Pepe. | The Life, Works and Writings of Jose Rizal [ENGLISH]

Rizal's Life in Other Countries

He spent a significant period of his life in Europe, particularly in Paris and Germany. In these countries, he furthered his education, honed his skills, and expanded his intellectual horizons. Paris, with its vibrant cultural and intellectual scene, provided Rizal with opportunities to meet influential thinkers and artists, enriching his perspectives on art, science, and politics.

PARIS

Rizal arrived in Paris on November 1885. At that time, he was 24 years old and a full-pledged surgeon. He decided to migrate to Paris to specialize in Ophthalmology, a branch in medicine he chose to cure his mother's failed eyesight, but prior to doing so, he went to visit Maximo Viola, a friend from San Miguel, Bulacan.

Rizal also worked as an assistant to Dr. Louis de Weckert's eye clinic for 4 months. Weckert is a leading French ophthalmologist during their period. He is the leading authority among the oculist of France who found Rizal such a competent student and thus made him a clinical assistant. During his stay, Rizal knew how to conduct the operation of the eye, its ailments, and the different techniques of eye operation. He spent his past time with his fellow Filipinos in the city, something that contributed much to learning how to speak French fluently.

During his free time, he visited his fellow countrymen – Pardo de Taveras (Felix Hidalgo, Trinidad, and Paz) and Juan Luna.

For the duration of his stay with Juan Luna, Rizal became a model and posed for two historical paintings of Luna: The Blood Compact (as Sikatuna) and also posed for a group picture called The Death of Cleopatra (as a Priest) wherein he dressed as an Egyptian.

Rizal embarked writing on his first and most important novel Noli Me Tangere or Touch Me Not beginning the chapters in Spain, continuing on in France, to finish and publish it in Germany. His maturation in Europe, from a carefree student to becoming a doctor did not hinder the persistence to write and finish Noli Me Tangere despite serious financial constraints. 

GERMANY

Due to high cost of living, Rizal left Paris for Germany on February 1886. He arrived at an old university town in Heidelberg. He worked as an assistant of Dr. Otto Becker, a distinguished German Ophthalmologist at the University Eye Hospital. It is where Rizal mastered the techniques of diagnosing eye ailments, which he learned from Dr. Louis de Wecker. But before transferring to the university, Rizal resided in a German boarding house where he became friends with a number of German law students.

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY

He became a member of the Chess Players' Club of Heidelberg. He was known among the students not because he was good at chess but because he also joined them in their drinking sessions. While in Heidelberg, he used to write letters to his sisters Maria and Trinidad in the Philippines, telling them good things about Germany, the good traits of the German students including the women. The letter was to show her sisters that they can imitate the virtues of German women. There, he wrote a poem entitled, A Las Flores de Heidelberg (To the Flowers of Heidelberg) to express his homesickness for his loved ones.

WILHELMSFELD, GERMANY

During the summer, Rizal spent his three-month vacation at Wilhelmsfeld. He stayed with Dr. Karl Ulmer from April 26 to June 26 of 1886, a pastor of the vicarage of Wilhelmsfeld, owing to his pleasant traits, his skills in sketching and his knowledge on different languages. For these reasons, Pastor Ulmer's wife genuinely admired Rizal. With the hospitality and friendship that the Ulmer family showed him, Rizal enjoyed his vacation at Wilhelmsfeld. Rizal had the thought that, unlike the friars in the Philippines, Pastor Ulmer can get along well with the Catholic priest in the area.