“Überall Luthers Worte …” — “Luther’s Words are everywhere”, the title of the exhibition highlighting how the Nazis exploited Martin Luther’s legacy during the Third Reich. RNS photo by Emily McFarlan Miller

Martin Luther is such a towering figure in German history that it’s no surprise Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich exploited his name whenever it could.

Most visitors to events in Germany marking this year’s 500th anniversary of the Reformation, however, probably didn’t expect to find an exhibition setting out just how extensively the Nazis used Luther to justify their anti-Semitism and nationalism. MORE