Siegfried Fietz has likely sung his song "Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen" (By Gracious Powers Wonderfully Sheltered), with lyrics by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, several thousand times in churches and concert halls throughout his career. However, a minimalist performance before a small audience remains particularly vivid in the singer-songwriter and artist's memory.
On April 27, Siegfried Fietz performed his most famous song, "By Gracious Powers So Wonderfully Sheltered," together with his eldest son, Oliver Fietz, in the "Hall of Remembrance" at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. The lyrics were written by the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
“That was a sacred moment,” Fietz recalls of the performance in a small circle. No microphone, no amplifier, no loudspeakers. Just a handful of listeners from a delegation of the World and European Evangelical Alliance, led by Thomas Schirrmacher, Yad Vashem official and representative of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC).
Siegfried and Oliver Fietz sing softly but firmly, a verse of the song in English, then the chorus in Hebrew. Another verse. Once more the chorus in the native language. Bonhoeffer's verses rebound harshly and forcefully, accompanied by the sounds of the guitar and charged with the crushing weight of memories of the murder of millions of Jews, from the concrete surfaces of the memorial. This is how participants described it to Israelnetz.
Emotionally challenging performance
The Lutheran theologian Bonhoeffer, as a pastor of the Confessing Church, participated in the resistance against National Socialism and Adolf Hitler. For this, he was hanged in Flossenbürg concentration camp on April 9, 1945, just four weeks before the end of the war. He had written the poem "By Gracious Powers" as a Christmas greeting to his fiancée in his last letter of December 19, 1944. When he wrote the lines, he was a prisoner of the Secret State Police (Gestapo) in the notorious cellars of the Gestapo headquarters on Prinz-Albrecht-Straße in Berlin.
“We prepared for Yad Vashem,” Oliver Fietz explained in an interview with Israelnetz. “We realized that we had to stare fixedly into a corner, not at the people present, and certainly not at the names of the concentration camps written on the floor. Otherwise, you get a lump in your throat and can't sing a single note.” They were right to do so, because even the Jewish delegation's eyes welled up with tears during the chorus in Hebrew.
Duty of responsibility
Fietz had the refrain translated into Hebrew by an Israeli. Since he doesn't speak Hebrew himself, he pasted the lyrics in Latin script onto his guitar in Jerusalem. The tablet Oliver holds during the performance also serves to provide reassurance when reciting the Hebrew lines. The text, in Bonhoeffer's language, which is taboo at Yad Vashem out of respect for the victims, and the melody have long since become second nature to the artist.
Siegfried Fietz is deeply committed to reconciliation with Israel. He has traveled to the country many times. His works repeatedly address the Hebrew word "shalom"—the peace promised by God. "We have a sacred duty to take responsibility for this part of history," says the singer-songwriter, adding: "While we can't change it, we must help build bridges today so that wounds can heal." This requires "good forces" on both the Christian and Jewish sides.
