All photos by Alya B. Honasan
IT was awesome to gaze upon a genuine, first-edition copy of Noli Me Tangere, the provocative novel written by Filipino national hero Jose Rizal. You wondered about the history behind it—how his hands flew over the pages, and what thoughts ran through that great mind. But there it was, under glass at the exhibition “From Calamba to Frankfurt: Jose Rizal and the Frankfurt Bookfair,” curated by Lisa Guerrero-Nakpil and on display until October 17 at the second-floor lobby of the National Library of the Philippines.
A letter from Rizal to Pastor Ullmer recounting the success of the ‘Noli’—and the decision to write the ‘Fili’
Published in Berlin, 1887, the book features a dedication to Pastor Karl Ullmer, Rizal’s host in Wilhemsfeld, about an hour from Heidelberg, where the Filipino had gone for further studies in eye surgery. While boarding at Ullmer’s vicarage, Rizal would finish his Noli. The book is inscribed in German in Rizal’s elegant script (he was a polyglot, remember?), and he also affixed his calling card—“J. Rizal”—to the book that would help push his nation to revolution.
Images of Rizal and Germany
The exhibit, which opened last September 4, highlighted Rizal’s connection to this European country, and served as a fitting kick-off for yet another important interaction between the two nations. On October 15–19, the Philippines will, for the first time ever, be the Guest of Honour (GoH) at the Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurter Buchmesse). In fact, the theme of the participation, “The imagination peoples the air,” is directly lifted from the Noli, describing the situation of Sisa when, in the midst of despair, she still manages to ponder possibilities.
Sen. Loren Legarda checks out the ‘Noli.’
“This is a historical connection to Germany that brought us here, two countries forged so
differently by their past and collective remembrance,” said Karina Bolasco, Head of the Literary Program and Curator of Books for the PH GoH team, in the event’s press statement. It was Bolasco who first approached the PH GoH’s main advocate, Sen. Loren Legarda, some years back, for help in getting the Philippines back into the Buchmesse. To be sure, as Legarda recounted in a previous interview with the Diarist.Ph, organizers told her it would take a while, but she insisted, “We’ll wait.”
Finally, it did come to pass, with a gorgeous 2,000-sqm pavilion designed by Stanley Ruiz and a host of literary and other creative stars, including National Artists Virgilio Almario, Ricky Lee, and Kidlat Tahimik, leading discussions. “Over 400 Philippine delegates, authors, illustrators, artists, publishers, cultural workers, creatives will soon fill the halls of the Frankfurter Buchmesse,” Legarda said in her speech. “They all carry with them stories shaped by the currents of our islands, the hopes of the everyday Filipino, and our commitment to build bridges through literature. The courage we have today to engage, to inspire, and move the world should be credited to the intellectual bravery embodied by our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal.”
Karina Bolasco, NBDB’s Charisse Tugade, National Commission for Culture and the Arts chairman Ino Manalo, Sen. Legarda, German Amb. Dr. Andreas Pfaffernoschke, National Library of the Philippines director Cesar Gilbert Adriano, and exhibit curator Lisa Guerrero-Nakpil
In fact, Dr. Fritz Ullmer, grandson of Pastor Karl, had given Legarda a personal tour of the Wilhemsfeld vicarage and its environs (including a Jose Rizal Strasse) in 2019, when she first went to attend the Buchmesse. The heirs of Pastor Ullmer had already graciously donated their grandfather’s collection of Rizaliana to the Philippines.
Curator Lisa Guerrero-Nakpil got to see the house earlier. A month before the exhibit, she also retrieved the entire collection from the National Library’s vault and “took it apart,” and rediscovered how timeless Rizal’s observations had been. “Rizal is extraordinary, and has a way of sending messages through the ages,” she noted. “Can you imagine, he was a Filipino writing in Spanish, who published his novel in Germany, and sent it back to the Philippines? If that had happened 138 years earlier and he had Sen. Legarda by his side, it would have short-cut everything!”
The exhibit features several sketches and letters by Rizal to Pastor Ullmer, including a report on how the Noli was well-received by his countrymen, strengthening his resolve to write his next, even more incendiary book, El Filibusterismo.
Joining Legarda at the event were the Philippines GoH core team, composed of Ani Almario, Nida Ramirez, National Book Development Board executive director Charisse Tugade, Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz, Bolasco, Riya Lopez, and National Library of the Philippines director Cesar Gilbert Adriano. German Ambassador to the Philippines Dr. Andreas Michael Pfaffernoschke likewise declared how proud he was to be his country’s envoy to the Philippines at the time of this historic event.
