London, July 27, 1945. Peace had finally returned to Europe. The perverted face of the continent, which had begun to become familiar, was now banished. Two months had already passed since the end of the war. The arch-Nazi tyrant took his own life, killing himself in a concrete bunker beneath the ruins of his capital, and the Allies were declared victorious.

On that day in the Holy Church of the Holy Trinity, in Brompton, London, a commemorative ceremony was taking place, incomprehensible to some. To many others, it was disgusting and disturbing, especially to those who had lost loved ones in the war. The memorial service being held that day on British soil and broadcast by the BBC was for a German who had died three months earlier. The news of his death emerged so slowly through the thicket of war that his friends and family only recently learned of it. Most of them knew nothing. But here in London those few who knew had gathered.

The man who died was engaged to be married. He was a theologian. And he was executed because of his role in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler.

This is his story.