Christine von Dohnanyi (née Bonhoeffer; 26 October 1903 – 2 February 1965) was the sister of

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, neo-orthodox theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the s ...

and the wife of

Hans von Dohnányi Hans von Dohnanyi (; originally ''Johann von Dohnányi'' ; 1 January 1902 – 8 or 9 April 1945) was a German jurist. He used his position in the Abwehr to help Jews escape Germany, worked with German resistance against the Nazi régime, ...

Life

Her father was

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

and

neurologist Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...

Karl Bonhoeffer Karl Bonhoeffer (; March 31, 1868 – December 4, 1948) was a German neurologist, psychiatrist and physician. Life Bonhoeffer was born in Neresheim in the Kingdom of Württemberg to Friedrich von Bonhoeffer (1828–1907), who worked as judge ...

, noted for his criticism of

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

; her mother Paula Bonhoeffer (née von Hase) was a teacher and the granddaughter of Protestant theologian Karl von Hase and painter

Stanislaus von Kalckreuth Count Stanislaus Friedrich Ludwig von Kalckreuth (25 December 1820, Kozmin - 25 November 1894, Munich) was a German painter who specialized in mountain landscapes. Biography He was born into the Kalckreuth family of the Prussian nobility w ...

. Bonhoeffer's family dynamic and his parents' values enabled her to receive a high level of education. Christine Bonhoeffer attended the Grunewald-Gymnasium. In September 1921, Bonhoeffer and

Hans von Dohnanyi Hans von Dohnanyi (; originally ''Johann von Dohnányi'' ; 1 January 1902 – 8 or 9 April 1945) was a Germans, German jurist. He used his position in the Abwehr to help Jews escape Germany, worked with German resistance to Nazism, German r ...

got engaged. In 1924 she abandoned her studies of zoology. In 1925 they married. Her daughter Barbara von Dohnanyi was born in 1926. Her first son

Klaus von Dohnanyi Klaus Karl Anton von Dohnanyi (; born 23 June 1928) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as mayor of Hamburg between 1981 and 1988. As of , he is the oldest living former head of a german state government. Ear ...

was born in 1928, her second son

Christoph von Dohnányi Christoph von Dohnányi (; born 8 September 1929) is a German conducting, conductor. Biography Youth and World War II Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to Hans von Dohnanyi, a German jurist of Hungarian ancestry, and Christine von Dohnan ...

in 1929. Christine von Dohnanyi took part in all resistance activities of her husband Hans von Dohnanyi and supported his activities. He had informed her about all activities and was in active exchange with her. Beside her husband and her brother

, she was also arrested by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

in the house in Sacrow on 5 April 1943 on suspicion of treason. For a long time, Hans von Dohnanyi knew nothing about the arrest of his wife and brother-in-law and attempted unsuccessfully to send letters to Christine from prison. Christine von Dohnanyi, who was recovering from a serious stomach operation at the beginning of 1943, was originally taken to the Charlottenburger Kaiserdamm police prison and then imprisoned together with Josef Müller's wife in the Alexanderplatz police headquarters. However, she was released after a few weeks. After her release, she tried to obtain the release of her husband and brother. She smuggled diphtheria bacilli several times to enable him to escape interrogations, but also secret messages into her husband's prison. Any contact was made through the examining magistrate Manfred Roeder, who had a considerable influence on the possibilities of visiting and writing. After Berlin's capitulation, the Allies granted her the status of a "victim of fascism" on 27 June 1945. She desperately tried to find out something more about the whereabouts of her husband and worked with the Allies for an appropriate appreciation of the resistance. Doroth-friedrichwerd-friedhof-berlin - 83

Doroth-friedrichwerd-friedhof-berlin - 83

Her grave is on the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof. Son

founded the foundation "Zivilcourage Hans und Christine von Dohnanyi".
Klaus von Dohnanyi im Rathaus geehrt.
' Welt am Sonntag, 26 October 2008.

Quotes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dohnanyi, Christine von 1903 births 1965 deaths German resistance to Nazism People from Königsberg

Christine Christine may refer to: People * Christine (name), a female given name Film * ''Christine'' (1958 film), based on Schnitzler's play ''Liebelei'' * ''Christine'' (1983 film), based on Stephen King's novel of the same name * ''Christine'' ( ...

Dohnányi family