1. Earthly Longings

Dietrich and Maria had been engaged for a few months before he was arrested, but as he remarked in one of his letters, they had not spent an hour alone together since the engagement. He had been traveling, working with the resistance, and she was taking care of her grandmother. They were allowed visits in prison once a month; again, as he described the visits, less than an hour sitting upright side by side in the presence of a guard.

Tegel Prison, August 20, 1943

My beloved Maria,

You need to know how I really feel and not think of me as a saint carved out of stone. And I can’t imagine that you would want to be married to someone like that—based on my study of church history, I would not recommend it. So then, so you can have a picture:

I am sitting in 90 degree heat with my shirt-sleeves rolled up and collar open after having enjoyed my evening bread and hot flour-soup. I am sitting at my writing desk thinking of you with great longing.

I would like to drive with you through the forest and to the water. I would like to swim and then lie down with you somewhere in the shadows and listen to you, just listen without speaking myself.

As you see, these are very earthly and palpable wishes that I have, and in the same way I let myself indulge in a very earthly and lively disgust for my present condition, for a while.