Peasant War – Thomas Müntzer: “Germany Nitczur Mordgrube will”

On May 27, 1525, twelve days after the princely army attacked and massacred insurgents collected at Frankenhausen, the radical reformer Thomas Müntzer was executed. He and his fellow brother Heinrich Pfeiffer were cut off his head at the near Mühlhausen area. Her bodies were whipped on piles and “Gstegkt” into the fel. Your display on the Rieseninger Berg, according to the winners, should be a warning to everyone, which from then on thought of rebellion and rebellion against their authorities.

Who was the preacher, whom his adversary hated so that they were doing everything they could to demonize and exhaust his teaching and work? Originally a supporter Martin Luther, Müntzer developed into a young independent theologian, sensitive pastor and effective preacher, who radically called for a reorganization of church and secular conditions. Müntzer’s self -image was that of God’s willing messenger. He signed letters as “Eyn Knecht of God” or called himself in memory of the Old Testament prophets Jeremiah “Thomas Müntzer with the hammer”. In 1521 he put one of the few personal statements on paper in a version of the Prague letter. He could credibly assure that, in contrast to all other people, he had grabbed the highest diligence to see how the saint was caused by insurmountable belief in Christians.

Müntzer’s conviction that people have the way to truthful faith linked himself to demands of insurgent farmers and urban agents during the German Peasant War. His arguments rooted in theological, they were not social or political. As one of the most distinguished representatives of the early Reformation in the Thuringian-Saxon region, he left the church pulpit to argue in the immediate expectation of the apocalyptic custody of God with the insurgents in Frankenhausen against tyrannical authorities and for a graceful life. The “time of the harvest,” said Müntzer’s conviction. “So that Germany will not be czur murder pit,” he wrote to the Council of Sondershausen on May 8, 1525 and asked to be ready for the train to Frankenhausen.

On May 11, 1525, Müntzer arrived in Frankenhausen together with the Mühlhäuser mobilized. There were 300 men who carried eight carts. He urgently searched for reinforcements and also appealed to the municipality of Erfurt: “Helffet vnsz myt everything that yhrt, Myt Volck, Guell, on the wyr Erfhullen, what got got has … dye violence are given to the common volck.” He encouraged the Allstedter to be fearless: ” Lord «he pushed further:” Arms, on it, Weyl is the fier Heis. Let EUR HARD not get cold from blood. If PinckePanck on the Ambos Nymrod, yhn throw the goal to the ground. «Now Müntzer, Friedrich Engels, was completely the revolution prophet. Müntzer preached in the camp, motivated doubters, defended himself against alleged and defended the armed popular uprising: “Got the all meal wanted to clean the world and give the Oberkait the violence and give the undergrounds.” Be with them. Her flag shows the sign of the federal government with God, the rainbow.

On the eve of the battle, Thomas Müntzer was considered the spiritual form of leadership of friends and enemies. They had still let the princes know, “we don’t get here, yemant what tzu thon, … but received by go (e). We are not doing this because of blood bite, “said the besiegers that the authorities alone were those” to whom from Got the sword “(ordered), and they came to” tighten you as the Lesterer Gotes “. Ultimately, they called “the wrong prophet Thomas Montzer sampt seynem appendix to alive” and that one “results in vnser gnad and vndgnad”. The majority of the claim was rejected. When there was a ring around the sun, Müntzer preached that this was the divine sign of heaven. “Si should only argue in Hertzlich and be a cheeky.” The assembled tuned the Pentecost chorale. The princely troops used this situation and fired in the Wagenburg with their positioned guns. Rider entered the camp. Panic broke out. Around 6000 insurgents lost their lives in the slaughter.

Müntzer was still able to flee and hide in the city, where he was soon discovered by mercenaries and Count Ernst von Mansfeld, his worst enemy. The interrogation began on May 16, 1525 in the Heldrung water lock. During the intention of branding Müntzer’s teaching and doing as heretical and illegal brands, the winners ensured that coordinations of statements he had made during the interrogation quickly spread. With the misleading title “Confession Thomas Müntzers” (Bekentnus Thomas Muntzers), it was immediately printed several times. When asked about the goal of the turmoil, Müntzer is said to have said under torture: “He made Dye Entorunge that the Dye Christheyt should be all the Gleych and the dye and Lord, dye not want to stand up to the Evangelio, should be tuned and dead.” The principle of his alliance was that all goods were given to everyone according to his need: “Omnia sundt communia «. Müntzer was willing to radically follow the standards and commandments of the gospel, including the reduction of social inequality. When Luther read the interrogation, he saw Müntzer’s devilish diligence and delusion. For him, Müntzer remained a “tool of Satan” and a “destroyer of all order”.

With broken hands no longer capable of writing, Müntzer dictated his last letter on May 17, 1525, which was directed towards the Christian community and the council in Mühlhausen. He asked them to ask the princes for mercy, “dormite of the blamable blood is not used. He saw the blame for the failure of the uprising in the fact that he was not rightly understood by the people, but above all that “eyn yder seyn eygenutz wanted more dan dye justification for Christianheyt”. In this farewell letter, he also asked his wife Ottilie von Gersen to hand over his books and household items, which did not happen. It is unclear how his widow and the child together did.

In 1531 Luther complained that many “uncomfortable people” made a pilgrimage to Müntzer’s place of execution on the Rieseninger Berg who not only came from nearby Mühlhausen. He demanded that the veneration had to stop. The direction of execution has become a place of changing memorial culture for centuries. In 1901, a Peasant War Denkstein was built on the Rieseninger Berg, the inscription of which was dedicated to the Peasant War of 1525 as Mühlhausen’s accident in the accident in which a criminal court was held over the center of the radical reformatory movement.

More than 50 leading actors were executed in and around Mühlhausen, the city lost its imperial freedom for decades. In 1975 the peasant war in Mühlhausen was recognized as the highlight of the early bourgeois revolution, the facility was rededicated as a Thomas-Müntzer monument and partially redesigned. After 1990 the area overgrown before it has been officially called “Peasant War Denkstein” for some time.

As part of the commemorative year “2025: Year of Freedom”, the city of Mühlhausen has implemented extensive measures on the Rieseninger Berg in order to upgrade this special place for people and nature. This includes freshly renewed stairs, railings, bank requirements, signposts and waste bins.

The two historical monuments-the Thomas-Müntzer monument and the Theodor-Wiesenthal monument-were also fully renovated.
The new information stele at the Müntzer monument aroused particular interest. It conveys interesting facts about the history of the peasant war thought built in 1901 and the various inscriptions that he wore over time. Thanks to a targeted pruning, an impressive panoramic view of Görmar and to Forstberg opens up again from here.

The peasant war 500 years ago is the reason for the recently opened Thuringian state exhibition »Freheyt1525«, which takes place decentrally in Mühlhausen and Bad Frankenhausen. It is also reminded of the radical reformer Müntzer, who in the early revolutionary upheaval times of the 16th century argued for liberal and fair conditions based on the gospel and paid for this with his life.

By Dr. Marion Dammaschke, Vice Chair of the Thomas-Müntzer-Gesellschaft Mühlhausen, appeared on the book market, among other things, »signatures of an era. Contributions to the history of the early modern period «(2012),» Thomas Müntzer. No marginal remark of history «(2017),» Peasant warrior in the Talar: Thomas Müntzer in Belletistik «(2021) and» Thomas Müntzer im Blick «(2023).