Religion: Spiritual Gift

The Rev. Hanns Lilje, Lutheran pastor, was awakened from an afternoon nap in his house in Berlin by the violent ringing of the doorbell. He guessed at once that the two men at the door were secret police. Inside him a voice seemed to whisper, "Now, it's begun!"

He was right. What began in 1944 for Dr. Lilje—solitary confinement, bullying and long interrogations at the hands of the Gestapo—was ended at last by U.S. troops. For Pastor Lilje, as for many another persecuted Christian, the experience deepened his religious faith. Now bishop of Hanover and one of Germany's Protestant leaders, Bishop...

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