How did Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Hans von Dohnanyi help Jews escape Nazi persecution?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his brother-in-law, the jurist Hans von Dohnanyi, actively resisted Nazi persecution by personally assisting Jewish individuals in escaping to neutral Switzerland.1

Their efforts were part of a broader commitment to opposing the Nazi regime's systemic anti-Semitism. While Bonhoeffer initially focused on defending the rights of Christians of Jewish ancestry, his involvement deepened after 1938 when von Dohnanyi introduced him to the resistance group seeking to overthrow Adolf Hitler. Operating under the cover of the Military Intelligence Department—which served as a hub for the resistance—they worked to protect those targeted by the state, with Bonhoeffer famously declaring that the church was guilty of failing to speak out for the "weakest and most defenseless brothers of Jesus Christ".1