On 9 November, Friedrich Kramer, Director of the Protestant Academy in Wittenberg/Germany, climbed the stairs of a ladder and covered the eyes of the Luther statue in Wittenberg, the oldest of its kind in Germany. According to this symbolic act, Luther was not only blind on one eye when it came to his hostility against Jews.
Friedrich Kramer is member of the Advisory Council for the Christian-Jewish Dialogue in the Evangelical Church in Central Germany as well as of the Steering Committee of the network project of the German Protestant Academies on the “Societal Relevance of the Reformation Today”. “This symbolic act is a call to dissociate oneself from Luther’s hatred against the Jews. The covered eyes are to symbolize that on this issue the Reformer was blind, although he was very thoughtful on other issues and initiated new approaches”, Friedrich Kramer said. “We need to very clear as to what we are going to celebrate in 2017. Certainly it cannot be Luther’s antisemitism. On the other hand, Luther was a courageous man, who remained steadfast against the Pope and the Emperor. This makes him to appear as human.”
Foto: Alexander Bauman