Well, since I'm not a Lutheran, the closest "religious leader" to my theological understanding would be the reformed pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed by the Nazis for helping to free Jews, for preaching against the Third Reich, and for conspiring to assassinate Hitler.
But I guess if he had just kept his mouth shut, like Pacelli, he could have saved a lot more Jews...and maybe himself.
Bonhöffer was a good man. It is good that protestants have one.
He is a good one to pick and I am glad you could name one.
I have a great respect for Bonhoeffer and for others, like the Ten boom sisters, Corrie and Betsy who fought against Hitler.
Unfortunately, there are those whose ideology trumps any and all other goodness because the sense of their own rightousness blinds them to their own pride.
Bonhoffer saved Jews?
That’s not what the Jews seem to think:
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Moreover, Bonhoeffer did not oppose the Nazis per se, but a faction within the church that sought to negate the rights of converts. There is no proof that he was involved in saving Jews. Bonhoeffer’s actions can be summarized as follows:
First and foremost, Bonhoeffer did not save any Jews.
He did not directly save any converts. He did refer one convert (who held a high position in the church) to the care of his brother-in-law who worked in military intelligence; this man took a group of 13 Jews and converts, disguised them as spies and spirited them to Switzerland, under the cover and protection of the Abwehr – the German military intelligence. It was his brother-in-law and not Bonhoeffer who performed this act. In another instance, in 1937 when emigration from Germany was still permitted, Bonhoeffer helped his second brother-in-law, a Jewish convert, immigrate to England by arranging him a job.
He never spoke out publicly against the persecution of the Jews, only against the negation of rights of converts inside the churches.
In April 1933, three months after the rise of the Nazis to power and the first actions against Jews by the regime, Bonhoeffer published an article stating that the country (Nazi Germany) had the right to take steps towards the Jewish problem as long as it sees this as a necessity to keeping order and that the church should not intercede unless Christian converts are affected. He justified the persecution of Jews from a theological perspective, explaining that it would never stop until the Jews asked forgiveness for the crucifixion of Jesus and accept Christianity as their faith. He never rescinded this statement (at least not publicly).
He was arrested in 1943 and was executed in April of 1945 for his opposition to the Nazi regime.
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I would at least say he helped save one man, but Jews won’t even give him that. http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/press_room/press_releases/Court.html