Otto Lenz

[2] His first act of defiance to the Nazi-Regime occurred in 1938, when he refused a job transfer due to his unwillingness to work as a judge in the Nazi legal system.

He participated in the opposition by at one point hiding resistance fighter Ernst von Harnack in his apartment, as well as maintaining contact with 20 July plot-conspirators Josef Wirmer and Carl Goerdeler.

[3] As a result of these relationships Lenz was arrested after the failed assassination plot and brought to court in January 1945 for his participation in the conspiracy as well as the suspicious nature of his work as a lawyer throughout the early 1940s, during which time he was seen by the Gestapo as a defender of Jews.

His desire for an interdenominational political party held together by common Christian beliefs preceded the conclusion of the war and is present in journal entries from his time in prison.

[6] During this time Lenz remained extremely busy meeting with politicians, diplomats, church representatives, businessmen, lobbyists, and journalists as well as helping establish the direction in which the young Federal Republic of Germany would take itself.