A road trip in Eastern Germany to Berlin, Wittenberg, Dessau, Weimar, Erfurt, Eisenach and Kassel. UNESCO sites and more.

Source: Road trip in Germany – Castles, Gardens, History and UNESCO sites in Eastern Germany – Amateur Traveler

In the city where Martin Luther revolutionized Christianity, a vile, 700-year-old sculpture openly denigrates Jews. Why is it still there?

Source: Germany May Have Banished Nazism, but Its Medieval Anti-Semitism Is Still in Plain Sight

“This is a church, a holy place. You can’t mix it with such a shameful assault on the Jews,” plaintiff Michael Düllmann says of the medieval work portraying Jews with a pig.

Source: A German Jew Vows To Fight On To Remove Anti-Semitic Sculpture After Court Defeat

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A Jewish man is seeking to force the removal of an offensive sculpture from a church where Martin Luther once preached.

Source: Ugly anti-Semitic remnant at center of court battle in Germany – Portland Press Herald

Germany – Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg

The home of Martin Luther is celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation today – and trying to use that momentum to lasting effect.

Today is exactly 500 years since Martin Luther famously (or, for exacting historians: reputedly) nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Wittenberg’s Schlosskirche, turning a rumbling religious rift into a roaring ecclesiastical schism and starting what became to be known as the Reformation. Without Luther, the course of history would be unrecognisable. Yet without Wittenberg, a hive ofpioneering intellectual debate in late-medieval Europe and a prosperous power centre of the Holy Roman Empire, Luther would neither have developed his rebellious ideas nor enjoyed the political support to propagate them against the long arm of the papacy.

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Germany – Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg

It’s 8 a.m. in east Germany, and Gunter, a hulking tree trunk of a man, is swinging a hammer over his head, pounding together the steel frame of a 90-foot tower resembling a Bible.

“This is a big year for us!” he exclaims over a chorus of jackhammers. “The world is coming, and we want to build something special so people remember who we are.”

Welcome to Wittenberg, a tiny town with a big heart and an even bigger Bible. You might have heard about this place in history class, and if you’re anywhere in Germany, you’ll hear its name again.

It was here, on Oct. 31, 1517, that an obscure monk might have nailed a piece of parchment to a church door and sparked a religious revolution.

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Germany – Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg

Welcome to Wittenberg, Germany, a tiny town with a big heart and an even bigger bible.

WITTENBERG, GERMANY — It’s 8 a.m. in rural east Germany, and Gunter, a hulking tree trunk of a man, is swinging a hammer over his head, pounding together the steel frame of a 90-foot-tall lookout tower resembling a bible.

“This is a big year for us!” he exclaims over a chorus of jackhammers. “The world is coming, and we want to build something special so people remember who we are.”

Welcome to Wittenberg, a tiny town with a big heart and an even bigger bible. You might have heard about this place in history class, and if you’re anywhere in Germany this year, you probably will hear its name again.

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