Martin Luther Facts: 500-Year-Old Letter Calling Jews 'Devils Incarnate' Up For Auction

Nearly 500 years ago, Martin Luther wrote a single-page letter in which he referred to Jews as "devils incarnate." The letter with Luther's tirade against a former ally is up in an auction conducted by Boston-based RR Auction that concludes Wednesday.

The letter, which was written around September 1543, is expected to sell for at least $300,000 at the auction, according to reports.

"Martin Luther items don't come to auction often, and this is in incredibly great shape for a 500-year-old letter," said Robert Livingston, RR's executive vice president.

The letter was addressed to a top official at Berlin's St. Nicholas Church in response to a letter from the official requesting Luther's interpretation of some Biblical verses. The verses were used by a former Luther friend, Johann Agricola, to justify his positive treatment of Jews in what is now Germany.

"For these Jews are not Jews, but devils incarnate who curse our Lord," Luther wrote, according to RR Auction's translation.

Eric Metaxas, author of the 2017 book "Martin Luther," said earlier Luther sympathized with the Jews because of the poor way they were treated by the Catholic Church. He advocated the gentle treatment of Jews and criticized the Catholic Church for "treating them like dogs." But later in his life, he developed strong negative feelings about Jews.

"Later in his life, after he had in a sense re-presented the Christian faith the way he thought it should be presented, he was depressed and discouraged by the fact that many Jews of that era did not in fact accept this free gift of grace through Jesus," Metaxas said.

Here are some facts about Martin Luther:

1. Martin Luther was not originally his name. He was born "Martin Luder" to a family from a coal mining town.

2. He had a near death experience that inspired him to become a monk.

3. Martin Luther only traveled outside of the German speaking lands in Europe once when he went to Rome in 1510.

4. Martin Luther translated the entire New Testament from Greek to German in just 11 weeks.

5. He is a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation.