Thomas Muentzer

Thomas Muentzer is a 1956 East German film about the life of the 16th-century Protestant theologian and peasant leader Thomas Muentzer, directed by Martin Hellberg. Plot In 1519, the teachings of Martin Luther sweep through the German principalities. They are welcomed by the peasants, who hope that the new doctrines will help to liberate them from the oppressive yoke of the nobility and the magistrates. The young pastor Thomas Muentzer embraces Lutheranism, but he is more radical in his support for the peasants. In 1523, Muentzer arrives in Allstedt to assume the office of the local pastor. When a local villager is arrested after assaulting an overseer who tried to rape his sister, the priest helps him escape. He also carries a first Mass in German rather than Latin, and preaches his flock to destroy all the saints' icons in the local chapel, which he deems to be heretical. The people burn it down. The local baron retaliates by destroying the village. The priest now realizes that he is no longer a follower of Luther, who called to refrain from violence. He flees to southern Germany, where he and his friend Heinrich Pfeiffer take over the city of Muehlhausen and form a peasant rebel army, intending to liberate the people. But betrayal and the schemes of the nobility bring about their defeat in the Battle of Frankenhausen. Muentzer is captured; as he is tortured, he refuses to deny his religious doctrines and is then executed. Selected cast Wolfgang Stumpf as Thomas Muentzer. Margarete Taudte as Ottilie von Gerson. Martin Floerchinger as Heinrich Pfeiffer. Wolf Kaiser as Hannes the Swab. Ulrich Thein as student. Gerd Michael Henneberg as Evangelist priest. Horst Giese as miner. Fritz Diez as Field Captain Hoffmann. Franz Loskarn as Captain Krumpe. Gerhard Bienert as Ernst II, Count von Mansfeld. Edgar Bennert as Frederick III, Elector of Saxony. Friedrich Richter as John, Elector of Saxony. Fred Diesko as John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony. Guido Goroll as Louis V, Elector Palatine. Jan Franz Krueger as Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lueneburg. Peter Herden as Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. Paul Paulsen as George, Duke of Saxony. Ruediger Renn as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.