Beyond All Cost

The play tells the true story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who led the resistance to Hitler in the German church. Narrated by his friend Eberhard Bethge, the play follows Bonhoeffer from his early years as a seminary professor, to leading his students to organize an underground seminary and distribute clandestine anti-Nazi literature, and finally to his joining the secret unit of German military intelligence plotting the death of Hitler. Arrested by the Gestapo, Bonhoeffer is sent to prison, where he is visited by relatives and his fiancée in a poignant scene. In a poetic chorus, his fellow prisoners express their dreams and mutual fears. Then he is taken to Buchenwald to meet his fate. The play ends on a note of hope for the future, as Bethge walks off with his young son, who bears Dietrich's name. Historically faithful yet dramatically stirring, the play was approved by Bethge himself.