The “Memorandum of Conversations” by George K. A. Bell (Part 8)

On June 19, 1942, English Bishop  George K. A. Bell wrote the “Memorandum of Conversations”. It is a long and 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!

Bell’s final section was called “Means of Communication”.

Arrangements have been made by which any rejection in important British quarters which the Bishop of Chichester (Bell) be able to obtain could be communicated through a neutral channel. The British Minister in Stockholm was fully informed at the time of the tenor of the conversations.

On his advice the Bishop warned the two German pastors (Bonhoeffer and Schonfeld) not only that the American and Russian and other Allied Governments would necessarily be concerned, but that the Foreign Office might take the view that the situation was too uncertain to justify any expression of opinion on its part. On the other hand, if it were thought desirable to obtain further elucidation, a confidential meeting could be arranged at Stockholm between a German representative and a representative of the Foreign Office or other suitable person.

(Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works: Volume 16: Conspiracy and Imprisonment: 1940-1945, 324)