At the beginning of the twentieth century the German Evangelical (Protestant) Church was a loose confederation of regional Lutheran, Reformed and United churches. It had a long tradition of nationalism and loyalty to state authority. Like most of the German population, Protestants were tired of the political turbulence of the Weimar years. They feared the threat of Communism, and, in light of their defeat during World War I, they resented other European countries. By 1933, with the installation of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor, many German Protestant leaders were ready to welcome the new Nazi government. They believed that Adolf Hitler would be a strong leader who could revive Germany's economic stability and national pride. Many aspects of Nazi ideology, including its nationalism, anti-Semitism and emphasis on traditional values appealed to German Protestants.

But the Protestant Church would soon prove to be a stumbling block to Hitler's plans to "nazify" German society, including its churches. The reason was a reaction to the emergence of the Deutsche Christen (German Christian) church, a nationalistic Protestant group that identified with Nazi ideology and hoped to create a national Reich Church that would embody Nazi ideals. The German Christians won the national church elections in July 1933 and quickly tried to enforce their agenda, which included the adoption of "Aryan laws" within the church (permitting only racially pure Germans to hold church positions) and the eradication of all Jewish influences from Christian scriptures, liturgies and hymns.

If they agreed with many of the political aims of the Nazi regime, many Protestant clergy and leaders nevertheless found the German Christian agenda to be ideologically tainted and anti-Christian. A new movement emerged, the Confessing Synod. It vas established May 1934 at a meeting in Dahlem.

The first international support to the Confessing Synod came from the ecumenical conference of the Universal Christian Council for Life and Work in Fanø August 1934. The resolution of the conference was prepared in London. A young German pastor – who after World War II became a famous theologian and martyr – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, had since the autumn of 1933 been the pastor of a German community in London. A close friendship grew between Bonhoeffer and Bishop George Bell of Chichester. Bonhoeffer, Bell and the Danish Bishop Ammundsen fought for ecumenical recognition of the Confessing Synod, achieving victory at the August 1934 council’s conference in Fanø, where the ecumenical organization decided, despite protests from the official German church, to recognize delegates from both German church factions. The resolution of the conference supported the confessional opposition to the 'Reichskirche' and condemned compulsion in the German church.

October 1934 the Confessing Church was organized. Karl Barth, the Swiss theologian wrote the Confessing Church's founding faith statement, the Barmen Declaration of Faith. Founded on the principle that a truly Christian church would not succumb to the demands of political ideology, the Confessing Church argued that the principles of belief were to be found in the scriptures, not in Nazi laws, and that the head of the Church was Christ, not a political Fuhrer. These convictions placed the Confessing Church on a collision course not only with the German Christians, but with the Nazi dictatorship itself.

In late 1934, Bonhoeffer's London parish and several other German parishes in England withdrew from the official German Evangelical Church, declaring their support for the Confessing Church.

Memorial at the beach of Fanø Bad

Rest in the dunes of Fanø Bad. Bonhoeffer is second to the left.