Passion Revised

Is the Christian Passion play at Oberammergau unChristian? In the March issue of the Jewish monthly Commentary, Robert Gorham Davis, professor of English at Columbia University, declares that it is. Writes Davis, a Unitarian: "In a period of reviving antiSemitism, brought finally to public attention by the defacing of synagogues, the visitors to Oberammergau will see, under highly emotional circumstances, a play in which the synagogue is a rallying point for evil and in which the Jewish people accept gleefully for themselves and their children bloodguilt for the murder of the Christian Saviour." As one of many savage lines given the Jews, he cites the words of the High Priest Annas at the foot of the cross: "It would delight mine eyes to see his body torn by wild beasts."

The play's cast and most of the town of Oberammergau (pop. 5,000) rushed to defend the play. On this matter, Christ and Judas agreed. Said blond, bearded Anton Preisiger, 48, who played Christ so movingly ten years ago that he was asked to take the part again this year: "What ugly accusations against a play whose main theme is love!" Echoed Hans Schwaighofer, 40, who plays Judas: "As far as my interpretation of Judas goes, I shall not depict him as a villain but as a man torn between faith and disbelief, tortured by his own conscience."

Taste of the Times. Critic Davis not only condemns the play itself, but also questions the words on which it is based--notably the words St. Matthew attributed to the Jews: "His blood be on us, and on our children." This attitude, says Davis, "has been taken as warrant, through nearly two millennia, for a series of abominable outrages against the people among whom Christianity rose." The play, he grants, falls well within Christian tradition.

Based on medieval miracle plays, it was first performed in 1634 at the time of the Thirty Years' War. A plague sweeping Roman Catholic Bavaria struck Oberammergau, and its despairing inhabitants vowed that if they were spared they would perform a Passion play every ten years. This they have faithfully done, with few interruptions (including one in each World War), ever since. Over the years, the text has been repeatedly rewritten to suit the taste of the times, and music and pageantry have been added. The latest version was written in 1860.

No More Hatred. If Critic Davis has to probe history to attack the play itself, he does not have to go so far to fault the performers. Tradition has it that all of the performers should lead exemplary lives. With the present cast, including Christ and Judas, this is notably not the case: they were members of the Nazi Party. The play's longtime director, 70-year-old Woodcarver George Johann Lang, offers an explanation: "I was a Nazi, and I was jailed for it for two years after the war. I hoped that the Nazis would bring order into the political and moral chaos that was Germany. Besides, one of the reasons I did the Passion play in 1934 under Hitler was because if I refused, the Nazis themselves would use Oberammergau for their own version of the Passion play."

Though Director Lang heatedly dismisses all allegations of anti-Semitism in his play, significant changes have been made in the text. The abbot of a Benedictine monastery near Oberammergau scrutinized the text for offensive lines long before Davis' article appeared, rewrote ten passages. For example, in the old version, a group of Jews denounced Jesus before Pilate: "He will be the goal of our eternal hate. We will hate him until the end of time." Now they say: "O Lord, here is a man on trial; bless us and tell us whether he is right." In addition, the words "hatred" and "vengeance," when uttered by Jews onstage, were deleted.

Says one diehard member of the cast: "A great deal of this drama will have been sacrificed."

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