Bet you didn't know this one...

The most famous man in modern-day German history is Adolf Hitler (shhhhh... you have to whisper his name. That's how it's said here in the Fatherland. It's not Hitler, it's Hitler.) But this week, for your German History lesson, I present to you the second most famous man in German history. Martin Luther. My good friend Wikipedia refers to Luther as "... a German monk, theologian, university professor and church reformer whose ideas inspired the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization."

Martin Luther. A man who in 1517 posted the 95 thesis on a church door in Wittenburg, Germany in protest of the abuses of the Catholic Church and turned the middle ages on it's head. Interestingly enough, he attributed his decision to become involved in the church to a thunderstorm in 1505. A bolt of lightening struck the ground near him, and he shouted out in terror, "Help! Saint Anna! I will become a monk!" He viewed this as an unbreakable promise, and joined the Augustinian friary two weeks later.

History class teaches us only the good things about Luther's legacy. We were taught that he saved the masses from the increasing tyranny of the Catholic Church, exposed the abuses of the clergy, and withstood ridicule and persecution for defending his "freedom of conscience." Luther's translation of the Bible into German made scripture more accessible to the people. One historical writer quotes this achievement alone as making him "one of the greatest benefactors of the german-speaking race." I am not going to presume that I am the judge of what is "good" and what is "bad," but these seem to be "good" actions thus far. Up until this point, he had strived to make religion more accessible to the people while freeing them from underneath brutal Catholic rule. Luther did some good things. But, he also wrote that one particular group of people were "base, whoring people, that is, no people of God, and their boast of lineage, circumcision, and law must be accounted as filth." Know who he was talking about? Jews. He wrote that Jews were the "devil's people," and they (Christians) "would not be at fault for slaying them." Seem familiar? The most-famous man in German History used Luther's well-documented anti-semitism as a rallying point 400 years later.

Hitler was undoubtably a horrible human being. He was also a brilliant leader. Not "brilliant" as in "he did great things," but "brilliant" as in an amazing politician. That is the whole reason things in the 1930's and 1940's went so terribly wrong - horrible person combined with the ability to get followers. This should not be a controversial fact, but I'm sure I've offended some people by stating it. On the other hand, Luther is remembered by history as being a champion against the oppressive Catholic Church, while he was just as bigoted and anti-semitic as Hitler. It's an interesting historical paradox.

I can't help but think - one of the safest places to be in a lightning storm is the place where lightening just struck. "Lightening doesn't strike the same place twice." Maybe if Luther had known this, he wouldn't have been such a wuss about a little thunder and lightening. Maybe he wouldn't have made an unbreakable promise to a saint and become a monk. The reason he kept his promise? He was afraid of what would happen on Judgment Day if he didn't. After all, he made a promise to a saint. But, his becoming a monk put into motion a set of events that led directly to the Protestant reformation - calling worship of saints "paganism"; fracturing the church; and starting a bloody century of persecution, warfare, and violence. 400 years later, people took his lesser-known "teachings" and used them to support mass genocide. I wonder which outcome the man upstairs would have preferred.



p.s.
I realize the point of these historical posts was to present German history in a more favorable light. I don't think I did that today. But, maybe it's not about only showing the good periods.... it's about shaking your perceptions about conventional wisdom widely-accepted truths. Or, maybe I decided to write about Luther and then figured out he wasn't that great of a guy after all. History is written by the winners, which means that each period has a dark side to it. Somebody had to lose. More on this next week when I write about "the Nazi that said sorry." Turns out, there's a light side to every dark period as well.