Renaming One Dozen

In 2012, Freiburg's city council engaged a commission of experts to assess the names of Freiburg's streets in terms of persecution of minorities, dictatorship, antisemitism, militarism, nationalism, chauvinism, and colonialism.

Yesterday, the commission presented a shortlist A of streets to be renamed and a longer list B, in which explanatory texts should be added to existing street signs.

Paul von Hindenburg, Hitlers Steigbügelhalter (stirrup holder), leads the dozen.

Here is the shortlist A of names, links to Wikipedia, and some explanatory remarks:

Alban-Stolz-Straße: Alban Stolz (1808–1883) was a professor of theology and a professing anti-Semite. His literary works are marked by racist-based aggressive antisemitism.

Eckerstraße: Alexander Ecker (1816–1887) was a professor of anatomy. According to the commission, he assembled a collection of skulls from Africa, Peru, and Malaysia that helped found racist ideologies in the 20th century.

Gallwitzstraße: Max von Gallwitz (1852–1937) was a general in the First World War. He strongly supported the Dolchstoßlegende (stab-in-the-back myth) and was a revisionist of the Versailles Treaty, viewing it as a Schanddiktat (dictate of shame).

Hegarstraße: Ernst Ludwig Alfred Hegar (1830–1914) was a professor of gynecology. He was one of the first advocates for state-regulated human reproduction.

Hindenburgstraße: Paul von Hindenburg (1847–1934)  started it all!

Julius-Brecht-Straße: After the war, Julius Brecht (1900–1962) was a member of the SPD and Germany's Bundestag (House of Representatives). He had joined the NSDAP in 1938 and defrauded Jewish citizens in the Nazi era. A renaming commission in Hannover was faster with its "negative" vote than the one in Freiburg.

Lexerstraße: Erich Lexer (1867–1937) was a professor of surgery. He was a supporting member of the SS and was responsible for the forced sterilization of 1050 persons.

Ludwig-Aschoff-Platz: Ludwig Aschoff (1866–1942) was a professor of pathology. His thinking, research, and political actions were determined by racial hygiene and ethnic nationalism.

Ludwig-Heilmeier-Weg: Ludwig Heilmeyer (1899–1969) was a professor of medicine. He was a member of the SA Freikorps (volunteer corps) and co-founder of the National Socialist German Dozentenbund (federation of university lecturers).

Martin-Heidegger-Weg: For those interested in Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), you may want to revisit my blogs, starting with Heidegger's Götterdämmerung, continuing through Heidegger's Black Notebooks, and concluding with Heidegger and No End.

Rennerstraße: Johann Jacob Renner (vor 1590–nach 1613) was Schultheiß (sheriff) in Freiburg. In 1599, he sent twelve women to be burned at the stake as witches. Note that J. J. Renner had no Wikipedia article, so I wrote one in October 2016.

Sepp-Allgeier-Straße: Sepp Allgeier (1895-1968) was a prominent cinematographer before and during the Third Reich, where he made Nazi propaganda films.

You will note that most of those persons were professors at Freiburg University. Therefore, the university will undoubtedly comment on the commission's recommendation.

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Berlin Theater

Red Baron loves the theater and had his fill when living in Munich as a student and young scientist.

During my time at CERN, I really missed the cool German acting compared to the theatrical French acting. Therefore, I took any opportunity to go to the theater in Austria (Vienna's Burgtheater!) or Germany. However, as time went by, I saw original classical texts modified; later, classical plays were even rewritten, so that, eventually, the so-called Regietheater (director's theater) started to piss me off.

This is one reason my enthusiasm for the theater has waned. However, I saw a remarkable performance of Les mains sales (Dirty Hands) by Jean-Paul Sartre at Berlin's Deutsches Theater last year. Hence, during my recent visit, I decided to give Berlin's theaters another try.

 Long before I traveled to Berlin for a family celebration in September, I looked through the offerings on the Internet. I chose two plays on two consecutive evenings: Die Räuber (The Robbers) by Friedrich Schiller at the Brecht Theater and Die Mutter (The Mother) by Bertold Brecht, well, not at the Schiller Theater* but at the Schaubühne.

*Berlin's Schiller Theater closed in 1993 due to financial problems.

On my way to the theater, walking along Schiffbauerdamm on a lazy, sunny late afternoon

The Bertold-Brecht-Theater at Schiffbauerdamm.
Note the guy at the entrance selling pretzels.

The master cast in bronze

The Robbers was the first theater play that young Friedrich Schiller wrote in his Sturm und Drang period. At that time, Die Räuber was both a scandal and a success, the word Freiheit (liberty) being uttered and shouted throughout the play. Indeed, the story of the two brothers' fight over their father's heritage and the same girl leaves the stage directors free to take liberties.

Three years ago, Red Baron had seen a performance of The Robbers at Freiburg's theater. During the drama, the scenery had been reduced to an inclined plane, slick with body fluids. The climax near the end concerned Amalia, the subject of all desire. She was standing at the top of the inclined plane, looking down on the two brothers, Karl and Franz, trying hard but in vain to climb the wet surface. Spontaneously, Amalia lifted her robe and exposed her private parts to spur their efforts.

Red Baron happened to be in the theater with many school kids watching Schiller's masterpiece; they might have done so as a dull assignment. No wonder their frustration suddenly discharged in a pubertal howling. This prompted the actor playing Karl to step forward and earnestly rebuke the adolescents. There was perfect silence on our way out.

When in Berlin, one of my questions was: Can the director of Die Räuber at the Brecht Theater top the Freiburg performance? Body fluids, again, were a vital ingredient copiously sprayed on a flat stage. As a precaution against any spillover, the first row of seats had been left empty. Nevertheless, Red Baron, sitting in the third row, was hit, although just by a crumpled-up paper that landed on my lap. It was Karl's famous letter that Franz had falsified. In the play, Franz reads it aloud to his father, blackening his brother.

My souvenir

Generally, the action on stage was more animated and brutal than at Freiburg,     when, for example, the gang of robbers used their six-shooters.

Wind machines and chaos ©Bert Brecht Theater

Near the end, Amalia's performance in Freiburg was topped with Franz die Kanaille (the scoundrel) walking up to the front of the stage stark naked. Well, he did not turn me on.

T

©Schaubühne

In Berlin, I saw Brecht's play, Die Mutter, the following evening. The action is located in Czarist Russia from 1905 to 1917, where social tensions gave rise to communist ideas. Mother Pelagea Vlassova opposes her son's involvement in protests. As time passes, Pelagea not only supports Pavel's underground activities against Czarist oppression of the working class but also becomes the leading figure in the fight for workers' rights.

Brecht's famous Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect) was lacking in this play. This absence, however, posed no problem for the stage director.

©Schaubühne

Suddenly, the colored (!) actor and bass guitar player in Czarist Russia (in the picture on the right) started reciting a strange text. Fortunately, Mother Pelagea explained the mystery to me and the mostly young audience: Our colored friend had simply been carried away by his desire to become a serious actor in playing the Prince of Homburg. Although I had seen Heinrich von Kleist's Prinz von Homburg at Berlin's Maxim Gorki Theater in 2011, I had not recognized the unexpected words:   

* Things won't remain as they are (©Schaubühne)

Looking at today's social situation: Is Brecht's key phrase in Die Mutter still valid? Already the Greeks knew πάντα ῥεῖ (panta rhei), "everything flows."

Red Baron enjoyed both evenings. 

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Graffito

Since last Tuesday, my neighborhood, die Wiehre, has been all excited. Over the preceding two weeks, artist Tom Brane had been implementing a painting on the front of a house located at the corner of Konradstraße/Kirchstraße. He had the owner's consent, who apparently was happy that the ugly graffiti would disappear with Brane's embellishing action.

Red Baron frequently passes the building built during the 1870s in a historicist style. I had always wondered about the bad external condition of the house, with the front and side faces being disfigured by graffiti. Hence, Brane's work must be regarded as an improvement on the deplorable site. Here is a photo of his oeuvre still in progress:

It seems that there will be no progress anymore unless you regard a whitewash of Brane's painting as such. What happened? One of the neighbors felt disturbed by Brane's activity and informed Freiburg's construction authorities. They ordered the immediate stop of all painting activities with the argument that the house in question is under landmark preservation: Wir gehen im Moment davon aus, dass das Graffito eine erhebliche Beeinträchtigung des Denkmals darstellt (At the moment we consider the graffito as a substantial impairment of the landmark). The ordered stop prevents the side face, still untouched, from being painted.

In the meantime, many neighbors are collecting signatures in favor of a continuation of Brane's oeuvre. The initiator of the supporting campaign thinks that the people's opinion is clear: The artwork must be finished.

Brane argued that over the last 15 years, nobody had given a hoot about landmark preservation when the house had been in a sad state, disfigured by graffiti while his work embellishes the building. However, this is not a valid argument, for it is evident that landmark preservation cannot protect landmarks 24 hours a day against sprayers but must fight any deliberate modification.

A close-up shows some supporting slogans written on panels: We are Wiehre; We are Freiburg; We are cosmopolitan & tolerant; We love art, children, creativity*; We love a beautiful & harmonious life with each other.
*In German alliterated: Kunst, Kinder, Kreativität. Germany has advanced a long way from the three Ks being interpreted as Kinder, Küche, Kirche (children, kitchen, church) in the Second Reich.

Please continue the painting.

Will the book of petition signatures change into a book of condolences next week?

P.S.: On October 10, Freiburg's landmark commission members visited the building and broke the deadlock without losing face. The commission inspected the inside of the house and stated that changes made between 1968 and 1979 to historical surfaces and equipment inside are such that the building can no longer be regarded as a landmark. Although this decision raises many questions, what counts is that Tom Brane may continue with his graffito and everybody is happy.

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University Ranking

Last week already, the annual results of the World University Ranking 2016/2017 were published, and Freiburg's university is among the top one hundred. Before you break into joy, note that last year Freiburg ranked 84 and has lost eleven places since then. Concerning the national ranking, the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität dropped too, i.e., from 7th to 9th place. Times Higher Education assessed 980 universities worldwide regarding teaching, research, citations, technology transfer, and internationalization. The Badische Zeitung criticized that the recent study did not consider Freiburg's new university library yet.

Red Baron studied at the universities of Tübingen, Göttingen, and Munich. Well, Tübingen, 89, now ranks in front of Freiburg, 95. Göttingen, the stronghold of physics in the twenties of the last century, is only in 112th place while Munich's university climbed to rank 30.

When I passed Göttingen train station last weekend on my way to my annual class reunion, I read below the station panel: Stadt, die Wissen schafft (A play on words: Göttingen, not a city of science but a city generating knowledge). Do they really need that advertising, and will the claim help push my former alma mater's ranking next year?

©Wikipedia/Medoim 90

By the way, the University of Wisconsin Madison's ranking in Freiburg's sister city is 45, an excellent position worldwide.

©Times Higher Education

Note that in the ranking from one to ten, all universities are "English-speaking" except for the ETH Zürich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. But remember, languages are never a problem in polyglot Switzerland. The only surprise of this year's ranking is that venerable Oxford reached first place pushing Caltech into second place, while all those famous American heavyweights like Stanford, MIT, Harvard, and Princeton are following up, whereas in the usual competition between Oxford and Cambridge (UK) the latter remains in fourth place.

Here on the lighter side, I present graffiti on a wall of Freiburg's university. I know about sexists but are there Sexistinnen, i.e., female sexists? The fact is that at Freiburg's university, the number of female students, 52.6%, has surpassed the number of male students. In addition, female students generally are more diligent and achieve better marks. Does this mean that they now show off to their male colleagues? Was one of the latter frustrated when he demanded that female sexists should go home?

©BZ

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Ceci n'est pas une arme

Last week, Red Baron changed languages. Instead of practicing his English, he went to the French Summer University at the Frankreich Zentrum of Freiburg University. This year's topic? Cartoons, or rather caricatures, before and after Charlie Hebdo. The program included courses, conferences, and discussions on the history, meaning, and importance of caricatures.

 

I was particularly interested in political cartoons and will show you a collection starting with graffiti found in Rome's catacombs. Many Roman citizens disliked the infiltration of the Christian faith into their society and opposed the new religion. 

The following drawing shows Christ on the cross with a donkey's head and a caption written in clumsy Greek letters. Here is the translation from Greek, the lingua franca of the ancient world, into today's lingua franca: Alexancenos praying to God. Was it a classmate of Alexancenos who pulled his friend's leg?

The time of the Reformation saw the breakthrough of political caricatures that mainly aimed against the Church or were simply anti-Semitic. Wood engravings were easily reproduced, and copies were widely distributed. Messages expressed in pictures even reached the mostly illiterate population.

The caricature of 1545 is titled "The Pope awards a concilium to Germany." Emperor Ferdinand had planned a council to address the Protestant movement's complaints against the Roman Church to be held on German territory. Instead, Pope Paul III summoned his Catholic peers to Trent to discuss reforms within the Church, excluding the Protestants. The cartoon shows the pope riding a pig and carrying a pile of stinking shit in place of a monstrance. Luther wrote the explanatory text: Pig, you must let yourself be ridden with spurs on both sides. Do you want to have a concilium? Well, take my poopilium instead.

A caricature dated 1305 of a Jewish Rabbi at the Marktkirche in Wittenberg sucks even more. In his essay Vom Schem Hamphoras (1543), Luther commented on this Judensau sculpture, echoing the anti-Semitism of his time; he located the Talmud in the sow's bowels: Here in our church in Wittenberg, a sow is sculpted in stone. Young pigs and Jews lie suckling under her. Behind the animal, a rabbi is bent over the sow, lifting up her right leg, holding her tail high, and looking intensely under her tail and into her Talmud as though he were reading something acute or extraordinary, which is undoubtedly where they get their Shemhamphoras*.
*The word describes the hidden name of God in the Kabbalah

I took the photo in 2004 during a bicycle tour to Lutherland.

In 1988, Wittenberg's city council tried to mitigate the gross offense by placing a sculpture down below, recognizing that during the Holocaust, six million Jews were murdered "under the sign of the cross." Recently, people have started a petition calling for the removal of the Judensau sculpture on the occasion of next year's 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

©Wikipedia/Torsten Schleese

France has a rich tradition of political caricature that predates Honoré Daumier, the uncontested master. One of the sensations in modern history was the Renversement des Alliances when, in 1756, Austria allied with the archenemy of the Reich against Prussia's Frederick the Great. In good Austrian tradition (Tu felix Austria nube), Maria-Theresia sealed the new alliance by marrying her youngest daughter to the French Dauphin. In the caricature, the Austrian ambassador presents a Pandora's Box containing Marie-Antoinette to a delighted Louis XV.

The reversal of the alliances was highly unpopular in France, and the "citoyens" directed their displeasure against the Austrian/ostrich chicken: I easily digest gold and money, but I cannot swallow the constitution [of 1791].

Pigs remain popular in caricature with Miss Piggy and Pigs in Space, but more than two centuries earlier, in 1791, King Louis XVI and his family of pigs were returned to their stables. They tried to escape the French Revolution and reach the northern border, where domestic and foreign reactionary forces were stationed. But in vain, the Royal Family was recognized halfway in the city of Varennes and triumphantly brought back to Paris by revolutionary troops.

Napoleon was a welcome target of caricatures. The famous James Gillray drew The Plum-pudding in danger: _or_State Epicures taking un Petit Souper. The cartoon shows William Pitt, wearing a regimental uniform and hat, sitting at a table with the petit caporal Napoleon, who tries to make himself taller by wearing an enormous hat. Both are carving a large plum pudding representing the world. While Napoleon is eager to cut out Europe, Pitt is cutting much more broadly, with his slice considerably more extensive than Napoleon's.

Later at the Vienna Congress, the Big Four sit around a table, eager to eat a pâté being described as indigestible. The cartoon refers to 1815, when Napoleon escaped from his captivity on Elba and had a brief hundred-day comeback in France. Hidden in the pâté, he comments, "They will not have an upset stomach." From left to right, Prussia declares: I am hungry as a devil. Russia remarks: I think the pâté is rather stale, while Britain will generously procure the wine?! Finally, Austria says, "Let us attack together." Under the table, we see Louis XVIII, the restored French king, complaining: I shall have the crumbs.

Let me finish with today's cartoon in the Badische Zeitung, where a German(?) physician checks presidential candidates' health.

©Haitzinger/BZ

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Expansion on Behalf of God

"Expansion im Auftrag Gottes" was the title of an article in Freiburg's Sunday paper, Der Sonntag. The text describes the extraordinary success of a private evangelical school in South Baden. The Freie Evangelische Schule (FES) at Lörrach started in 1989 with 23 pupils and now counts 2100.

Public schooling is still standard in Germany, and the quality of teaching is high. Nevertheless, due to our pluralistic society, where kids of university graduates sit in class together with refugee children, it is becoming more and more difficult for teachers to progress uniformly with all their pupils. In addition, young people have problems with bullying, internet addiction, and sometimes drugs, although not only in public schools.

Parents try to avoid this modern scourge by sending their children to private schools. This explains the success of schools like the FES, although tuition fees are as high as 330 euros per month. Parents who enroll their children look for the behütetes Umfeld (caring environment) of private schooling.

In the article, the parent representative stresses the nature of Lörrach's evangelical faith-based school, where pupils are treated with dignity as God's creatures. Before children are accepted to attend the FES, their parents must sign a paper declaring that they support the Christian profession of faith. All looks so well, but will kids brought up in such a protected environment master their future in a world of turmoil?

Regarding teaching, the FES approaches evangelical education in the States by preferring the Genesis of the Old Testament to the Theory of Evolution. The director of the FES, however, states: We have nothing against science; on the contrary. We teach Evolution Theory as only a hypothesis with some basic assumptions and fragmentary elements. We point this out to our students. They should draw their own conclusions. Will they?
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Our Daily Bread

 Over centuries our daily bread was sacred until its importance dwindled with other foodstuffs taking over. Not so much in Germany, where visiting foreigners are always surprised by the wide variety of bread available.

My most convenient place to buy Laugencroissants (crusty croissants baked with a touch of salt) for breakfast on Sundays is a chain called K&U. This is not an original bakery, for they get most of their stuff delivered pre-baked and bake it in situ in automatic ovens. Since they bake on demand, the advantage is that you always get your baked goods fresh. Whenever I see a baking tray just coming out of the oven, I always insist on getting my croissants from there.

Note that on Sunday mornings, the selection of bread is limited compared to the choice on weekdays.
Trays with fresh croissants and real Berliners (donuts) are on the right.

Yesterday morning when I entered the shop to buy our croissants for breakfast, K&U had a flyer advertising a new loaf of bread named Urkulturkorn, meaning "originally cultivated cereals."  In addition, they guarantee to observe a "baking culture purity law"; the Reinheitsgebot for beer sends its best regards. While craft breweries originate in the States, are we in Germany entering an era of craft bakeries, or has K&U overdone its BackK&Ultur?

K&U's bread, baked based on Urkulturkorn, is advertised as having a moist, robust, full-bodied taste. It is fine-grained and has a nice bite. Ingredients of the newly created bread are whole grain flours of spelt (60%), Secale multicaule (22%), wild emmer (17%), and quinoa (1%). Secale multicaule, in German called Waldstaudenroggen, is also known as Urroggen or Urkorn, i.e., original rye or cereal. According to K&U, the taste of Secale multicaule is slightly sweet and has more fiber than modern rye.

Next time I will buy a loaf of Urkulturkorn and have a bite.

Photo added in proof: This morning's choice.

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Waste-Swallowing Sharks

In any city, downtown waste bins are a pain in the neck. People will throw anything into them while frequently missing the opening.

Pennants were thrown into the thrash following Germany's defeat
against France's soccer team in this year's European Championship.

Others place their still-glowing cigarettes into waste containers transforming them into hot grills. Then there are those penny-pinchers who carry their household waste for miles filling all public bins that were just emptied. Finally, waste containers are constantly vandalized, defaced with graffiti, and misused for advertising.

In Freiburg, starting in 2011, an action group fighting the abuse of public waste bins promoted the alliterated Tolle Tonne (fantastic waste bin) by inviting the pupils of the School for Young Artists to decorate Freiburg's waste bins practicing an - again alliterated - Kunst am Kübel (art on the bucket). The action led to spectacular results but, in the end, did not really help keep the surfaces of the containers free of glued papers.

Da lachen ja die Zebras (LOL) (©zFriburg i de Stadt)

Painted bees pasted over with advertising posters (©BZ/Thomas Kunz)

Therefore in 2016, the city bought 90 new waste bins from Switzerland - known for the quality and expensiveness of its goods - as a replacement for the actual containers paying 140 keuros. The new ones are made from stainless steel, their shiny metal surfaces are easy to clean, and they were dubbed Abfallhaie (waste-swallowing sharks).

Note the Bächle. Apparently, the garbage collectors are still learning,
 for the blue plastic trash bag is poorly placed inside the Abfallhai.

Red Baron happened to be in town when one of the new waste bins was being installed. Two men were there, one working and one being the boss. When I took a photo of the latter, he told me I was not allowed to take a picture. My argument that he is a person of public interest he did not accept. Anyway, here is the guy with his unwelcoming hand and his eyes covered by sunglasses; in other words, he is disguised.

The man of public interest.

The old waste bins will not end up in the waste but will be sandblasted, losing all their paintings, and reused in Freiburg's parks and greens.

Here is the so-called ultimate American waste container I found on Facebook. What is so spectacular about it?

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Halle

Albrecht von Brandenburg by Albrecht Dürer

It was not Martin Luther who triggered the Reformation but Albrecht, brother of Joachim, the elector of Brandenburg. In 1513 Albrecht von Brandenburg was elected archbishop of Magdeburg at the tender age of 23, but he preferred to reside in his beloved Halle. 

The name Halle is of Celtic origin, meaning salt. The river Saale flowing through the town recalls the Germanic word salt too. In the Middle Ages, the Pfänner of Halle operated evaporating pans to extract precious salt from brine, thereby becoming the town's rich people. They proudly called themselves Halloren, while the other inhabitants were known as Hallenser. Today the Hallorentorte, rich in calories, reminds the visitor of those ruling pan holders.

Billions of calories in Hallorentorte

During that period, the center of Halle changed considerably. Following the construction of the enormous Red Tower, home of the town's archive and treasury, the marketplace had become too small. So the Halloren convinced their archbishop Albrecht, possibly with lots of money, that St. Mary's Church should be demolished to make room for more market stands.

In 1500, from left to right: Gertraudenkirche, Marienkirche, and Roter Turm

Ultimately, they kept the two church towers of St. Mary's Church, so today's Market Church has four steeples.

Present view of Halle's center looking on Marktkirche and
on the Red Tower lacking its original color.

Luther's relief at Marktkirche

Here is a view of the Red Tower as seen by my iPhone and Lyonel Feininger in the 1920s.

Let us return to Reformation history and Albrecht's story, who ambitiously wanted to surpass his older brother. In 1514, when the bishopric of Mainz became vacant, Albrecht applied for the job. Although the members of the cathedral chapter were not averse to the noble candidate, they refused to collect the pallia money to be paid to the Pope for a new bishop in their diocese. To ensure his election, Albrecht himself procured the required 14,000 guilders and sent them to Rome.

As Archbishop of Mainz, Albrecht was one of the three clerical electors. He had, as primo inter pares, the position of Archicancellarius per Germaniam, i.e., chancellor of the German-speaking parts of the Reich. In contrast, his brother Joachim only held the symbolic function of Archicamerarius (Erzkämmerer, i.e., arch-chamberlain).

All had worked out fine for Albrecht except for the problem of simony. In fact, the Church Councils of Chalcedon in 451 and Nicaea in 787 had forbidden the purchase of clerical posts and positions. However, money will buy anything - almost. So, after paying another 10,000 guilders to Pope Leo X, Albrecht got a dispensation from the pontiff.

Where did Albrecht's money come from? The sums involved in 1514 were peanuts for the Fuggers in Augsburg compared to the 851,918 guilders* they would shell out in 1519 to Charles V, who would bribe his electors. Jacob the Rich lent relatively moderate sums to Albrecht against interest, making it hard for the archbishop to pay his debts. Eventually, Pope Leo had a brilliant idea. For the new construction of St. Peter in Rome, he needed lots of money and had therefore issued an indulgence. Why shouldn't Albrecht sell these indulgence papers in his bishoprics? Thanks to Gutenberg's invention, these papers were printed en masse in the basements of the Vatican. By selling indulgences in his dioceses, Albrecht would get part of the money he could use to pay the Fuggers.
*equivalent to 120 million US$

When Martin Luther noticed that poor people hurried to buy these indulgence papers with what little money they had, he blew up and wrote to Albrecht: "Ablaß ist lauter Büberei und Trügerei, die die armen, einfältigen Christen um Geld und Seele bringet. Darum sei E.K.F.G.* endlich und schriftlich angesagt: wo nicht der Abgott wird abgetan, muß ich ... E.K.F.G. wie den Papst öffentlich an[zu]tasten ... allen vorigen Greuel des Tetzel* auf den Bischof von Mainz treiben und aller Welt anzeigen den Unterschied zwischen einem Bischof und einem Wolfe (Indulgence is nothing else than knavery and cheating that tricks poor, simple-minded Christians out of their money and souls. Therefore, E.K.F.G. be finally told and here in writing: If the idol is not abjured, I must publicly finger ... E.K.F.G. as well as the Pope... and attribute all previous horrors by Tetzel to the bishop of Mainz, showing all the world the difference between a bishop and a wolf)."
*Euer kurfürstliche Gnaden (Your Grace the Electoral Prince). Tetzel was the most (in)famous indulgence preacher of his time.

When His Grace Archbishop Albrecht failed to react to the letter of an Augustinian monk, he was mistaken for Luther, for he did not hesitate to make his famous 95 theses public, the act that started the Reformation.

Luther posts his 95 theses as it is imagined in the States.

Albrecht also spent indulgences and borrowed money to construct his New Residence in Halle.

The New Residence was started in 1531

He also had himself portrayed between saints on the altarpiece in Marktkirche.

View toward the altar.

Albrecht among saints from left to right:
Mary Magdalene, John the Apostle, Archbishop Albrecht, and Catherine of Alexandria

Here is the monument of Halle's greatest son, Georg Friedrich Händel, at the Marketplace.

This was nearly the end of my trip to Lutherland. On our way back to Freiburg, we passed the Völkerschlachtdenkmal ...

Epitaph at the Orthodox church St. Andrej commemorating
the many Russians killed in the Battle of Nations.
Note that the Prussians had the highest death toll, with 22%.

...and made a stop at Jena to have a look at Luther's epitaph.

Entrance to St. Michael, home of Luther's epitaph

Following the Battle of Mühldorf, Friedrich der Großmütige lost Wittenberg and its university to his cousin Maurice in 1547. At Jena's marketplace, we saw that grateful students had decorated the statue of the founder of the local university.

Elector John Frederick, the Magnanimous of Saxony, Founder of Jena's University

Before I close my report about my trip to Lutherland, I would like to share another of those weird drinks they serve in Germany. You see below Bananenweizen, a white beer mixed with banana juice.

Are those people living on the territory of the former GDR still obsessed with bananas? Rumors have it that - following the opening of the wall in 1989 - the first thing people visiting the West were looking for was:

A beautiful bunch o' ripe banana

Daylight come, and me wan' go home

Hide the deadly black tarantula

Daylight come, and me wan' go home.

Red Baron also wanted to go home because he feared the tarantula and was full of indigestible Bananenweizen.
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