Ideas have consequences. Martin Luther’s treatise On the Freedom of a Christian became the intellectual spark that ignited one of the bloodiest uprisings in European history: the German Peasants’ War.
When peasants and citizens throughout Central Europe rose up and demanded freedom, justice, and self-determination, they saw themselves as executors of the gospel. However, Luther sided with the princes and demanded that the uprising be crushed by force.

The film The Dangerous Word – Luther and the Peasants’ War follows the lives of three men who shaped the era: Martin Luther, Thomas Müntzer and Michael Gaismair. Set in South Tyrol, central Germany and Frankenhausen, it paints a fascinating picture of religious renewal, social revolt and media revolution at a time when new ideas spread at lightning speed via pamphlets and Bible translations.

The documentary asks: What remains of the peasants’ dream, Luther’s concept of ‘freedom’, and the first demands for human rights in the 16^(th) century?
After all, it was the peasants who, with their ‘Twelve Articles’, formulated the rights to which every human being should be entitled for the first time, establishing a new political consciousness in the process.

This is a film about faith, courage and the desire for freedom.

Director & Script
Stefan Ludwig

Cinematography
Ferdinand Cibulka
Thomas Beckmann
Klemens Koscher
Lukas Roucka

Editing & colour correction
Monica Parii

Sound Recordists
Walter Thaler
Christian Reiss

Narrator
Angelika Lang

Sound Mix
Emanoel Bruckmüller

Production Manager
Eva Hödlmoser

Producer
Michael Cencig

Archive
akg-images / picturedesk.com
Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trento, Italy
Karl Plattner Archive, Bolzano, Italy
Martin Rothkegel / Ústredná knižnica Slovenskej akadémie vied, v.v.i., Bratislava, Slovakia
Mauritius Images
Austrian National Library
Richard Ambs
Studio Claudia Polizzi, Bolzano, Italy
Werner Tübke, Bauernkriegspanorama (Peasants’ War Panorama), 1976–1987 © Bildrecht, Vienna 2025
Ziereis Faksimiles – Regensburg, Germany

Production ORF
Gabriele Wistawel
Carmen Carl

Editorial Team ORF
Helmut Tatzreiter
Markus Veinfurter

Head ORF
Barbara Krenn

© ORF/Metafilm 2025