[A Visit to Luther's Home]


"A Visit to Luther’s Home"

The Lutheran
Magazine of the LCA
Vol. 12, #18, October 16, 1974

In 1974, I went behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany to visit the ancestral home of Martin Luther. It is located in Möhra, a tiny farm community in southern Thuringia about 15 miles south of Eisenach, where the 800-year-old Wartburg Castle towers over the city. Luther's father Hans was born in Möhra. Since he was the oldest, according to tradition in that region, Hans could not inherit the family farm. He married Margarethe Lindemann from Eisenach, and moved north to Eisleben where Martin was born on November 10, 1483. Later Luther said, "I come from a family of peasants. My great-grandfather, my grandfather, and my father actually tilled the soil."

I took the cover photo. It shows Luther's ancestral home in Möhra. A statue of the great Reformer, erected in the 19th century, is in the foreground. It is located at the Market Square, where Luther often preached under the open sky. At the left is the village church dating back to the time of Luther. In front is Reinhold Luther, a direct descendant of Luther's brother, Jacob.

Erwin Weber

April, 1997