The Church and the Jewish Question (1933 writing by D. Bonhoeffer)

The professional Theologian / academic philosopher took in

this writing a public stand against the new regime (NAZISM)

Michael P. DeJonge -- Bonhoeffer on Resistance (2018)

subtitled: The Word against the Wheel

There are three possibilities for action

that the church can take vis a vis the state 

First, questioning the state as to the legiti-

mate state character of its actions, making

the state responsible for what it does.

Second, service to the victims of the

state's actions.  The church has an

unconditional obligation toward the victims

of any social order, even if they do not

belong to the Christian community 

("Let us work for the good of all");

these are both ways in which the church,

in its freedom, conducts itself in the 

interest of a free state.  In times when

the laws are changing, the church may

under no circumstances neglect either

of these duties.

Third possibility is not just to bind up

the wounds of the victims beneath the

wheel but to seize the wheel itself

Volume 12 DBWE page 365

German phrase is _dem Rad selbst

in die Speichen zu fallen

alternate translations:

to jam a spoke in the wheel

itself and to seize the wheel

itself footnote 2, page 5

DeJonge Bonhoeffer on Resistance