It’s difficult to take a non-dramatic photo of Thomas Müntzer at St. Katharinen Kirche in Zwickau, as you can see. He was a reformer in the time of Luther but went his own way. He bristled at authority, and in light of a boss or two I’ve had, I have a soft spot for him. But his principles brought him into friction with all princes, all Catholics, and all the rest of the Lutherans, which explains why he never was in one place for too long, including Zwickau.
He also carried it to the extreme of the Peasant Revolt, one of the features of which was the breaking of stained glass windows and any church statuary. It’s known by the lofty term iconoclasm, but it comes down to breaking stuff that doesn’t belong to you. Because of this, two things happened: he was executed, and he became a hero in Communist East Germany.
We made the unwitting mistake (we made it repeatedly) of visiting on a Ruhetag—rest day—which is Monday for a lot of places. However, Jackie got to the main door just as two women were coming out & locking up; they had been setting up for a luncheon. They asked if they could help her. She said we just wanted to go in for a quick look. They said, Of course!, Jackie hurried back to me, lollygaggingly photographing this & that, and we went in for three minutes. How sweet of them.
Back outside I took these pictures. The last photo is one of many sorts of angles of the memorial, which says that he fought for truth in the world and gives, perhaps as a warning to those who might like to look into that line of work, his execution date. In the midst of my artistic busyness I suddenly realized that a large truck was waiting to turn but had stopped so as not to cross my line of photographic fire. I waved her on (for it was a she) but she waved me back, four fingers down sweeping toward me, to continue shooting. So I took this last shot, gave the thumbs-up, she trundled past, smiled, and waved again.
