Playmobil Luther

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The Playmobil-Luther is a 7.5 centimeter plastic toy figure, manufactured by the Zirndorf company Geobra Brandstätter since February 2015 as a special production of the Playmobil system toy , which represents the German reformer Martin Luther . The clients are the Evangelical Church in Germany and the Nuremberg Congress and Tourism Center. The toy was intended to serve as a “Reformation ambassador” in preparation for the 2017 Reformation anniversary.

description

The 7.5 centimeter plastic figure with movable hands, arms, legs and head corresponds in its basic form to the Playmobil system toy. It shows a smiling man in a black gown and beret. She is holding a white quill in one hand and an open Bible in the other .

In the first edition of 2015, the open Bible bore the four-line inscription "Books / of the Old / Testament / END" on the left side. The right side showed the six-line text “The New / Testament / translated / by / Doctor / Martin Luther”. For the second edition, the word END has only been removed from the text on the left.

On a leaflet enclosed with the product packaging, 36 places are marked on a map of Germany as "Luther's work and life stations". A web link above the map leads to a website operated by the German National Tourist Board with advertising for events related to the anniversary of the Reformation.

According to the packaging label, the toy is suitable for the age group from 4 to 99 years. The first edition had the product number 6099. The figure, which has been reissued with a slightly changed Bible and correspondingly changed packaging box, has the product number 9325. Both versions show a photo of the game figure on the front of the packaging and the official logo in the upper right corner of the front of the packaging “Luther 2017” of the Luther decade and the anniversary of the Reformation. For both editions, this logo is the only written reference to Martin Luther on the packaging.

Idea and design

Martin Luther with gown and beret, workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder Ä. , 1529, German Historical Museum , Berlin

The idea for the toy goes back to the Congress and Tourism Office in Nuremberg, which commissioned a Playmobil figure by Albrecht Dürer for a Dürer exhibition in the Germanic National Museum in 2012 . In addition to the manufacturer Geobra Brandstätter, the German National Tourist Board and a representative of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria were involved in the implementation.

The Luther monument in Lutherstadt Wittenberg was chosen as a model for the design of the figure . This bronze statue by Johann Gottfried Schadow , unveiled on the day of the Reformation in 1821, is particularly borrowed from the depiction of Luther in his gown and the open Bible in his hand. The statue, however, shows a bareheaded Luther. The play figure with a black beret follows numerous contemporary portraits of Martin Luther.

Since the development of individual parts for the Playmobil figures costs several thousand euros each, only parts already available in the range were used for the Playmobil Luther. Only the coloring causes the Luther-typical appearance. For example, a vampire cape was used for Luther's gown and a police robe from the range was used for his headgear. The figure is made in a production facility in Malta.

Sales success

The toy figure is offered as a single figure in toy shops, in internet shops and sales outlets of Protestant churches and in souvenir shops in historical sites. The first edition of 34,000 copies was sold out within 72 hours. 400,000 figures had been sold by January 2016; in April 2017 there were already 750,000 figures. More than a million figures had been sold by mid-2017. The Playmobil Luther is the most successful individual figure in the history of Playmobil and replaced Albrecht Dürer's figure from 2012 early on. A little over 100,000 pieces of this figure were sold.

According to a representative of the Nuremberg Congress and Tourism Center, production will continue as long as there is demand for the figures. The assertion made by internet providers that it is a limited edition is wrong.

Accusation of anti-Semitism

Detail view of the Luther memorial with the open Bible

On the left side of the Bible, the original version of the figure read "Old Testament books END". That was part of the text that was also legible on the Bible of the Luther memorial in Wittenberg. The publicist Micha Brumlik criticized this in a column in the Berlin daily newspaper as "anti-Judaistic, if not even anti-Semitic". The illustrated Bible is held up to the viewer. Otherwise, if the figure itself is represented as reading, the text would have to be upside down. In addition, unlike in Luther's translation, the word “Ende” is typographically emphasized by the font size. There should be no theological reason for this other than to regard the Old Testament and its validity as ended and overcome.

Brumlik pointed out that the National Socialist “ German Christians ” had described the Old Testament as outdated and outdated. In addition, Martin Luther was one of the founding fathers of modern anti-Semitism with his anti-Jewish diatribe On the Jews and their Lies . The “German Christians” had “celebrated empathically” this script during the November 1938 pogroms . Brumlik suggested either omitting the word "end" or at least reducing it to the same font size as the rest of the text.

Volker Jung , the church president of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau , explained before the Hesse-Nassau Church Synod that the word "end" irritated him too. It can be understood that the Old Testament is being replaced by the New Testament and thus devalued.

Both Brumlik and Jung had already taken a stand in 2015 on the occasion of a dispute among theologians on the question of the validity of the Old Testament. At the time, Brumlik stated that the proposal to remove the Old Testament from the Christian canon was “of course also a statement against Judaism”. Jung described the dispute as a debate that "touches the core of theology" and rejected the request to place the Old Testament among the Apocrypha as "absurd and irritating".

In the new edition of the figure sold since March 20, 2017, the word "END" is missing to avoid this impression. This in turn provoked isolated criticism. According to the New Testament, a rejection of the "end" of the Old Testament is an immediate rejection of Jesus Christ himself.

reception

The Protestant church historian Thomas Kaufmann called the marketing of Luther "banal, pathetic, silly". He related this to products for the anniversary of the Reformation, such as a Luther beer and the Playmobil Luther. It is unacceptable that “the Evangelical Church also sells products of this kind”.

In response to the criticism of individual products on the anniversary of the Reformation, the chairman of the Evangelical Church in Germany, Heinrich Bedford-Strohm , said on New Year's Day 2017 that the debate about such promotional items should not be “too high”. The celebrations are not "about Luther Playmobil figures, Luther socks or Reformation sweets". These are merely "door openers for listening to the message of Christ". Bedford-Strohm stated in June 2017 that he would meet the figure wherever he was in the world, in South Africa, Rwanda or the USA. The figure is "no mess". Parents bought this figure for their children because they felt that it had more to offer "than Darth Vader or Spiderman".

Starting with the Luther Church in Cologne , Playmobil Luther figures were melted down in 95 European locations before Reformation Day 2017, poured into a mold with the first letter of the respective city and then brought to Cologne. There they were laid out in the atrium of the church. The art action was initiated by Pastor Hans Mörtter and the musician Rochus Aust . It should critically point out the commercialization of the reformer and its reduction to a toy.

The figure was included in the permanent exhibition of the Luther House in Eisenach and is shown there in the section on the cultural impact of the Luther Bible .

Large figure

As a large-format advertising figure for use at events, figures about 1.40 meters high and one meter wide at the widest point were made. In their external appearance, they follow the model of the game figures, but are not a true-to-scale enlargement. The large figures are borrowed from Protestant institutions for church festivals and other events.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Reformer in a vampire cloak. How Luther became the most successful Playmobil figure of all time. domradio.de, October 14, 2017, accessed on October 18, 2017.
  2. ^ Reformer Luther as a Playmobil figure. Christian media magazine pro, February 6, 2015, accessed on October 18, 2017.
  3. ↑ Congress and Tourism Office Nuremberg (ed.): Luther 2017. Product supplement for the Playmobil figure no. 9325. Nuremberg, undated (2015).
  4. ^ A b Claudia Hamburger: Martin Luther as a Playmobil figure sold out after 72 hours. Augsburger Allgemeine from February 17, 2015, accessed on October 18, 2017.
  5. ↑ See original packaging 6099. Playmobil Malta 2014.
  6. ↑ a b c d e Record Reformer: New edition of the out of print Playmobil Luther figure. EKD website, February 20, 2015, accessed on October 18, 2017.
  7. ↑ a b c Hans von der Hagen: Luther in small comes to great happiness. Süddeutsche Zeitung of June 21, 2017, accessed on October 18, 2017.
  8. ↑ a b c d e Luther is the best-selling Playmobil figure. evangelisch.de, April 5, 2017, accessed October 18, 2017.
  9. ^ Bernd Matthies: Martin Luther, 400,000 sold. Tagesspiegel , February 1, 2016, accessed October 18, 2017 .
  10. ↑ a b Heinrich Bedford-Strohm is happy about a million Luther figures. EKD website, June 20, 2017, accessed on October 18, 2017.
  11. ↑ a b Jakob Stadler: Martin Luther is the most successful Playmobil figure of all time. Augsburger Allgemeine from April 6, 2016, accessed on October 18, 2017.
  12. ↑ a b Micha Brumlik: What unites the AfD and Playmobil. , Die Tageszeitung from June 8, 2016, accessed on October 27, 2017, reprint in Junge Kirche 2016, No. 3, p. 46, online PDFhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.jungekirche.de%2F2016%2F0316%2F2016_3%252046.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3DOnline% 20PDF ~ PUR% 3D , 99 kB, accessed on October 27, 2017.
  13. ↑ a b Anonymous: Luther without "END". New Playmobil figure from the end of March In: Hessisches Pfarrblatt 2017, No. 1, p. 21, Online PDFhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.ekkw.de%2Fpfarrverein%2Fpfarrblatt%2Fpfarrerblatt_01-2017.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3DOnline% 20PDF ~ PUR% 3D , 562 kB, accessed on October 27, 2017.
  14. ^ Rainer Clos and Martin Vorländer: Discussion about the Old Testament of the Bible , website of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau, accessed on October 27, 2017.
  15. ↑ Hans-Werner Deppe: Playmobil-Luther without end - and thus without Christ. , Betania, July 13, 2017, accessed October 18, 2017.
  16. ↑ Christian Schröder: "To see Luther as a national hero should be shelved". Tagesspiegel from January 2, 2017, accessed on October 18, 2017 (interview with Thomas Kaufmann).
  17. ↑ Theologian: Marketing Luther is "pathetic". Catholic.de of January 2, 2017, accessed October 18, 2017.
  18. ↑ Clemens Schminke: Reformation Day Südstadt pastor melts down the Luther figure dozen of times. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger Online. October 29, 17, accessed December 31, 2017 .
  19. ↑ Playmobil-Luther comes to the "Lutherhaus Eisenach" museum. EKD website, March 5, 2015, accessed on October 18, 2017.
  20. ↑ XXL-Playmobil Martin Luther - For rent , website of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau, accessed on October 29, 2017.
  21. ^ Luther as a Playmobil figure , halloherne, November 3, 2016, accessed on October 29, 2017.
  22. ↑ Events to mark the anniversary of the Reformation ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website of the Dean's Office Biedenkopf-Gladenbach, accessed on October 29, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / dekanat-big.de
  23. ^ Luther Playmobil Figur , website of the Evangelical Youth of Westphalia, accessed on October 29, 2017.