Luther, freedom and the Bibel

The Luther House in Eisenach

My earliest memories of the Luther House in Eisenach are of a donkey’s head. To this day, the education specialists at the museum still offer ‘Lessons like in Luther’s time’ and get kids to try on the notorious animal mask. The permanent exhibition, on the other hand, focuses on Luther translating the Bible at Wartburg Castle and shows how the impact of that historical undertaking reverberates to the present day.

Having been born and bred in Eisenach, I’d heard about Martin Luther as a child, knew the story about the ink stain at Wartburg Castle and got taken on a trip to the Luther House like any other Eisenach schoolkid. That is where my memory of the donkey’s head originates. I have a hazy recollection of old family trees and portraits, but most of my impressions from that time have long since faded. So I was all the more excited recently to be making my way back to Luther’s House in Eisenach.

On the trail of young Luther

Martin Luther is inextricably linked with the history of Eisenach, as Luther’s House demonstrates in a contemporary and yet profoundly historical way. Tradition holds that the striking half-timbered building, initially completed in 1269 and extended to its current size in 1356, is where Luther lived while he attended Eisenach’s parish school when he was 14 years old.

Creaking hallways, low ceilings and crooked walls – the Luther rooms, where the youngster is presumed to have lived, are now a memorable part of the exhibition. They provide an authentic insight into the spartan lifestyle around 1500, and they leave me grateful for the comforts of everyday modern life that I all too often take for granted. I wouldn’t have been surprised to suddenly bump into the young Luther here, in the days when he didn’t have an inkling of the impact he was going to have on world history later on.

An epic act of freedom: Luther and the Bible

It’s that impact which provides the theme for the permanent exhibition at Eisenach’s Luther House, with a deliberate focus on Luther’s translation of the Bible. Within seconds I was able to feel the passion with which Luther translated the Bible and lost myself in the contemplation of exhibits such as the horned Moses, a curious example of a biblical translation error, of the smallest book in the world and of the painting of Luther on his deathbed by Lucas Cranach the Younger and his workshop. Dr Jochen Birkenmeier, the director of Luther’s House in Eisenach, revealed to me that this painting is one of his personal favourites among the pieces on show.

As someone who has studied German to degree level, I am particularly fascinated by Martin Luther’s influence on the German language. He coined many well-known proverbs, such as ‘pearls before swine’ and ‘still waters run deep’, and he also inspired writers from Heinrich Heine to Bertold Brecht. Today you might call Luther a verbal acrobat, he definitely had a way with words. But would he have been any good at slam poetry?

There are some surprising revelations too. Luther was neither the first to translate the Bible into German, nor did he do it alone. However, his work laid the foundation for the standardisation of the German language and for unprecedented religious freedom. On top of all that, the former monk also married an escaped nun!

Martin Luther and Ai Weiwei: Freedom as a privilege

At the time, that union was an outright scandal and conclusive proof that the reformer Luther was able to transcend social boundaries, both in his private life and in public, where he divided opinions with treatises like ‘On the Freedom of a Christian’.

Following his eventual break with the church and the emperor, Luther was stripped of all his rights and possessions and became an outlaw, forced to take shelter at Wartburg Castle. Martin Luther’s story has prompted me to become more aware of the privilege of my own personal freedom and to reflect on the notion of social freedom in our time. The inner courtyard of Luther’s House in Eisenach is the perfect place to do just that, with its exhibit of man in a cube, a work by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. In his concrete sculpture, Ai Weiwei is processing his own imprisonment and the lack of freedom that he experienced. Looking at the artwork, I too was gripped by thoughts of loneliness, rigidity, isolation and coldness. I was beginning to feel what it meant to lose one’s freedom.

Special exhibition and capsule exhibition at the Luther House in Eisenach

In addition to the work of Ai Weiwei, there are other treasures to discover at Luther’s House in Eisenach. The museum’s first capsule exhibition, ‘Young People, God and FDJ’, marks a new approach by the Luther House Foundation to make its work more sustainable through a more efficient use of resources. The multimedia exhibition, which runs until the end of 2025 and explores the complex issue of churches in the GDR, shows explicitly how the personal freedom of believers was restricted and how they were persecuted.

I had heard quite a bit about the special exhibition ‘Study and Eradication. The Church’s ‘Dejudaization institute’ 1939–1945’ before I went. Tragic stories like that of Werner Sylten or the Kirchheimer family touched me deeply and reminded me how fragile freedom is – even today.

My visit to Luther’s House moved and impressed me on many levels. And my understanding of Luther’s historical significance now covers more than just a donkey’s head.

Text: Jessika Fichtel is a freelance copywriter, blogger and book author from Eisenach. She creates authentic content with passion and expertise.
Header picture: Tobias Wille, Stiftung Lutherhaus Eisenach