Even after he celebrated his 25th birthday in this German town over two centuries ago, Jose Rizal’s patriotic legacy is still venerated.
A netizen shared a photo featuring a sign of “City of Calamba”, Rizal’s hometown, standing proudly in Wilhelmsfeld, Germany.
Facebook user and regular Inquirer contributor Gideon Lasco posted the historic tribute to the national hero on his page. “Rizal has become ‘boring’ to young people because he is a ‘requirement’ in elementary and high school, but there is so much to celebrate about his life and the city of Calamba can take the lead in celebrating him,” he asserted.
Wilhelmsfeld is a mountainous village with vintage trees on the hillside of Odenwald in former West Germany. Today, the town is just a 30-minute drive from Heidelberg, a southwestern city in Germany.
READ: Heidelberg still celebrates Jose Rizal
For three months, Rizal was a house guest in the residence of Dr. Karl Ulmer, a Protestant pastor, in Wilhelmsfeld in 1886. The humble German family honored the ‘young Filipino eye doctor’.
During his journey across the European nation, Rizal furnished his knowledge on eye medicine and German language. Gianna Francesca Catolico/rga
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