Appeal against Committing Suicide
As shocking reports leaked out from the East, many victims of racial persecution saw only suicide as a way out. Members of the Confessing Church congregation in Dahlem asked Gollwitzer for his opinion on this difficult issue for them.
As a result, he wrote a lengthy letter to the attorney Georg Hamburger on July 19, 1942, which was circulated in the congregation. He appealed to them to help despairing individuals to keep their faith in the crucial moment, even if they were not yet able to discern the sense of their suffering. And the Gospel ought to be preached even to non-Christians in this situation.
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- © Evangelisches Zentralarchiv in Berlin, Bestand 686 Nr. 2756