Commemorative stamp series - Germany / German Democratic Republic 1989 - 20 Pfennig

Thomas Müntzer Honoring the GDR On the occasion of the "Thomas Müntzer Honoring of the GDR", the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the German Democratic Republic issued as a second edition five multicolored special postage stamps and a miniature sheet. Special cancellations from August 22 to October 21, 1989 On the occasion of his 500th birthday, the German Democratic Republic honors 1989, resulting from the centuries-long struggle of all progressive forces of the people for social progress, the personality and work of the early bourgeois revolutionary and theologian Thomas Müntzer , At its 24th General Conference, UNESCO highlighted the international nature of this honor. Presumably born in 1489 in Stalberg am Harz, Thomas Müntzer played a historically prominent role in Germany during the Reformation and the Peasants' War from 1517 to 1525/26. In 1506 he was enrolled at the University of Leipzig. In 1512 his name can be found in the register of the University of Frankfurt / Oder. Consecrated in Halberstadt about 1513, between 1514 and 1517 Braunschweig, Halle and Aschersleben are further stations of his work. At the intercession of Martin Luther, who had initiated the Reformation movement in the "Holy Roman Empire of German Nation" in 1517, Thomas Müntzer performed his preaching office in Jiiterborg in 1519. From there as a "Lutheran" expelled, Zwickau 1520/21, Prague 1521, Halle-Glaucha, Allstedt and Mühlhausen 1522 to 1525 to the most important cities of his struggle for a reform of church and society. Going beyond Martin Luther, Thomas Müntzer, in his sermons and writings, true to his revolutionary understanding of Christian doctrines, advocated a radical transformation of society in the interest of the exploited and enslaved people. His theology of the revolution was aimed at overcoming any class rule, only so could Christian equality and justice on earth be brought about. The wave of revolutionary people surveys reached 1524 Mühlhausen and Frankenhausen in Thuringia. On May 15, 1525, the rebels stood at Frankenhausen, the overpowering troops of the feudal rulers to fight. The peasant army was massacred, Thomas Müntzer captured, cruelly tortured and executed on May 27, 1525 in Mühlhausen. This sacrificial collection and the revolutionary work of Thomas Müntzer is dedicated to the Peasants' War panorama on the Schlachtberg, Bad Frankenhausen. Here, the monumental painting "Early Bourgeois Revolution in Germany", created by Werner Tübke (born 1929) between 1976 and 1987 on behalf of the Council of Ministers of the GDR, has its place. The enormous round picture (14 m height and 123 m length) is not a history picture in the conventional sense. Rather, this is a highly subjective, metaphorical image interpretation of those social, political, economic, spiritual and religious processes, struggles and changes that shaped man and society in the epoch of the transition from feudalism to capitalism. The monumental picture by Werner Tübke equates to a festive image staging, impressing him sustainably through his ideological depth, extraordinary professionalism and painterly mastery. 5 motifs were selected for the special postage stamps. For the stamp with the face value of 20 Pfennig was selected as a section "Müntzer in the battle" A monument equal, the Bundschuhfahne lowered, stands Thomas Müntzer amid the still raging but already lost battle. His then clever dream of a classless society lives on and takes on real shape in the socialist countries.