By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
Last June 19, Sen Loren Legarda was in Germany as a special guest in the birthday celebration of Dr. Jose Rizal. I don’t know where, in Germany, she actually delivered her short speech for the event. From local reports, she made mention of Wilhelmsveld, a town where Rizal stayed when he attended the University of Heidelberg; the same place where he practiced ophthalmology for a while, after his schooling.
That piece of news brought me to a nostalgic and precious memory lane.
I have always been fascinated by our national hero.
So when I enrolled in a subject called P.I. or Pilipino Institute (I don’t know why it is called such because it’s description is The Life and Works of Dr. Jose Rizal) while in UPLB, I wasted no time to read a good deal about our great hero. Needless to say, I was one of those very vociferous in our class discussions.
Our lady Professor even made references to what I said in those discussions from time to time. My exam results were always graded 1.5 or 1.75. To my surprise, I got only a final grade of 2.0. My classmates who were not active in class discussions and who always got lower grades than me in exams, ribbed me because they obtained higher final grade. Que horror! Being not a grade conscious student, I let it pass without complaining, but partly because I learned of it too late.
When I got an opportunity to go to Germany towards the end of the 1980’s, I resolved to visit as many places as possible that were mentioned in Rizal’s biography. I was there in that country a little more than one year. That means, I experienced the 4 different seasons of the year while I was there.
I took a little tour to Wilhelmsveld, where Rizal has more than a life size statue right at the town plaza. It was a great experience to be there. A street running beside the plaza was named Jose Rizal street, in honor of his achievements. A relatively big house (small by wealthy German standard), about a hundred meters from the statue, is where Rizal used to stay. It was there where Rizal was supposed to have completed his Noli Me Tangere.
The same house was where a visiting Austrian Queen stayed in earlier according to the town officials I met then. It was preserved at least up to 1988 when I was there.
Rizal stayed in that house while studying in the University of Heidelberg. The town was more than 6 kilometers away from the university, but I learned that he used to walk daily the whole distance to and from the school. It was an exercise imposed by his dire financial circumstances.
Of course, I visited the university and also to see for myself the vaunted flowers of Heidelberg that prodded Rizal to compose a charming poem about these beauties. Alas, I did not find them. What I found was a marker placed by the National Historical Institute (now Commission) in one of the university buildings. Not so far from the university is another “beauty”, a resort where anyone who will enter will wear only his/her birthday suit. I wasn’t allowed in, unfortunately as I was not in the required suit.
Later, when I was doing my Ph.D in nearby Belgium, 6 years later, I found my way to an NHI-MARKED building in Ghent where Rizal stayed and where he almost destroyed his completed manuscript of El Filibusterismo, The place was about 2 kilometers where I myself stayed. I am an alumnus of the University of Ghent where a number of Filipino llustrados also studied. When I was in the university, it was the time when the school records of Gen Alejandrino was relayed to the Philippine government.
The place where Rizal stayed in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, was also a place of interest that I also visited. Naturally, celebrations of Rizal’s birthday both in Germany and Belgium did nor skip my attention. I attended them as we, the documented Filipino scholars, were always invited to such events. It was great to have hobnobbed with German and Belgian “Rizalistas”, exchanging notes with them or learning from them.
The visits were definitely satisfying, inspiring.
Thanks Dr. Jose Rizal for the legacy that you have left for us not only to be proud of, but also to learn from, and build from it. May the younger generations take interest in the works and lives of our heroes for them to be better rooted in what we should be fighting for— to serve the interests of the people, and not for only a few or themselves.**
