The Oberammergau Passion Play will be presented in Germany on May 21, 2000. The script of the new version has been changed much to avoid anti-Judaism and the organizers are to be congratulated for their editorial efforts and constant cooperation with ADL. We look forward to continue our creative working relationship. There is still, however, a serious problem and concern about the very negative presentation of Jewish leadership in the complex society of the First Century. It implies a sense of community guilt for Jesus’ death, minimizing Pilate’s and Roman responsibility for the death of Jesus.

Passion Plays are, in general, sources of theological anti-Judaism and do not help to improve the relationship of Christians and Jews. It is equally important to point out that Jews are not against the Passion of Jesus, but are deeply concerned with the presentation of the Passion without an explanation that avoids any anti-Jewish theological or anti-Semitic interpretation. This concern has been expressed by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in their document "The Criteria for the Evaluation of Dramatizations of the Passion." For this reason, it is suggested that tourist agencies or different organizing groups alert tourists and visitors to the Oberammergau Passion Play and to the problems related to the presentation of Jews and Judaism in the play and its theological negative projections -- a heritage of centuries of contempt -- which prepared the atmosphere for the Holocaust, a painful reality in the nearby Dachau concentration camp.

The Oberammergau City Hall will be presenting a millennial presentation of its Passion Play in May, 2000. It was first performed as a way to thank God for saving the city from a plague that was devastating Europe in the Middle Ages. The presentation is based on New Testament narratives of the Passion of Jesus. Since the late Seventies, the Anti-Defamation League has been very critical of the script which projected a theological anti-Judaism, as well as an anti-Semitic message. It is not by chance that Adolf Hitler, who saw the 1934 presentation, praised it as a "precious tool" in the fight against Jews and Judaism.

Next: ADL's Critique