Bertha Dudde was born on 1 April 1891 as the second eldest daughter of a painter in Liegnitz, Silesia. She grew up with six siblings as the second eldest daughter of a painter in a situation of poverty. She received only the elementary education customary at the time and practised her hobby of tailoring from an early age to help the family financially. She worked at it until a ripe old age to earn a living.

Dudde had hardly any confessional knowledge worth mentioning and kept away from ecclesiastical influence because she was opposed to some of its teachings, although she lived as a convinced Christian.

Proclamations through the "Inner Word".

Bertha Dudde tells how she first received these revelations through the so-called "Inner Word" (verbal inspiration):

 «When I prayed the Lord's Prayer, I often prayed that the Lord would allow me to find His kingdom after all. And this prayer was answered. That was on 15 June 1937. I prayed and paid attention to my inner self – I remained completely silent – I often remained in this state because I was always overcome by a wonderful peace, and the thoughts I felt – in my heart, not in my head – gave me comfort and strength».

I had not yet realised that these thoughts had been «given» to me. Until a strange dream experience, which later turned out to be a real dream, prompted me to write down these «thoughts». And so, on that memorable day, I listened to my inner self and a string of very clear and crisp words emerged, which I wrote down. It was the first chapter given to me and it began with the words: ‘In the beginning was the Word! A tedeum to the Creator of heaven and earth!

And then the doubts arose: Did you write this about yourself? – Anyway, I struggled, prayed and fought many inner battles, but again and again the words came like a torrent, a flood of wisdom that made me shudder. – GOD Himself removed my doubts, answered me and I recognised Him in His Word as our FATHER. My faith grew, my doubts diminished and I received and wrote daily.

The content of the writings was beyond my knowledge. Expressions I had never heard or read, terms and references in foreign and scientific languages flowed inexorably to me. And then the never-before-heard expressions of love from the FATHER in heaven, which ultimately provide refuge and insight into all of life's issues.

Dudde reports on how he received these proclamations through the so-called "inner word":

The transmission of the ‘word’ occurs in the following way: After fervent prayer and brief reflection, I listen within myself. The thoughts are now clearly accentuated there, the words flow individually and clearly - always three or four in succession - similar to the radio announcement during the maritime weather report to take notes. Little by little, so that I can take notes comfortably, sentence after sentence accumulates. I write the words shorthand, as if following a dictation, without involving myself in the thought process in a constructive way. I am far from being in a so-called trance state; nor do I form the sentences, but the words jump out at me one by one, so to speak, without me grasping the context as I write.

After days, sometimes only weeks, I transcribe the shorthand report without reading it first, word for word, without changing or "improving" a single syllable, but in no way elaborating or stylising the meaning of what has been said.

The duration of such a dictation is about half an hour. I would like to stress that the process does not tolerate any state of compulsion or ecstasy. Everything takes place with sobriety and simplicity, without excitement or influence of one's own will. I can interrupt at any time and, hours or days later, resume writing the proclamation that was interrupted in mid-sentence. Without having read the above, I can then continue to dictate fluently from my pen.

My will is, therefore, free from all obligation - what I want is to serve the will of GOD, that is, to be allowed to do what is His holy will. I can say that I was introduced to divine truth as a learner of the alphabet, to concepts that were and had to be foreign to me in every respect’.

With the lack of general education, I always felt like a blank slate. Lack of money and time prevented me from reading good books and attending lectures. The only thing I knew was the tense work from morning to night. And yet I received every day the delicious gifts of spiritual goods, without knowing for whom I was receiving them.

The fact that I accepted the above words without protest was probably due to my total ignorance of the Bible and of Catholic scripture and doctrine.

In my present experience, a «serious Catholic or Protestant», whose knowledge is anchored in dogmatic doctrinal foundations, is too focused on these to be able to approach these divine words of revelation without contradictions and reservations and to let them mature within him.

Scope of the complete work

The complete work of his verbally inspired revelations, written between 1937 and 1965, consists of 9030 consecutively numbered and dated individual revelations, each with a different, self-contained content. Subsequently, several editors summarised them into thematic focuses and translated them into various languages.

Bertha Dudde died on 18 September 1965 in Leverkusen.