The “Memorandum of Conversations” by George K. A. Bell (Part 5)

On June 19, 1942, English Bishop  George K. A. Bell wrote the “Memorandum of Conversations”. It is a fascinating document where Bell describes the visit of two German pastors to the Bishop of Chichester in Stockholm in May of 1942. The two German pastors were Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Johannes Otto Leopold Schonfeld. The Bishop was Bell himself! This document includes even the typos!

I want to spend some more time on the section that Bell describes the “Organization of the Opposition”.

The following names were given as those of men who were deeply involved in the opposition movement:

Generaloberst Beck–Chief of General Staff before the Czecho-Slovak crisis in 1938. Aged 60

Generaloberst von Hammerstein–Chief of General Staff before Beck

Goerdeler–Ex-Preiss Commissar. Lord Mayor of Leipzig. Civil Front Leader.

Leuschner–Former President of the United Trade Unions.

Kaiser–Catholic Trade Union leader.

All of the above are said to be strong Christian characters, and the most important of all are Beck and Goerdeler.

(Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works: Volume 16: Conspiracy and Imprisonment: 1940-1945, 322)