Reformation or Revolution: The GDR’s 1967 Commemoration of the “Early Bourgeois Revolution”

The year 1967 was a major year for commemoration in East Germany. Not only did the state plan to celebrate the 450^th anniversary of the Reformation, but also the 900^th anniversary of construction of Wartburg Castle, and the 150^th anniversary of the Wartburg festival by the German fraternities. Together, these three events provided the state with the opportunity to try and shape the historical image of Martin Luther, the Reformation, and the German fraternities so as to incorporate all three into the longer pre-history of the East German state. This paper will explore how the state transposed its own ideology onto the history of the Reformation and applied a Marxist interpretation that reframed it into what was dubbed the first Bourgeois Revolution in Europe.

Within the context of the Cold War, such claims were aimed not only internally to bolster the communist party’s claims to legitimacy, but also externally as a means to gain international recognition and to stake its claim as the German state that still followed the humanist traditions of Martin Luther. West Germany, it was argued, rejected the “true” lessons of the Reformation and continued instead the traditions of German imperialism and reaction.

This paper will also explore the ability of the state to compartmentalize the contributions by Church leaders and dampen the impact of the Church’s own celebrations by taking control of the major commemorative events. The approach by the state in 1967 stands in stark contrast to the more cooperative approach that it took in 1983 and reflects not only differences in leadership by Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker, but also how much more vulnerable the state felt in the 1960s with its use of Luther’s legacy in its bid for international recognition.