Location of Luther’s “kidnapping”
I travel to Wittenberg every year for the Reformationsfest. I have seen pretty much every "Luther point of interest,"but I have never learned of the exact location of Luther‘s kidnapping. Where is that location? Thanks so much.
The following narrative will steer you in the right direction: “Luther spent the night with his relatives and preached in the village [of Moehra] the next morning before proceeding on the journey home. A relative supplied them with fresh horses. To return to the Gotha highway from Moehra, they had to travel over the Schweina road past the Castle Altenstein and through the forest of Waltershausen. Some of the relatives accompanied the party until nearly nightfall, by which time they had reached the neighborhood of the Castle Altenstein. Here Luther bade his relatives good-by and continued the journey. His friends were scarcely out of sight when four or five armed horsemen rushed from the woods near the chapel and surrounded the helpless travelers at the spot which today is called Lutherbuche. The monk Petzensteiner leaped from the wagon and ran through the woods toward Waltershausen, but Luther whispered to Amsdorf, ‘Do not become excited. We are among friends.’” [E.G. Schwiebert, Luther and His Times (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1950), 514]
There is a monument in Glasbachgrund, on the Luther Trail, that commemorates the event described above.