500 years ago, on September 21, 1522, Martin Luther's German translation of the New Testament was first published under the title "Das newe Testament Deůtzsch"
Luther had translated the text from Greek and Latin sources during his stay on the Castle Wartburg near Eisenach in Thuringia where he stayed hidden from the public due to a papal ban. He started the translation in December 1521 and finished it before March 1522, working at an astonishing speed. Nevertheless, time was pressing to get enough copies printed for sale at the Leipzig trade fair in September. Philipp Melanchthon, a fellow professor at Wittenberg and expert in Greek, helped Luther correct a couple of mistakes. Three printing presses were set up in the complex of painter and publisher Lucas Cranach in Wittenberg that were solely devoted for creating 3000 copies of the book. Luther received the first test prints in mid-May 1522. Printing was kept secret because they feared plagiarism. It was a big success with all copies sold out quickly, making subsequent editions necessary.
Six weeks after the book was published, Duke Albert the Bearded of Saxony prohibited its sale and even owning it. All sold copied were to be handed in to the local authorities for destruction. He ordered Hieronymus Emser to make another translation, which was published soon, but proved to be a plagiarism minus some of the anti-papal illustrations – Emser had even bought many of the printing blocks. Luther started a lawsuit against the author of the rip-off, but with no success.
One copy of "Das newe Testament Deůtzsch", which is kept at the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel, is listed as World Documentary Heritage by the UNESCO.
This translation marked the beginning of a unified High German idiom, which was understood in almost all parts of Germany, as opposed to the wild variety of dialects unintelligible to people from further away. It also served as the origin of church service in the native language of a country – before that, service was only held in Latin.