1.
Wittenberg
–
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Situated on the river Elbe, it has a population of about 50,000. Part of the Augustinian monastery in which Luther dwelt, first as a monk and later as owner with his wife, various Luther and Melanchthon memorial sites were added to the UNESCO world heritage list in 1996. Historical documents first mention the settlement in 1180 as a village founded by Flemish colonists under the rule of the House of Ascania. In 1260 this village became the residence of the dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg, Wittenberg developed into an important trade centre during the following several centuries, because of its central location. When the local branch of the Ascanians died out in 1422, several parts of boundaries of the town were extended soon afterward. The second bridge over the Elbe River was built from 1486 through 1490, the Electors palace was rebuilt at the same time. In 1760, during the Seven Years War, the Austrians bombarded the Prussian-occupied town, the French took control in 1806, and Napoleon commanded the refortification of the town in 1813. In 1814 the Prussian Army under Tauentzien stormed Wittenberg, he received the title of von Wittenberg as a reward, in 1815 Wittenberg became part of Prussia, administered within the Province of Saxony. Wittenberg continued to be a fortress of the class until the reorganisation of German defences after the foundation of the new German Empire led to its dismantling in 1873. Unlike many other historic German cities during World War II, Wittenbergs town centre was spared destruction during the conflict. In actuality, the Luther statue was not even present in the square during much of the war, but in storage at Luther Brunnen. Wittenbergs reputation as a town protected from Allied bombing is also not entirely historically accurate, on the outskirts of Wittenberg stood the Arado Flugzeugwerke, which produced components of airplanes for the Luftwaffe. This factory was staffed by Jews, Russians, Poles, political prisoners, despite the prisoner status of its workers, American and British planes bombed the factory near the end of the war, killing one thousand prisoner workers. The 1995 publication of. und morgen war Krieg. by Renate Gruber-Lieblich attempts to document this tragic bombing of Wittenberg, at the end of the war, Soviet forces occupied Wittenberg, it became part of East Germany in 1949. During the East German period, it formed part of Halle District, by means of the peaceful revolution in 1989, the communist régime dissolved and the town has been governed democratically since 1990. The figures are given for the district at the point in time. Up to 1791 the figures are estimated, later figures are from census or local authorities
2.
Wittenberg (district)
–
Wittenberg is a district in the east of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In 1994 the district was merged with the district of Jessen, in 2007,27 municipalities from the former district Anhalt-Zerbst were added to the district of Wittenberg. The main rivers in the district are the Elbe and its tributary, the coat of arms show two swords which is the symbol of a field marshal in the Holy Roman Empire. This title was bestowed upon the counts of Saxony, who added the symbol to their coat of arms. The center of the principality of Saxony was located in the now covered by the district. Media related to Landkreis Wittenberg at Wikimedia Commons Official website
3.
Saxony-Anhalt
–
Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked federal state of Germany surrounded by the federal states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia. Its capital is Magdeburg and its largest city is Halle, Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of 20,447.7 square kilometres and has a population of 2.34 million. Saxony-Anhalt should not be confused with Saxony or Lower Saxony, also German states, Saxony-Anhalt is one of 16 Bundesländer of Germany. It is located in the part of eastern Germany. By size, it is the 8th largest state in Germany and it borders four fellow Bundesländer, Lower Saxony to the north-west, Brandenburg to the north-east, Saxony to the south-east, and Thuringia to the south-west. In the north, the Saxony-Anhalt landscape is dominated by plain, the old Hanseatic towns Salzwedel, Gardelegen, Stendal, and Tangermünde are located in the sparsely populated Altmark. The Colbitz-Letzlingen Heath and the Drömling near Wolfsburg mark the transition between the Altmark region and the Elbe-Börde-Heath region with its fertile, sparsely wooded Magdeburg Börde. Notable towns in the Magdeburg Börde are Haldensleben, Oschersleben, Wanzleben, Schönebeck, Aschersleben, the Harz mountains are located in the south-west, comprising the Harz National Park, the Harz Foreland and Mansfeld Land. The highest mountain of the Harz is Brocken, with an elevation of 1,141 meters, in this area, one can find the towns of Halberstadt, Wernigerode, Thale, Eisleben and Quedlinburg. The wine-growing area Saale-Unstrut and the towns of Zeitz, Naumburg, Weißenfels, the metropolitan area of Halle forms an agglomeration with Leipzig in Saxony. This area is known for its highly developed industry, with major production plants at Leuna, Schkopau. Finally, in the east, Dessau-Roßlau and Wittenberg are situated on the Elbe in the Anhalt-Wittenberg region, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt is Magdeburg. It is the second-largest city in the state, closely after Halle, from 1994 to 2003, the state was divided into three regions, Dessau, Halle and Magdeburg, and, below the regional level,21 districts. Since 2004, however, this system has replaced by 11 rural districts. In April 1945 the US Army took control of most of the western and northern area of the future Saxony-Anhalt, group Control Council, Germany appointed the first non-Nazi officials in leading positions in the area. So Erhard Hübener, furloughed by the Nazis, was reappointed Landeshauptmann. By early July the US Army withdrew from the former Prussian Province of Saxony to make way for the Red Army to take it as part of the Soviet occupation zone, the previously Saxon Erfurt governorate had become a part of Thuringia. For the earlier history see the articles of these entities before 1945
4.
Germany
–
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
5.
Eisleben
–
Eisleben is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is famous as the hometown of Martin Luther, hence, as of 2005, Eisleben had a population of 24,284. It lies on the Halle–Kassel railway, Eisleben is divided into old and new towns, the latter of which was created for Eislebens miners in the 14th century. Eisleben was the capital of the district of Mansfelder Land and is the seat of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Lutherstadt Eisleben, Eisleben was first mentioned in 997 as a market called Islebia, and in 1180 as a town. The counts of Mansfeld governed the area until the 18th century, the German Peasants War devastated the area, about a century before the Thirty Years War. After the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, the Countess of Mansfield, Agnes von Mansfeld-Eisleben converted Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg and their marriage and his declaration of religious parity throughout his lands caused another round of religious war, the Cologne War. The couple fled numerous times through various German states before Gerhard relinquished his claims in 1588 and he died and was buried in Strassbourg in 1601, having failed in his attempt to convert his electorate into a dynasty. His lady came under the protection of the Dukes of Württemberg and died in 1601, the Hinterort branches died out in 1666, but the Mansfeld-Vorderort line lasted until 1780, when it too became extinct and Eisleben came under directly under the Electorate of Saxony. The Prussian Province of Saxony became part of the Free State of Prussia after World War I, after World War II, Eisleben became part of the new state of Saxony-Anhalt, part of the German Democratic Republic until Germanys reuinification in 1990. On June 6,1927, American aviator Clarence D, the Counts of Mansfield in 1229 endowed a monastery for women on the grounds of their castle in 1229, then built a separate monastery at Helfta near Eisleben, which opened in 1258. Governed under either the Benedictine or Cistercian model, Helfta became known for its powerful and mystical abbesses, including Gertrude of Hackeborn, Gertrude the Great, however, Duke Albrecht of Brunswick destroyed the nunnery in 1342. Rebuilt the following year, it was called the Queen of German Convents. In 1712 it became a run by the Prussian state. In 1950, the GDR turned it into a fruit farm, in 1994, after Germanys reunification, the Catholic Diocese of Magdeburg bought the property using donations from all over the world and soon began restoration. Cistercian nuns from Seligenthal in Bavaria moved into the cloister starting circa 1999, Since 2006 Helfta has been on the portion of a major European cultural route. The Protestant reformer Martin Luther was born in Eisleben on November 10,1483 and his father, Hans Luther, was a miner like many in Eisleben. Luthers family moved to Mansfeld when he was only a year old, seemingly by chance Luther preached his last sermon and died in Eisleben in 1546. Eisleben took steps to preserve its Luther memorials as far back as 1689, danish poet Hans Christian Andersen came to Eisleben while researching Lutheran links as well as touring through Saxony and the Harz Mountains in 1831
6.
Martin Luther
–
Martin Luther, O. S. A. was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation. Luther came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church and he strongly disputed the Catholic view on indulgences as he understood it to be, that freedom from Gods punishment for sin could be purchased with money. Luther proposed a discussion of the practice and efficacy of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theses of 1517. His translation of the Bible into the vernacular made it accessible to the laity. It fostered the development of a version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the writing of an English translation. His hymns influenced the development of singing in Protestant churches and his marriage to Katharina von Bora, a former nun, set a model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant clergy to marry. In two of his works, Luther expressed antagonistic views towards Jews, writing that Jewish homes and synagogues should be destroyed, their money confiscated. Condemned by virtually every Lutheran denomination, these statements and their influence on antisemitism have contributed to his controversial status, Martin Luther was born to Hans Luder and his wife Margarethe on 10 November 1483 in Eisleben, Saxony, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was baptized as a Catholic the next morning on the feast day of St. Martin of Tours and his family moved to Mansfeld in 1484, where his father was a leaseholder of copper mines and smelters and served as one of four citizen representatives on the local council. He had several brothers and sisters, and is known to have close to one of them. Hans Luther was ambitious for himself and his family, and he was determined to see Martin, his eldest son, become a lawyer. He sent Martin to Latin schools in Mansfeld, then Magdeburg in 1497, where he attended a school operated by a lay group called the Brethren of the Common Life, the three schools focused on the so-called trivium, grammar, rhetoric, and logic. Luther later compared his education there to purgatory and hell, in 1501, at the age of 19, he entered the University of Erfurt, which he later described as a beerhouse and whorehouse. He was made to wake at four every morning for what has been described as a day of rote learning and he received his masters degree in 1505. In accordance with his fathers wishes, Luther enrolled in law school at the university that year but dropped out almost immediately. Luther sought assurances about life and was drawn to theology and philosophy, expressing particular interest in Aristotle, William of Ockham, philosophy proved to be unsatisfying, offering assurance about the use of reason but none about loving God, which to Luther was more important. Reason could not lead men to God, he felt, for Luther, reason could be used to question men and institutions, but not God. Human beings could learn about God only through divine revelation, he believed and he later attributed his decision to an event, on 2 July 1505, he was returning to university on horseback after a trip home
7.
Reformation
–
The period is usually considered to have begun with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Luther in 1517 to the Thirty Years War and ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The Protestant position, however, would come to incorporate doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura, the initial movement within Germany diversified, and other reform impulses arose independently of Luther. The spread of Gutenbergs printing press provided the means for the dissemination of religious materials in the vernacular. The largest groups were the Lutherans and Calvinists, Lutheran churches were founded mostly in Germany, the Baltics and Scandinavia, while the Reformed ones were founded in Switzerland, Hungary, France, the Netherlands and Scotland. The new movement influenced the Church of England decisively after 1547 under Edward VI and Elizabeth I, there were also reformation movements throughout continental Europe known as the Radical Reformation, which gave rise to the Anabaptist, Moravian and other Pietistic movements. The Roman Catholic Church responded with a Counter-Reformation initiated by the Council of Trent, much work in battling Protestantism was done by the well-organised new order of the Jesuits. In general, Northern Europe, with the exception of most of Ireland, southern Europe remained Roman Catholic, while Central Europe was a site of a fierce conflict, culminating in the Thirty Years War, which left it devastated. The oldest Protestant churches, such as the Unitas Fratrum and Moravian Church, the later Protestant Churches generally date their doctrinal separation from the Roman Catholic Church to the 16th century. The Reformation began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church, by priests who opposed what they perceived as false doctrines and ecclesiastic malpractice. They especially objected to the teaching and the sale of indulgences, and the abuses thereof, and to simony, the reformers saw these practices as evidence of the systemic corruption of the Churchs hierarchy, which included the pope. Unrest due to the Great Schism of Western Christianity excited wars between princes, uprisings among the peasants, and widespread concern over corruption in the Church, New perspectives came from John Wycliffe at Oxford University and from Jan Hus at the Charles University in Prague. Hus rejected indulgences and adopted a doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone, the Roman Catholic Church officially concluded this debate at the Council of Constance by condemning Hus, who was executed by burning despite a promise of safe-conduct. Wycliffe was posthumously condemned as a heretic and his corpse exhumed and burned in 1428, the Council of Constance confirmed and strengthened the traditional medieval conception of church and empire. The council did not address the national tensions or the theological tensions stirred up during the century and could not prevent schism. Pope Sixtus IV established the practice of selling indulgences to be applied to the dead, Pope Alexander VI was one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes. He was the father of seven children, including Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia, in response to papal corruption, particularly the sale of indulgences, Luther wrote The Ninety-Five Theses. The Reformation was born of Luthers dual declaration – first, the discovering of Jesus and salvation by faith alone, the Protestant reformers were unanimous in agreement and this understanding of prophecy furnished importance to their deeds. It was the point and the battle cry that made the Reformation nearly unassailable
8.
Iconoclasm
–
Iconoclasm is the destruction of religious icons and other images or monuments for religious or political motives. Over time, the word, usually in the form, has also come to refer to aggressive statements or actions against any well-established status quo. It is a frequent component of political or religious changes. The term does not generally encompass the destruction of images of a ruler after his death or overthrow. Conversely, one who reveres or venerates religious images is called an iconolater, in a Byzantine context, Iconoclasm may be carried out by people of a different religion, but is often the result of sectarian disputes between factions of the same religion. The Church Fathers identified Jews and Judaism with heresy and they saw deviations from orthodox Christianity and opposition to the veneration of images as heresies that were essentially Jewish in spirit. The degree of iconoclasm among Christian branches greatly varies, Islam, in general, tends to be more iconoclastic than Christianity, with Sunni Islam being more iconoclastic than Shia Islam. Akhenatens actions are described thusly, In rebellion against the old religion, public references to Akhenaten were destroyed soon after his death. Comparing the ancient Egyptians with the Israelites, Jan Assmann writes, For Egypt, in the eyes of the Israelites, the erection of images meant the destruction of divine presence, in the eyes of the Egyptians, this same effect was attained by the destruction of images. In Egypt, iconoclasm was the most terrible crime, in Israel. It is more probable that these traditions evolved under mutual influence. In this respect, Moses and Akhenaten became, after all, the period after the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian evidently saw a huge increase in the use of images, both in volume and quality, and a gathering aniconic reaction. In the Eastern Roman Empire, government-led iconoclasm began with Byzantine Emperor Leo III, the religious conflict created political and economic divisions in Byzantine society. It was generally supported by the Eastern, poorer, non-Greek peoples of the Empire who had to frequently with raids from the new Muslim Empire. On the other hand, the wealthier Greeks of Constantinople, and also the peoples of the Balkan and Italian provinces, within the Byzantine Empire the government had probably been adopting Christian images more frequently. One notable change came in 695, when Justinian IIs government added an image of Christ on the obverse of imperial gold coins. The change caused the Caliph Abd al-Malik to stop his earlier adoption of Byzantine coin types and he started a purely Islamic coinage with lettering only. As a result, individuals attacked statues and images, however, in most cases, civil authorities removed images in an orderly manner in the newly reformed Protestant cities and territories of Europe
9.
Judensau
–
In Nazi Germany, classes of German schoolchildren were sent to see the Judensau on German churches and the term remains extant as a neo-Nazi insult. The Jewish prohibition against eating pork comes from Torah, in the Book of Leviticus Chapter 11, the arrangement of Jews surrounding, suckling, and having intercourse with the animal, is a mockery of Judaism and example of antisemitic propaganda. The image appears in the Middle Ages, mostly in carvings on church or cathedral walls, often outside where it could be seen from the street, the earliest appearance seems to be on the underside of a wooden choir-stall seat in Cologne Cathedral, dating to about 1210. The earliest example in stone dates to ca.1230 and is located in the cloister of the cathedral at Brandenburg, in about 1470 the image appeared in woodcut form, and thereafter was often copied in popular prints, often with antisemitic commentary. The city of Wittenberg contains a Judensau from 1305, on the facade of the Stadtkirche and it portrays a rabbi who looks under the sows tail, and other Jews drinking from its teats. An inscription reads Rabini Schem HaMphoras, gibberish which presumably bastardizes shem ha-meforasch, the sculpture is one of the last remaining examples in Germany of medieval Jew baiting. Some of these sculptures can be found at some churches today, aarschot in Belgium Bamberg Basel in Switzerland Brandenburg Cadolzburg Colmar in France at Cologne (in the Cathedral - probably the earliest example, and in Church of St
10.
Wartburg
–
The Wartburg is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a 410 meters precipice to the southwest of, in 1999, UNESCO added Wartburg Castle to the World Heritage List. It was an important inspiration for Ludwig II when he decided to build Neuschwanstein Castle, Wartburg is the most-visited tourist attraction in Thuringia after Weimar. Although the castle today still contains substantial original structures from the 12th through 15th centuries and it is a German play on words for mountain and fortress. Wartburg is located on a 410 meters precipice to the southwest of, the hill is an extension of Thuringian Forest, overlooking Mariental to the south-east and the valley of the Hörsel to the north, through which passed the historical Via Regia. The Rennsteig passes not far to the south of the castle, the castles foundation was laid about 1067 by the Thuringian count of Schauenburg, Louis the Springer, a relative of the Counts of Rieneck in Franconia. Together with its sister castle Neuenburg in the present-day town of Freyburg. The castle was first mentioned in a document in 1080 by Bruno, Bishop of Merseburg. During the Investiture Controversy, Louiss henchmen attacked a contingent of King Henry IV of Germany. From 1172 to 1211, the Wartburg was one of the most important princes courts in the German Reich, Hermann I supported poets like Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach who wrote part of his Parzival here in 1203. The legend of this event was used by Richard Wagner in his opera Tannhäuser. At the age of four, St. Elisabeth of Hungary was sent by her mother to the Wartburg to be raised to become consort of Landgrave Ludwig IV of Thuringia, from 1211 to 1228, she lived in the castle and was renowned for her charitable work. In 1227, Ludwig died on the Crusade and she followed her confessor Father Konrad to Marburg, Elisabeth died there in 1231 at the age of 24 and was canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church just five years after her death. In 1247, Heinrich Raspe, the last landgrave of Thuringia of his line and he was succeeded by Henry III, Margrave of Meissen. In 1320, substantial work was done after the castle had been damaged in a fire caused by lightning in 1317 or 1318. A chapel was added to the Palas, the Wartburg remained the seat of the Thuringian landgraves until 1440. It was during this period that Luther translated the New Testament from Ancient Greek into German in just ten weeks, Luthers was not the first German translation of the Bible but it quickly became the most well known and most widely circulated. From 1540 until his death in 1548, Fritz Erbe, an Anabaptist farmer from Herda, was held captive in the dungeon of the south tower, after his death, he was buried in the Wartburg near the chapel of St. Elisabeth
11.
Schmalkaldic War
–
At the 1521 Diet of Worms Emperor Charles V had Martin Luther banned and the proliferation of his writings prohibited, which in 1529 provoked the Protestation at Speyer by several Lutheran estates. The tensions culminated to a conflict over the Lutheran Augsburg Confession of 1530. In turn several Lutheran states led by Elector John Frederick I of Saxony and Landgrave Philip I of Hesse met at the town of Schmalkalden, the Emperor gathered an army of around 52,000 men for his campaign, that was to start on the Danube. However, plans to invade Austrian Tyrol in order to bar the Emperor from bringing up Italian troops did not meet the approval of the Schmalkaldic princes, further on the Schmalkaldic leaders could not resolve upon delivering a battle against the entrenched Imperial troops. He quickly came on from Swabia and liberated Ernestine Saxony with his army, whereafter he in turn invaded Albertine Saxony, the onset of winter left the armed conflict inconclusive. On 28 March 1547 Charles V set off for Bohemia, where he united forces with his brother King Ferdinand I of Bohemia. Because the Bohemian Lutherans did not provide any assistance to Elector John Frederick I, as he had hoped for. Due to disagreement in strategy, the Leagues defenses were finally routed on 24 April 1547 at the Battle of Mühlberg, after the battle, which determined the result of the war, only two cities continued to resist, Bremen and Magdeburg. Both cities refused to pay the fines Charles imposed on them, in the case of Bremen,12,000 imperial soldiers under the command of Duke Eric II of Brunswick-Calenberg unsuccessfully laid siege from January until May. This event led to the Battle of Drakenburg on 23 May 1547 and his men and supplies exhausted, Duke Eric II and his Imperial forces went to confront the army and were quickly defeated. During the fighting, Eric was forced to swim over the Weser river in order to save his own life, as a consequence of the Battle of Drakenburg, the Imperial troops left northern Germany. The captured Elector John Frederick I at first was sentenced to death and he lost the electoral dignity and some minor Ernestine territories to his cousin Maurice, who was declared the new Saxon Elector on 4 June. Maurice with the aid of Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg tried to mediate in favour of his father-in-law Philip I of Hesse, the Landgrave delivered himself up in Halle, where he threw himself on the mercy of the Emperor. Charles V nevertheless had him imprisoned, leaving the Electors upset by his haughty behaviour. However, on 15 May 1548 Charles V, feeling at the height of his power, the edict provoked another revolt by the Protestant princes in 1552, this time led by Elector Maurice of Saxony and backed by King Henry II of France. Charles V had to flee from the superior Lutheran forces and to cancel the Interim with the Peace of Passau, whereby John Frederick I of Saxony, an official settlement acknowledging the Protestant religion arrived three years later in the form of the Peace of Augsburg. The next year Charles V voluntarily abdicated in favour of his brother Ferdinand I, thirty Years War Confessionalization Battle of Mühlberg Capitulation of Wittenberg History of Hungary. Book-Series, History of Hungary, First Book, Editor in chief, Pál Zsigmond Pach, Editor, Ágnes Várkonyi R. Akadémia Kiadó
