil courage in the threats to human dignity today," said Bedford-Strohm.

He met recently with Tobias Korenke, one of Bonhoeffer's grandnephews and now deputy chair of the board, who also shared insights on Bonhoeffer and the relevance of his witness for today.

Bedford-Strohm emphasised the central importance of Bonhoeffer to the ecumenical movement, while also highlighting the significance of ecumenism in his own thought.

"It is reflected in the remarkable fact that the first publication of those of Bonhoeffer's texts after his death, which are now among the best known, came from the headquarters of the forerunner of the World Council of Churches in Geneva," noted Bedford-Strohm.

"Under the title 'The Testimony of a Messenger: In Memory of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,' a 60-page booklet was published there in 1945, only a few months after his death."

It had as an introduction an essay by Willem Visser't Hooft, the man who would become the first head of the WCC, and who wrote on his encounters with Bonhoeffer, and Bonhoeffer's own texts.

It includes the treatise 'After Ten Years,' passages from 'The Cost of Discipleship,' poems such as 'Christians and Pagans,' and 'Who Am I,' as well as his thoughts on the worldliness of Christianity."

Arno Helwig, manager of the Bonhoeffer House, reported on existing international cooperations and shared plans of strengthening the international outreach of this unique historical site in the near future, according to the WCC.

"Considering the enormous inspirational force of Bonhoeffer's theology and witness all over the world, the Bonhoeffer House can be an international place of inspiration and reflection on how to live the Bonhoeffer legacy today," said Bedford-Strohm.