This is an audio production, but if you’d like to follow along or Restack text, the script can be found below ⬇️
Curious why I portrayed Karl Barth as I did? I wrote a post addressing that:
Introduction
Heathland Hymns presents Scenes from Kirchenkampf: Karl and Elizabeth, a historical audio drama focused on a dialogue between Swiss theologian Karl Barth and little-known Confessing Church member, Elizabeth Schmitz. The German phrase Kirchenkampf refers to the church struggle in 1930s & 40s Germany between the Nazi aligned German Christians and the Nazi-resistant faction, the Confessing Church. The following is a real conversation which took place across a few years through letters and Summer visits in Basel Switzerland, but this is my imagined and dramatized version of how it may have gone. Note, I have chosen not to attempt German or Swiss accents in this production.
Scene 1
A woman stands before the shop counter waiting to pay her bill. A long-haired, white and gray speckled cat sat on the countertop watching her. The man puts the final item into her shopping bag on the counter. The man puts the final item into her shopping bag on the counter.
MAN
I apologize for our lack of supply, Elizabeth. You know how –
ELIZABETH
Of course, it’s not your doing, Mr. Friedman.
MR. FRIEDMAN
That’ll be fifty-two Reichsmark.
Elizabeth hands over a slim stack of paper notes while continuing to pet the purring cat. As Mr. Friedman counts the notes, she feels a pit form in her stomach as she reads a nearby newspaper headline: JEWISH ASSASSIN KILLS GERMAN DIPLOMAT.
MR. FRIEDMAN
Oh, I’m afraid you’ve overpaid Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH
I paid exactly as I intended to.
MR. FRIEDMAN
Thank you, fraulein. You practically keep this store running. But you must be careful
ELIZABETH
You as well. Peace be with you.
MR. FRIEDMAN
Gute Nacht
Elizabeth picks up the two brown sacks Mr. Friedman has prepared, scratches the cat’s head a final time, and departs the store. As the door shuts, she is alert to the SS Patrolman across the street in front of her apartment. Did he see her leave Mr. Friedman’s store? She thinks not but attempts to pass by him discreetly, when he notices her and perks up.
SS PATROLMAN
Fräulein! That sure is a lot of food. Who are you cooking for up there? I’ve never seen a Mann with you.
ELISABETH
No, just for me. Storing up for the winter.
SS PATROLMAN
Maybe you’d like company some time? With all that food, you should have a Mann to cook for.
ELISABETH
No thank you. Gute Nacht.
Elisabeth begins to walk away and enter the apartment complex.
SS PATROLMAN
I’ll be here all night if you change your mind Fräulein!
Elisabeth ascends the steps of the complex, unlocks the door, and enters into a small apartment. A woman, Martha, looks up from the paper she's reading on the couch.
MARTHA
Elisabeth! You bought food already? Ach, Max is out right now doing the same thing!
ELISABETH
He went out? He made it past the patrolman?
MARTHA
Yes, he left before he arrived at noon.
ELISABETH
Well, he just told me he’ll be here all night. Max better not come back until morning!
MARTHA
Oh, he’ll be there awhile. He’ll no doubt be joining the other men drinking and card playing in the back of the store. I’m afraid he’s growing tired of our womanly company.
ELISABETH
I wish he wouldn’t have done that. I’ve told you two, I’ll buy the food around here. Neither of you should risk passing that man.
MARTHA
You put a roof over our head! I think Max just wants to feel like he can contribute.
ELISABETH
It’s unnecessary, but if he feels he must, he can simply pass me along the money and I will go out.
MARTHA
It’s fine Elisabeth, he’ll be alright tonight. Let me give you something different to be outraged by. Listen to this:“The Provincial Board of Physicians of Brandenburg therefore considers it to be unacceptable in our people’s nation for a Jew to continue to have opportunity to spread the Jewish thinking in this way as physicians. As Germans physicians, we demand the exclusion of all Jews from the medical treatment of German comrades since the Jews are the incarnation of lies and deception.”
Here it is print! The reason for Max and I’s firing.
ELISABETH
(gasps)
Oh Martha...shameful, its shameful. May I record it?
MARTHA
Of course, please.
Martha hands Elisabeth the medical bulletin and she swiftly takes it to a table with a typewriter. She begins copying the words of the bulletin on a fresh paper.
MARTHA
So you’re compiling again?
ELISABETH
I suppose.
MARTHA
For a 3rd amendment to your memo?
ELISABETH
I don’t know, perhaps.
MARTHA
Even though they still haven’t responded to the original?
Elisabeth stops typing
ELISABETH
Someone in the Confessing Church has to see all these offenses to the Jews, they have to see what you and Max endure.
MARTHA
Someone does see.
Elisabeth looks up, slightly surprised.
MARTHA
You.
ELISABETH
(a pause)
Is that enough?
MARTHA
It’s enough for me.
A moment of silence, love, and doubt hang in the air
ELISABETH
I think I’ll lay down for a bit. Supper soon?MARTHA
Lay down. I’ll take care of it.
Elisabeth makes her way slowly to the bed in her room and lays her head down on the pillow. Immediate darkness.
Scene 2
Eight months later, June, 1939
Karl Barth types quickly upon a typewriter in his home library in Basel, Switzerland. A knock on the door makes him jolt. Elisabeth has entered, and another woman stands behind the doorway with an amused look on her face. (
ELISABETH
So this is what exile looks like? Not as dreary as it sounds.
Karl rips the paper from his typewriter and turns it over on the desk
KARL
Ah, Elisabeth. Here I thought I was going to accomplish things today.
ELISABETH
Oh, don’t give up on that goal so quickly Karl. We are going to accomplish great things today.
KARL
(under his breath)
Lord, forgive those who trespass against me.
ELISABETH
It can hardly be considered trespassing when you are welcomed in the front door.
Karl shoots the woman in the doorway a look of incredulous betrayal.
KARL
Charlotte, I thought we discussed the protocol here? Lock the door, pretend no one is home.
CHARLOTTE
There are few enough frauen theologians as it is. I’m personally obliged to help Elisabeth get a word with you.
KARL
Oh, she has proven sufficiently capable enough of tracking me down at the university without you “helping” her into our house.
CHARLOTTE
(dismissive)
Good luck.
KARL
Who is the good luck for?
Charlotte and Elisabeth exchange smirks as she exits through the doorway for another part of the house.
CHARLOTTE
(from the hallway)
I’ll let you decide!
KARL
Well, this will have to wait, Elisabeth, because I must leave to teach a class.
ELISABETH
Teaching today? Lucky you. No problem, I’ll walk with you.
KARL
I was afraid you’d say that.
Karl carelessly shoves the paper he had been typing into his briefcase, and a sliver of it protrudes out jaggedly as he closes the case.
KARL
Okay, let’s get on with it then. I’ll begin by asking a question I already know the answer to. “What is it you are hoping to accomplish today Elis-”
ELSABETH
You are going to author a public statement declaring the Confessing Church’s solidarity with non-Aryans
KARL
(heavy sign)
Let’s go.
The two exit into the living room
KARL
(to Charlotte in another part of the house)
Charlotte?
CHARLOTTE
(from elsewhere)
Yes?
KARL
Help me.
CHARLOTTE
On your own.
They continue on outside
KARL
As fond as I am of these visits, I am beginning to miss doing this through letters.
ELISABETH
Letters go nowhere. I also sent letters to Gollwitzer. What did he say? Write Niesel. I sent letters to Niesel. Those went nowhere either, along with ones to you.
KARL
(gesturing back toward his house)
So you’ve resorted to showing up at our doors.
The two begin walking onto a bridge
ELISABETH
I’ve resorted to showing up at your door, which I clearly wouldn’t have gotten through without the help of your wife.
KARL
Charlotte’s not my wife.
ELISABETH
Oh, I thought —
KARL
That my secretary was my wife because she lives in my house?
ELISABETH
Well, yes.
KARL
(defensively)
That’s the logical conclusion then?
ELISABETH
(blushing)
Um, it’s an admittedly unusual arrangement for a churchman-
The paper in Karl’s briefcase wiggles free and whips to the edge of the bridge. Elisabeth reaches out past the railing to catch it, her fingers just inches from it, but it flies into the sky.
ELISABETH
I hope that wasn’t important.
The two begin walking again
KARL
We’ll make do.
(pause)
What about Bonhoffer?
ELISABETH
What about him?
KARL
Why don’t you speak with Bonhoffer? He seems the obvious choice to address your plea to.
ELISABETH
Ah, well Bonhoffer plans to travel to America if you can believe it. Hell bears down upon the Jews in Germany and where is the Confessing Church? It’s in Switzerland. It’s in America.
KARL
Yes, and wherever its leaders are, they seek to pastor and protect its members.
ELISABETH
But that is just it Karl! Its abundantly clear to any non-Aryans looking to the Confessing Church that it is only concerned with protecting own members!
The two have stopped before a tram coming to a halt. The doors open and Karl gestures with bitter politeness for Elisabeth to board first –
KARL
Non-Aryans that confess Christ as their Lord will find ample care in our fold.
ELISABETH
Why would they ever consider doing that when the Confessing Church disregards them in their time of need? Where is Christ to be revealed in that?
The tram has lurched to a start and begun moving.
KARL
Who are we to say where and how God should choose to reveal himself?
Just above head, Karl’s windswept paper gently descends toward the tram and upon approaching, is lifted again, soaring skyward.
ELISABETH
“God reveals himself. God reveals himself through himself.”
Is the church not His Body on Earth? And does not the Confessing Church claim to be the true church in Germany? Then surely he purposes to reveal Himself in Germany through our solidarity with unbelievers in suffering.
KARL
That was my Dogmatics. You’re reading them?ELISABETH
That’s what you got out of that?
Elisabeth’s attention is caught by a headline on a newspaper lying next to a nearby man.
ELISABETH
(to the man)
Pardon. Can I borrow your paper?
MAN
E’re.
KARL
Is it going to rain?
ELISABETH
It's going to pour!
KARL
(looking out the window surprised)
What?
Karl peeks skeptically at the newspaper over Elisabeth’s shoulder and frowns. The headline says “Czechoslovakia under Nazi rule.”
KARL
I was referring to the weather.ELISABETH
Oh, I was referring to the state of Europe. The rain will be slightly less torrential.
Elisabeth hands the newspaper back to the man.
ELISABETH
(to the man)
Thank you.
(addressing Karl again)
And yes, of course I’m reading your dogmatics. Gollwitzer and I have a study group working through them.
KARL
Ah. I take it Niemoller wasn’t part of the group?
ELISABETH
Ha! Martin reading your books? He’d sooner become a bishop for the Reich Church.
KARL
The old fool equates a little theological reflection to taking a vial of poison.
ELISABETH
It's good Karl. Volume 1 is brillant. (Pause) But it has to mean something. The revelation of God must work itself outside volumes of theology.
KARL
Now you’re starting to sound like Niemoller.
ELISABETH
Karl.
Ding! The tram has stopped.
KARL
(gesturing for her to exit)
I understand your insinuation.
ELISABETH
Do you?
KARL
(holding out his hands)
It must work itself out into the world where it is torrentially raining. (Pause) Elisabeth, have you considered that is not the church’s job to solve every problem in the world?
ELISABETH
How about starting with one?
KARL
No, no. I mean it is not the church’s central role to solve any of the world’s problems! But, of course, you came up under von Harnack.
ELISABETH
Well, then what is its central role Karl?
KARL
I thought you said you were reading my dogmatics?
ELISABETH
Oh, I’m sorry, will you address that in volume 10?
KARL
Truth. To be a community which stewards and embodies truth in its life together.
ELISABETH
What if the truth is hoarded? What if those who walk out in the rain cannot come under the shelter of that truth too?
KARL
I think that metaphor is beginning to fail us.
ELISABETH
No, its beginning to fail you. (Pause) What about blessing all the families of the earth? Or did you miss the main storyline of the Scripture while you were busy systemizing it into abstract theologies?
The two have now arrived at the steps of Basel University.
KARL
The church will be a blessing to no one if it abandons the truth. The Confessing Church holds fast by resisting the encroachment of the Führer’s state upon our proclamation of that truth. I, for one, do not plan on jeopardizing that good work now. Good day Elisabeth.
Karl moves quickly forward, but then notices Elisabeth moving ahead of him up the stairs.
KARL
What are you doing? I have to teach my class.
ELISABETH
(from the top of the steps)
Lucky you. I’ll walk you to class professor.
KARL
I find this conversation slightly inappropriate to continue in the university halls.
ELISABETH
They are theology students, are they not? They should be well acquainted with the significance of their study. Let them hear.
Karl sighs, pinches his upper nose under his glasses, and begins following Elisabeth inside. A young student rushes to his side as he ascends the stairs.
STUDENT
Professor Barth! Professor Barth!
KARL
Yes, yes, what?
STUDENT
I wanted to ask, are you sure it's necessary to take Hebrew? I mean, how many languages do you need to interpret the Bible?
KARL
Cedric can’t you tell that I’m already being bothered? (gesturing to Elisabeth) Spare me the double headache, and let's discuss this after class.
CEDRIC
Oh, uh, sure.
Cedric moves in the hall past them.
KARL
Sorry, he’s our new American student. Anyway, the work we did to distinguish ourselves from Nazi theology at Barmen was sufficient. Now we have only to sustain that position.
ELISABETH
I don’t dispute the significance of Barmen, but -
KARL
Ha! You don’t dispute.
ELISABETH
But the Barmen Declaration was only the beginning Karl! If we are to be true to our name, there are still more confessions to make in our resistance.
KARL
You have a death wish, Frau.
ELISABETH
We must openly confess our allegiance to all non-Aryans.
KARL
(Hushed and stern)
We will confess our allegiance nowhere but in God and His Scriptures - that much already has us defunded, exiled, and imprisoned. What more do you want your brothers to suffer at your frivolous request?
ELISABETH
How can you call it frivolous? Again, are we not to be a blessing to all nations, all people?
KARL
We’d be snuffed out, executed. No church left.
ELISABETH
Does not God show no impartiality?
KARL
Elisabeth, when you quote a Scripture, you really must finish it. If you were my student, I wouldn’t allow such flippant cherry picking. “But in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” They do not. This is my lecture hall, I must go.
The two have stopped in the hallway in front of an open door. The students in close proximity have quieted, sensing the tension near them. Karl begins to enter the door, but Elisabeth halts him, speaking again.
ELISABETH
What theological category shall I group them into for it to be more stomachable for you Karl — since Jewish is supposedly too offensive? The oppressed? The foreigner? What biblical name will wake you to your responsibility to them?
KARL
Please continue to educate me on what is and is not the responsibility of the Confessing Church pastors, considering you are not one of them.
Very hushed whispers are heard
KARL
(To the whole hallway)
Anyone wanna weigh in on this?
A pause, and then
CEDRIC
Well, actually the more fitting category for Jewish people in Scripture would be -
KARL
Cedric, honestly! And Americans accuse us of having no humor. (Another pause) Elisabeth, I really have to —
ELISABETH
Teach your class, I know. Lucky you. Bye Karl.
Elisabeth turns and begins down the hall defeated. Karl stands watching her leave, seemingly with regret. He turns and begins to enter the door, but stops abruptly, his hand on the outside of the doorframe. He looks back down the hallway at Elisabeth who is exiting the doors. He follows after her.
KARL
Elisabeth, wait!
He walks briskly down the hallway to catch up and bursts through the doors
KARL
Elisabeth—
ELISABETH
Stop Karl, you have to teach.
KARL
Every time I’ve mentioned teaching today you have said —
ELISABETH
Lucky you.
KARL
Why?
Elisabeth continues to stand faced away from Karl
ELISABETH
I’m not teaching anymore.
KARL
They fired you? Those good-for-nothing—
ELISABETH
No, I resigned.
KARL
(incredulous)
What? Why?
ELISABETH
Because I couldn’t do it anymore.
KARL
What?
ELISABETH
The constant mental back and forth.
Not far overhead, Karl’s paper soars above Basel university
ELISABETH
“How can my teaching be a force for good, if it’s at the extension of a corrupt state? How can I house Jews while working for those that persecute them? How can I justify doing what I love in the name of hate?” Well, there was no more back and forth after November 9th.
Scene 3
MARTHA
ELISABETH! WAKE UP!
Martha is shaking Elisabeth urgently. An orange light illuminates through the windows and the smell of smoke is in the air.
MARTHA
Max, he’s, he’s—
ELISABETH
(getting up)
What, what’s happening--
Elisabeth lurches out of bed and makes her way to the window. Martha follows and they both stare outside. Columns of smoke are dispersed across the Berlin skyline. On the street an old man lays crumpled upon broken glass below a ransacked storefront.
MARTHA
The SS destroyed Mr. Friedman’s storefront and beat him. They ran after other Jews with batons.
ELISABETH
But its not just our street. That smoke, is it--?
MARTHA
The synagogue.
ELISABETH
Christ, have mercy.
MARTHA
Max is still out there Elisabeth. He hasn’t come home. I think I have to go look for--
ELISABETH
NO. Its not safe for you. I’ll go.
Elisabeth slips on shoes and a coat.
MARTHA
Be careful!
She is out the door, moving down the steps of the apartment. She steps onto the sidewalk and begins to move across the street when she looks at Mr. Friedman again. She kneels next to him.
ELISABETH
Mr. Friedman! Mr. Friedman, can you hear me?
No response. His face is blank. Her attention is diverted by the sound of steps near by. It is the street’s SS patrolman. He is facing away from Elisabeth and Mr. Friedman, not having noticed them yet. Elisabeth looks up at her apartment window, into the pleading eyes of Martha. With that she says a mournful and silent goodbye to Mr. Friedman and runs across the street, hidden from the patrolman just as he turns back in that direction. She barrels through the streets past obliterated storefronts and smoke, one patrolman yelling at her, “Get off the streets, Fräulein!” She arrives at the small grocery store which glows and flickers from within.
ELISABETH
Max! Are you in there? Max!MAN
In here! Help!
Elisabeth hesitates for a moment, looking at the unstable inferno before her, and then moves inside.
MAN
Over here! He’s trapped!
In the remainders of the backroom, she finds a man kneeling beside Max whose legs is trapped under a large beam. Beside them is an overturned poker table, chips gleaming in the firelight.
MAX
(groaning and groggy)
Elisabeth?MAN
(to Elisabeth)
The others left. I can’t lift this alone. Grab the other side quickly.
Elisabeth quickly does so. Hands grasped around the beam, she looks up at the man awaiting instruction.
MAN
On three. One, two, three! Lift!
The two heave the beam upward, Max struggles his leg out from beneath it, and then he collapses back to the ground.
ELISABETH
Come now Max.
She and the man help Max to his feet, put his hat back on his head, and wrap his arms around their shoulders. They navigate through the burning rubble and emerge back outside.
ELISABETH
(to MAN)
I’ll get him back to his wife. Do you live far from here?
MAN
No, just down the road.
ELISABETH
Then Godspeed. Be careful.
MAN
Thank you Fräulein!
Elisabeth and Max make their way home, his arm wrapped around her shoulder as he limps where she leads, dodging SS uniforms.
Finally, their street is visible. Elisabeth backs behind a building wall, creeping her face out to survey the street for the patrolman. Deciding the coast is clear, she steps out into the street towards the apartment.
SS PATROLMAN
Fräulein Elisabeth! What are you doing out—
Now, now who is this?
She has been startled by his presence in front of the destroyed storefront, standing over Mr. Friedman. She quickly tilts Max’s hat over his face.
SS PATROLMAN
I thought you said you had no Mann at home. Now why would you hide that huh, Fräulein?
The patrolman slowly steps forward, pointing out his baton to tilt Max’s hat back up.
SS PATROLMAN
Is it because your Mann is a dirty--
DISTANT VOICE
COMRADE! There’s one over here, come quickly!
The patrolman lowers his baton, looking in the direction of the voice, back at the two, and then runs off toward the voice. Elisabeth and Max are still for a moment, looking in the direction the patrolman ran to, then snap back into action, moving toward the apartment door, up the stairs, and back into the apartment.
MARTHA
Max!
Martha rushes to her husband and kisses his face repeatedly. Then she notices—
MARTHA
Dear, your leg!
Elisabeth riffles through a drawer and returns to Martha with a bandage roll
MARTHA
Thank you Elisabeth! Thank you.
Elisabeth walks to the window and stares out at the horror in disbelief.
ELISBETH
You two are no longer safe here.
Martha, wrapping her husband’s leg, looks up in surprise.
ELISABETH
Not in this apartment, not in Berlin, not in Germany. Max, you have a brother in Argentina, yes?
Max nods “yes” with the energy he can muster.
ELISABETH
You should write him in the morning. If he’ll take you, I’ll help you both get out of the country.
A large boat sound heralds a transition, now there is the soundscape of a pier, water,
A month later, the three stand on a pier at twilight as Martha and Max prepare to board a boat to Argentina.
MAX
Thank you Elisabeth. For everything.
The two hug. Pulling away, Elisabeth looks at Martha and they share a brokenhearted silence before Martha bursts forth in a consuming hug. Their hug lingers as both their eyes become misty with tears. They pull away and Elisabeth asks
ELISABETH
Is it still enough?
Tears stream down Martha’s face as she is unable to answer, her face revealing a gloomy doubt.
MAX
We must be going Martha. Farewell Elisabeth.
ELISABETH
Farewell.
The two drift towards their boat and Elisabeth is left standing alone in doubt and despair.
Scene 4
ELISABETH
When I returned home, I wrote my letter of resignation. I could no longer be a civil servant of a state that allows synagogues to be set to fire.
KARL
They actually accepted it?
ELISABETH
They actually did.
KARL
(after a pause)
I am sorry Elisabeth.
ELISABETH
I appreciate that Karl, I do. But it's not happening to me. It's happening to them. Do you see that?
(Pause)
You were right about me. I’m not a pastor. And now I’m not even a teacher. So I’ll continue to do what I can within my power, but it won’t be enough. But you — you started this resistance with your words. People listen to you.
KARL
I don’t have as much power as you think I do.
ELISABETH
You have more power than I could ever dream of.
Elisabeth’s nostrils flare as she decides against restraint.
ELISABETH
And you’re squandering it. Admit it Karl, you were just waiting to be exiled weren’t you?
KARL
Be careful what you say next.
ELISABETH
No, its true isn’t it? You weren’t really concerned with the consequences of your words. You actually wanted your contribution to be sizable and over with quickly enough so you could be sent on your merry way back to your cozy library in Basel to write endless dogmatics and carry on whatever manner of relationship you have with your wife and that, that woman, whoever she is to you, all before the heat really began to turn up in Berlin.
KARL
Your emotions are making you uncharitably presumptuous.
ELISABETH
Maybe, but at least I have emotions! You don’t seem to feel anything for the suffering of these people! You could change so much for them, but you are too concerned with losing your teaching position here if you do.
KARL
Okay, you’re right, be it a flimsy rationalization or not, I do in fact believe that I can make more of a change from the inside of the theological establishment than outside.
ELISABETH
From the inside? You’re already outside of Germany. What’s stopping you from going all the way?
KARL
You want people to listen to you Elisabeth? Respectability goes a long way.
ELISABETH
We both know why I don’t get respect, and it has very little to do with the substance of my argumentation. It happens to be the same reason I’m standing here trying to convince you to do this. So who’s respect are you hoping for? Nazi’s? You can’t tell me that doesn’t sound a little self-preserving.
KARL
Self-preservation in service of the greater good. And I understand how that sounds.
ELISABETH
You do? Because it sounds naively asinine for someone as smart as you Karl.
KARL
Does it sound any different from the rationalization you made when you omitted your name from two hundred copies of a certain disruptive memorandum?
ELISABETH
You — you know?
KARL
What? That you’re the author of “On the Situation of German Non-Aryans?” Given that clearly no one in the Reich Church wrote it, that narrows it down to those in the Confessing Church. Possibly Meusel or Bonhoeffer? Both have been outspoken about protecting the baptized Jews, but Jews outside the church? That could only have been you.
ELISABETH
How long have you known?
KARL
On first reading it crossed my mind that it bore a similarity to the letters of a certain insufferable teacher in Berlin who wouldn’t quit bothering me, but I had no doubt when you started talking my ear off on these Summer visits. Same voice alright. Dogged focus, irritatingly firm convictions, and far too many rhetorical questions.
ELISABETH
So you actually read it then? Not rhetorical.
KARL
Sure. Are you surprised by that?
ELISABETH
Given the outright absence of response, yes!
KARL
But you can see where we both made concessions so that we could make a greater impact in our occupations, yes? And that was rhetorical.
ELISABETH
Was my memorandum even read at the Brandenburg conference?
KARL
I wasn’t there. I wasn’t able to attend on account of being restricted to my “cozy library.” No response to my question?
ELISABETH
I thought that was rhetorical.
KARL
It was.
ELISABETH
I’m starting to think you don’t understand what a rhetorical question is professor.
KARL
The answer was obvious, making it functionally a declarative statement that demanded response.
ELISABETH
Okay, yes! Yes, I chose to write anonymously so that I wouldn’t lose my teaching position.
She sits down next to Karl on the stair steps.
ELISABETH
"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.” And yet, I couldn’t even bring myself to write my name on a paper. All these papers. Letters, memorandums, confessions. It’s all really the minimum amount of action required of us isn’t it?
KARL
We are people of the Word.
ELISABETH
The Word become flesh.
There is a moment of silence between the two.
ELISABETH
Karl, are you going to write this statement?
KARL
Honestly?
ELISABETH
Please.
KARL
No.
ELISABETH
(tears in her eyes)
Why?
KARL
I don’t have your courage Elisabeth.
Elisabeth stands, ready to leave. Then turns back to face Karl.
ELISABETH
It’s not courage, Karl. It’s love. Plain and simple Christian love.
Elisabeth turns around and begins to stride away. Karl stands quickly.
KARL
Elisabeth—
ELISABETH
Goodbye Karl.
Karl is left standing motionless, watching her leave. Then he enters back into the building, through the hall, and back into the lecture room.
KARL
Hello class, I apologize for my tardiness.
CEDRIC
So who won?
KARL
Who asked that?
(scanning room)
Ah, I should’ve guessed. No one. No one won, Cedric.
Well, today’s lecture will be abbreviated. But let us begin in prayer.
Outside, as evening falls, Karl’s paper drifts slowly out of the sky and onto the pavement.
KARL
Most merciful God—
Elisabeth walks in brisk defeat. A drop of rain hits her nose and she looks into the sky.
KARL
We confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed—
Unaware, Elisabeth steps upon the paper.
KARL
By what we have done, and by what we have left undone.
Elisabeth is gone. The crumpled paper is hit by a single drop of rain and then another. Just before the ink of the letters are washed away in the coming downfall, they are legible for a final fleeting moment, reading:
A MEMORANDUM TO THE CONFESSING CHURCH ON ITS RESPONSIBILITY TO NON-ARYANS
By Karl Barth
Epilogue:
Karl Barth never did write the kind of statement that Elizabeth urged him to. No one in the Confessing Church did. Despite her urgings and assistance to persecuted Jews, Elizabeth’s Memorandum, On the Situation of Non-Aryans, was misattributed to another teacher in the Confessing Church, Marga Meusel.
Elizabeth left Berlin in 1943 to return to family in Hanau where she eventually resumed teaching and was largely forgotten by history…until a past student of hers rightly recognized her as the author of her memorandum in 1999, 22 years after her passing in 1977.
In 2005 a memorial stone was erected next to her gravestone by the The Evangelical Church of Electoral Hesse-Waldeck and the city of Hanau. In 2011 she was awarded the title of “Righteous among the Nations” by the Commission of Yad Vashem: The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, notably making her the only member of the Confessing Church to receive the title.
Though many in the English-speaking world have heard of Confessing Church leaders such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth, and Martin Niemoller, there remains precious little information about Elizabeth Schmitz to access in English.
In 1946, Elizabeth’s friend, art historian, Kurt Theodor wrote her saying much of the worst suffering could’ve been avoided, “had there been more courageous people such as you.”
Production Credits
The character of Max was voiced by Muhtasim Faiyaz
The SS Patrolman was voiced by Substacker and musician,
Mr. Friedman and Cedric were both voiced by , writer of the Substack Snowman Skeletons
Charlotte was voiced by Eunika Erickson
Martha was voiced by , writer of the Substack Joy Unraveled
The production was narrated by another fellow Substacker who will go unnamed
Karl Barth was voiced by myself,
Elizabeth Schmitz was voiced by
Please go check out Mark, Sam, Camilla, and T’s Substacks. They are all fantastic, and I thank them and everyone else for lending their voices.
This Heathland Hymns production of Scenes from Kirchenkampf: Karl and Elizabeth was written directed, and edited by myself, Baylor Heath. Thank you so much for listening and if you enjoyed this please like, comment, subscribe, and share.
Grace + peace
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