Martin Luther: Portrait of a Culture of Commemoration

This year, for the first and only time, 31 October will be a public holiday throughout Germany. As part of the celebrations marking the five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation, the holiday will commemorate the publication of the “95 Theses”, the catalyst which set the Reformation in motion. There is a long tradition of commemorating the event, but the image of Martin Luther (1483–1546), the author of the “Theses”, has been continually refashioned as times have changed. Many of the historical interpretations of Luther are now forgotten, but others are experiencing a revival in 2017. In our regular “Stories” series, historian Robert Kluth takes a look at the different ways in which Luther has been portrayed over the centuries.