Shooting the German Spy

If we are to believe some of his biographers, the reason why he went to Germany was simply to learn the latest in the field of ophthalmic surgery. Other authors pointed out his desire to be fluent in the German language, which he defined as "in the level fit only for the kitchen." Sorry, but my blasphemous thoughts would not stop me, whatever reasons we could come up with, whether it was this unending curiosity on the Teutonic culture, one thing I just could not stop myself from saying: "Quatsch! Nein! Nuts! Rizal went to Germany to provoke. And every move he did was a provocation!"

In the time when Spain was protesting German incursions in the so-called Spanish possessions in the Pacific -- the Marianas and Micronesia, our agent provocateur chose to cross the Rhine and visit. To say or greet them, "Ahoy there, enemy ahoy", or to exchange prosits for a "Stange" of beer?

But the German intellectuals, some of whom were known figures in the scientific world, welcomed him with open arms. Among them, scientist-politician Rudolf Virchow, that time the living inspiration of the "Kulturkampf" -- the German intellegentia's response against the undisputed power of the Roman Catholic church.

Spain countered this growing German interest in the Pacific by staging an elaborate exhibition putting its Pacific possession in the limelight in an international fair in Madrid.

The Madrid Exposition of 1887 was the brainchild of Victor Balaguer, Spanish Minister of Overseas Colonies (Ministerio de Ultramar), who one time championed Filipino representation in the Spanish "Cortes'. It highlighted not only native Filipinos like Igorots or Filipino talents in arts, flora, and fauna, but it also presented other Pacific Islanders who were colonies of Spain. (Chamorros, Micronesians, etc.) The exposition was also seen as an international display of Spain to counter the growing influence of Germany in the Pacific (Western Caroline Islands), as the empires hold on these territories were going into the precarious situation due to German pretensions in the region.

What was supposed to be a celebration of an empire's magnanimous outlook towards her subjects became a display of Spanish arrogance as the tribes were often laughed at and ridiculed by both the press and public? Rizal himself writing to Blumentritt lamented and criticized the use of the Igorots and other minorities in the exposition. A big No to Spain.

Adding insult to injury, Rizal's anti cleric novel 'Noli Me Tangere" was printed in Berlin, and months later, our man was living in the house of a German protestant pastor in Heidelberg. But once copies of the Noli reached Manila, Spain and the friars knew they just received a ticking time bomb. Made in Germany.

Once back in Manila at the height of the hype created by his novel, Rizal was an instant celebrity. To Laguna and Calamba folks, he was "Doktor Uliman (or Aleman)". The friar agents, desiring to have Rizal seen as a traitor to Spain and to his people, made a mistake of labeling him as "German doctor," not thinking that with the word "German", it would merely mean different, a more credible man of science perhaps. People sought him more. By then, Spain and the friars were losing the war of opinions. So they switched tactics and spread another chismis: "German Spy'. From then on, every step Rizal made was a provocation. Hahaha!

They censored him and marooned him in Dapitan, But still, some German Museums came asking for specimen, for papers for opinions. The Dapitan jailers checked his letters, those exchanges written in Goethe's language, but they had to give up. They could not only cope up with him.

One debate actually ensued, in the form of exchanges of letters, between the provocateur and a Jesuit priest named F. Pablo Pastell. Incredible at this may sound now, but excuse me: It is supposed to be an extension of the "Kulturkampf." A debate of faith under the tropical sun. Germany in the Philippines.

In his final hour, I always wonder, in what language he thought of.? He had movies in his mind? What was the subtitle? Our agent was indeed the first Filipino, with Tagalog as mother tongue. Still, with an artistic soul, that is quixotic, the best of Spain indeed in him (More Spaniards than those bastards--Unamuno) But the German language comes in third. Could it be when the bullet was coming he could have said: "Achtung! Jetzt kommt es" (Now it happens). Fertig! (finish).

Consummatum est! Mabuhay ka Rizal!!

Pasig City 30. December 2019.