Portrait Of Martin Luther
Historical document in which Luther denounces the Jews, to be auctioned.
On 11 July under the hammer at RR auction, the Boston Auction will take a letter written by Martin Luther nearly 500 years ago, according to Chaim.
According to preliminary estimates, the price of the lot may reach $ 500,000.
“Objects associated with Martin Luther, do not often come to auction, and it is incredibly good condition for a 500-year-old letter,” said Executive Vice President of RR Robert Livingston.
Luther wrote a letter in September 1534, in response to the request of the head of the Berlin Nikolaikirche George Buholzer to clarify some parts of the Bible. These fragments of a former associate of Luther, Johann Agricola used to justify their positive attitude towards the Jews.
In his reply Luther advised Georg Buchholzer to ignore the Agricola and continue to preach against the Jews. “Because these Jews are not Jews, and incarnate devils, who curse our Lord,” wrote Luther, translation according to RR Auction.
“Luther, whose Ninety-five theses in 1517 sparked the Protestant Reformation and the schism in Christianity, at an early stage of its activities sympathized with the Jews because of the bad treatment of the Catholic Church,” said Eric Metaxas, the author published in 2017 of the book “Martin Luther”. The researcher added that Luther had strong negative feelings towards Jews in a later age, when he was “cranky and sick”, but the comparison of the anti-Semitism of the 16th century with the anti-Semitism of the 21st century is not quite correct.
In Germany, the Lutherans denounced Martin Luther’s anti-Semitism.