That was my thought, too. Why would they destroy a perfectly good church? Just convert it to Lutheran. It doesn’t make much sense.
And the article speculates that perhaps this particular church fared worse because Luther grew up in a nearby town. I’m not really buying it. If there had been some demolition program based on Catholic structures’ personal connection to Luther, why is the Catholic cathedral in Erfurt where Luther was ordained to the priesthood still standing? And not only standing but also still functioning as the town’s Catholic cathedral?