The fact that Karl Barth has been preaching occasionally in the prison for several years has become widely known and has elicited various reactions: astonishment, bewilderment, shaking of heads, but much more understanding and joy. Indeed, these sermons have been delivered in front of very critical and "non-Christian" people, and therefore - one might be tempted to continue - they have been listened to and understood attentively. However, it must be said the other way around: because these sermons speak so soberly and simply, so clearly and without any false note, so unequivocally and joyfully about the "main thing," they have been heard and understood, affirmed and accepted by the critical and "non-Christian" audience. Martin Schwarz (1905-1990), who was a pastor at the prison in Basel at that time.