You know, the idea of male/male romantic relationships was not completely outside the pale during Bonhoeffer’s lifetime. Starting in the 1920s and continuing right through the 1930s, public attitude in Germany toward “homosexuals” became if not accepting almost accommodating.

That all came to an end on the Night of the Long Knives when Hitler decided for political purposes to treat gay men as enemies of the state. He had gay SA chief Ernst Röhm killed and justified it to the public by citing Röhm’s “deviancy.” But scholars agree the real reason was that that Hitler feared Röhm as a rival.

In any case, that night ended Germany’s tolerance of homosexuality.

I wonder how much that sea change impacted Bonhoeffer? I cannot imagine that it was not important in forming the man who later tried to assassinate Hitler.