Thomas Müntzer (1988)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title Thomas Müntzer
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1988
length 30 minutes
Rod
Director Klaus Schulze
script Rolf Scholz
Klaus Schulze
production DEFA studio for documentary films
on behalf of the MfAA
music Peter Gotthardt
camera Klaus Schulze
cut Eberhard Brandenburg
occupation

Thomas Müntzer is a documentary by the DEFA studio for documentary films by Klaus Schulze from 1988.

action

While the view goes over the roofs of Mühlhausen to the Marienkirche on the horizon, the commentary posed the questions: “What was he thinking, what was he feeling? What goals did he have? ”This film tries to clarify that . It tells about the most important stages of Thomas Müntzer , from his place of birth to the place of his painful execution. In addition, illustrations and paintings from the 16th century are displayed.

The first stop is Müntzer's birthplace, Stolberg , where a wood carving on the family's former home is shown. The view goes through the narrow streets, over the market square, to the town hall and half-timbered houses with the tourists standing in front of them, who are explained the historical buildings by tour guides, including Stolberg Castle and St. Martini's Church. Here Pastor Franz points out during his sermon that the community center next to the church bears the name of Thomas Müntzer, who lived 500 years ago and was a preacher and theologian who knew the Bible as well as his fellow priest and finally also Opponent Martin Luther .

With a view of the town hall of Zwickau and the scaffolded Gewandhaus next to it, as well as the Zwickau Cathedral and the Katharinenkirche , the film refers to another important station in Müntzer's life. The comment on the swivel from the pulpit to the winged altar in the cathedral indicates that the social contrasts were particularly strong in Zwickau at that time. Müntzer preaches of a realm of divine justice, his words become a fuel in the social disputes, which is why the powerful of the city dismiss him. Before leaving he exhorts his successor not to forget the common people, only to please the mighty. With a view of the modern house facades, the main market square and the pedestrians in the city center, the many memories of Thomas Müntzer in the city are pointed out.

An engraving by Allstedt gives an indication of another important place in Müntzer's work as a pastor , who preaches there in the St. Johanniskirche. A look at the castle of Allstedt , which belonged to the sovereign Friedrich the Wise of Saxony and which today houses a Müntzer memorial, draws attention to the fact that it promoted the Reformation in the spirit of Luther, which is why Müntzer may have hoped to find support here. And here Müntzer was able to put his Reformation ideas into practice for the first time. With a look at a mine dump , the turning wheels of the headframe of the "Thomas Müntzer" mine and miners who leave the copper mine at shift change, the comment indicates that Müntzer's radical ideas are particularly popular with miners and that more and more miners are coming , especially from the Mansfeld district , the Allstedter Bund.

Now a swing leads over the roofs of the city of Mühlhausen up to the tower of the Marienkirche. Schoolchildren and their parents are shown in the streets of the city center. Mühlhausen is the city in which Müntzer, under the impression of the beginning peasant war , recognizes the rebels as tools of divine will to overthrow the tyrants . The camera shows the Müntzer monument from 1957 in front of the city wall, the half-timbered houses in Holzstrasse and the former official residence of Müntzer. From the pulpit of St. Marienkirche, Müntzer announces a program of redesign, which will improve a lot for the poor and those without rights. They get a seat and vote in the town hall, food, clothing and land are distributed. Today the Marienkirche is being restored and used for concerts with music from the time of Thomas Müntzer.

The journey goes through the landscape around Frankenhausen with a view over a street with half-timbered houses and then pans over the hills of the former battlefield around Frankenhausen . The comment explains that Müntzer, as a field chaplain, goes into this battle with the rebels and with him several hundred armed citizens from Mühlhausen, in front of all farmers, journeymen, miners and day laborers . With his sermons he wants to endow them with the awareness of divine power and help. But the unequal struggle ends bloody, because the royal armies attack the rebels, and freedom seemed so close at hand. A look over the huge panorama of the Peasant War by the Leipzig painter Werner Tübke in the Panorama Museum as well as excerpts from the DEFA film Thomas Müntzer - A Film of German History bring the fighting back to life.

After a list of the various and diverse honors that Thomas Müntzer received in the GDR , at the end of the film students from the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and young people from the surrounding villages repairing the old moat of a fortification from the time of the peasant wars shown. The Heldrungen fortress is the last and most agonizing station in Müntzer's life, because it is here that he is tortured before he is executed in 1525. Now this castle is being developed into an international meeting place for young people.

production

Thomas Müntzer was shot by KAG camera on ORWO color on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the GDR . Rolf Hempel was responsible for the dramaturgy and the commentary was written by Rolf Scholz and Rudi Hein .

Web links