''Thomas Muentzer'' is a 1956
East German
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...
film about the life of the 16th-century
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
theologian and peasant leader
Thomas Muentzer, directed by
Martin Hellberg
Martin Hellberg (also known as Martin Heinrich, 31 January 1905 – 31 October 1999) was a German actor, director and writer.
Life
Martin Hellberg was born in 1905 in Dresden, Saxony, Germany, as a son of a pastor. From 1922 to 1924, Martin Hell ...
.
Plot
In 1519, the teachings of
Martin Luther
Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...
sweep through the German principalities. They are welcomed by the peasants, who hope that the new doctrines will help to liberate them from the oppressive yoke of the nobility and the magistrates. The young pastor Thomas Muentzer embraces Lutheranism, but he is more radical in his support for the peasants.
In 1523, Muentzer arrives in
Allstedt
Allstedt () is a town in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approximatively 10 km southeast of Sangerhausen.
History
Allstedt is mentioned as the tithable place ''Altstedi'' in Friesenfeld in the ...
to assume the office of the local pastor. When a local villager is arrested after assaulting an overseer who tried to rape his sister, the priest helps him escape. He also carries a first Mass in German rather than Latin, and preaches his flock to destroy all the saints' icons in the local chapel, which he deems to be heretical. The people burn it down. The local baron retaliates by destroying the village. The priest now realizes that he is no longer a follower of Luther, who called to refrain from violence. He flees to southern Germany, where he and his friend Heinrich Pfeiffer take over the city of
Muehlhausen and form a peasant rebel army, intending to liberate the people. But betrayal and the schemes of the nobility bring about their defeat in the
Battle of Frankenhausen
The Battle of Frankenhausen was fought on 14 and 15 May 1525. It was an important battle in the German Peasants' War and the final act of the war in Thuringia: joint troops of Landgrave Philip I of Hesse and Duke George of Saxony defeated th ...
. Muentzer is captured; as he is tortured, he refuses to deny his religious doctrines and is then executed.
Selected cast
*Wolfgang Stumpf as
Thomas Muentzer.
*Margarete Taudte as Ottilie von Gerson.
*Martin Floerchinger as Heinrich Pfeiffer.
*
Wolf Kaiser
Wolf Kaiser (26 October 1916 – 22 October 1992) was a German theatre and film actor. He grew up in Switzerland, where he studied chemistry and physiology. In 1937 he was deemed unfit for service in the Wehrmacht, and then went to Berlin where ...
as Hannes the Swab.
*
Ulrich Thein
Ulrich Thein (7 April 1930 – 21 June 1995) was a German actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in more than 40 films and television shows between 1953 and 1995. He won the award for Best Actor at the 11th Moscow International F ...
as student.
*
Gerd Michael Henneberg as Evangelist priest.
*
Horst Giese as miner.
*
Fritz Diez
Fritz Diez (27 February 1901 – 19 October 1979) was a German actor, producer, director and theater manager.
Biography
Early life
Diez's mother was a servant, and raised her three children alone. To support his family, the child began working ...
as Field Captain Hoffmann.
*
Franz Loskarn
Franz Loskarn (3 May 1890 – 22 April 1978) was a German film actor.
Selected filmography
* ''Behind Monastery Walls (1928 film), Behind Monastery Walls'' (1928)
* ''Almenrausch and Edelweiss (1928 film), Almenrausch and Edelweiss'' (1928)
* ''L ...
as Captain Krumpe.
*
Gerhard Bienert
Gerhard Max Richard Bienert (8 January 1898 – 23 December 1986) was a German stage and film actor.
Gerhard Bienert was born in Berlin, Germany and died in the same city in 1986 at age 88.
Selected filmography
* '' Duke Ferrante's End'' (1922)
...
as
Ernst II, Count von Mansfeld.
*Edgar Bennert as
Frederick III, Elector of Saxony
Frederick III (17 January 1463 – 5 May 1525), also known as Frederick the Wise (German: ''Friedrich der Weise''), was Prince-elector of Electorate of Saxony, Saxony from 1486 to 1525, who is mostly remembered for the protection given to his su ...
.
*
Friedrich Richter as
John, Elector of Saxony
John (30 June 146816 August 1532), known as John the Steadfast or John the Constant (''Johann, der Beständige''), was Prince-elector, Elector of Electorate of Saxony, Saxony from 1525 until 1532 from the House of Wettin.
He is notable for organ ...
.
*Fred Diesko as
John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony
John Frederick I (, 30 June 1503 – 3 March 1554), called the Magnanimous (), was the Elector of Saxony (1532–1547) until he was deprived of this title in the Capitulation of Wittenberg by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. He was leading the Sc ...
.
*Guido Goroll as
Louis V, Elector Palatine
Louis V, Count Palatine of the Rhine ( German: ''Ludwig V. von der Pfalz'') (2 July 1478, in Heidelberg – 16 March 1544, in Heidelberg), also Louis the Pacific, was a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty. He was prince elector of the Palatinat ...
.
*Jan Franz Krueger as
Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lueneburg.
*Peter Herden as
Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse
Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse (13 November 1504 – 31 March 1567), nicknamed (), was a German nobleman and champion of the Protestant Reformation, notable for being one of the most important of the early Protestant rulers in Germany. He was ...
.
*Paul Paulsen as
George, Duke of Saxony
George the Bearded ( Meissen, 27 August 1471 – Dresden, 17 April 1539) was Duke of Saxony from 1500 to 1539 known for his opposition to the Reformation. While the Ernestine line embraced Lutheranism, the Albertines (headed by George) were ...
.
*Ruediger Renn as
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) ...
.
Production
The communist leadership of East Germany, in its attempts to create a unifying narrative for the citizens of their country, attempted to portray the history of the land as a chain of events which developed according to the rules of
Marxism-Leninism, leading unavoidably to the consolidation of socialist power in the state. The figure of the preacher Thomas Muentzer held an especially important status in the eyes of the establishment, both because of his radical theology that was regarded as a precursor to communism and his recognition by
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels ( ;["Engels"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.[The Peasant War in Germany
''The Peasant War in Germany'' () by Friedrich Engels is a short account of the early-16th-century uprisings known as the German Peasants' War (1524–1525). It was written by Engels in London during the summer of 1850, following the revolution ...]
''.
The film was one of 13 'heritage films' created by the
DEFA
DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PR ...
studio during the 1950s about important historical characters whose legacy was deemed important by the state, like
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best know ...
and
Georg Buechner. Author
Friedrich Wolf began working on the scenario in the late 1940s, and director Hellberg requested the DEFA board to authorize a film about Muentzer in 1952. 200 actors and 2000 extras, the latter mostly servicemen of the
Barracked People's Police and apprentices, were involved in the filming, which took place in the town of
Quedlinburg
Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the Harz (district), district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg becam ...
. The picture was shot using
Agfacolor
Agfa-Farbenplatte of Bad Kreuznach, Germany, 1933.
An Agfacolor slide of a café in Oslo, Norway, 1937.
An Agfacolor slide of Paris, France, 1937.
An Agfacolor slide of Stockholm, Sweden, 1938.
An Agfacolor slide, Hungary, 1938.
An Agf ...
reels.
[A review on ''Der Spiegel'', 11 July 1956.](_blank)
/ref>
Reception
The film had its premiere on 17 May 1956, on the tenth anniversary to DEFA's founding.
Thomas Muentzer
' on DEFA Foundation's website. It was commercially released on the following day. The ''Der Spiegel
(, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'' film critic wrote that the picture was "intended to depict the 16th-Century Iconoclast as Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; ; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar republic, Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later in the early development ...
's ideological predecessor" and that its plot culminated in "a complete confusion." West Germany's Catholic Film Service described it as "an immense production... with a superficial and biased interpretation of history... in spite of the expensive crowd scenes, it is anemic." In 1970, a review of the German Film Studies' Institute noted that for uncertain reasons, Martin Luther
Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...
was not seen in the film at all.
In 2005, the picture was released on DVD format by the company Icestorm Entertainment. In a special 13-minutes-long supplement to the new edition, historian Susanne Galley noted several inaccuracies in the plot: Muentzer is shown to have held to his beliefs under torture, while in reality he agreed to deny them before his execution; the peasants' defeat in the Battle of Frankenhausen
The Battle of Frankenhausen was fought on 14 and 15 May 1525. It was an important battle in the German Peasants' War and the final act of the war in Thuringia: joint troops of Landgrave Philip I of Hesse and Duke George of Saxony defeated th ...
is attributed to betrayal and sabotage, rather than to the weakness of their army. Galley believed that the plot was affected by the government's ideological tendencies.The DVD edition on icestorm.de.
The supplement is in the extended package.
References
External links
Thomas Muentzer' on the
IMDb
IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
.
{{Authority control
1956 films
1950s biographical films
1950s historical films
German biographical films
German historical films
East German films
1950s German-language films
Films set in the 1510s
Films set in the 1520s
Films set in 16th-century Holy Roman Empire
Cultural depictions of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Thomas Müntzer
1950s German films
German-language biographical films
German-language historical films