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Recent history of the Oberammergau passion plays
Willehad Paul Eckert, OP
In 1971 in Freising a meeting was called to respond to the critics of the Oberammergau Passion Plays, particularly regarding their portrayal of anti-Jewish and antisemitic tendencies. Representatives from other Passion Plays (such as Erl in Tyrol), theologians and theatre personnel participated. Reports on these days of meeting were published under the title: Passion Plays Today? The representatives at the meeting agreed that the representation of Passion Plays continue, but that the anti-Jewish tendencies be eliminated.
In Oberammergau Hans Schweighofer undertook replacing the Daisenberger text through recourse to the 1750 Nova Passio of the Benedictine Ferdinand Rosner from Ettal, which utilized the allegories so appreciated in the baroque period. In 1977 this Nova Passio was impressively performed on the Oberammergau open air stage. This was an experimental performance for those working on the Passion Play revisions. Three years prior to the regular performance of 1980, it was to serve as an opportunity for further rethinking and revision. A majority of the municipal council did not agree with these efforts of reform. Hence the 1980 presentation remained with the Daisenberger text. But these efforts at reform were not futile. In 1987, ten years after this unsuccessful attempt, the Oberammergau community producing the play published a documentation on the 1977 trial performance of the baroque Passion entitled: The Rosner Play. Visitors to the 1990 Oberammergau Passionsspiele also had the opportunity to see the design and the costuming of the Rosner Passion so they were able to compare the Rosner Passion script with the German revised Daisenberger draft.
Meanwhile Das Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte (the History of Bavaria Publishing House) planned an exposition and publication titled Hört, sehet, weint und liebt - Passionsspiele im alpenländischen Raum (Listen, Behold, Weep and Love: Passion Plays in the Alpine Region) edited by Michael Henker, Eberhard Dünninger and Evamaria Brockhoff, Munich, 1990. The Rosner Passion documentation as well as that of the Alpine Region Passion Plays gives evidence of the seriousness with which those responsible for the plays were dealing with the charge of anti-Judaism.
Having seen the 1970 and 1990 Oberammergau performances, I am convinced that they are now attempting to avoid all anti-Jewish tendencies. This is true for the text as well as for the dramatization. Jewish prayer forms have been taken into consideration. The prayer of Jesus and his apostles at the Last Supper for Israel and the nations is particularly impressive. Preparations for the performance in the year 2000 are marked by a similar effort at reform.
Fr. Dr. Willehad Paul Eckert, OP was Catholic president of Deutsche Koordinierungsrat der Gesellschaften für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit (Coordinating Committee for Gemany of the Societies for Christian-Jewish Cooperation) from 1965 to 1984. He is a member of the Workgroup on Judaism of the German bishops’ ecumenical commission. He was main editor of the periodical EMUNA. The brief history presented above has been translated from German.
