Introduction

The Oberammergau Passion Play, a ritual drama primarily concerned with the events of Jesus' last days and performed at regular ten-year intervals in the village of Oberammergau, Germany, presents unique challenges – and opportunities – for both Christians and Jews. Embedded in the play's 366-year history are certain anti-Jewish elements that have prompted the American Jewish Committee and others to act in tandem with Oberammergau leaders to transform aspects of the drama's text, set, costumes, and performance. AJC has been involved with this issue since 1929, and continues to be a leading participant in dialogue about and in Oberammergau today. Continue reading...

FAQs  |  MEDIA  |  RESOURCES  |  PARTICIPANT BLOGS | CONTACT

FAQs

• Frequently Asked Questions
  

Media

• Jews Should Recognize When Christians Change
• Gary Greenebaum and Noam Marans on The Jewish Journal, August 10, 2010

• AJC Sends Young Jewish Leaders to Germany for Passion Play 2010
• Texas Jewish Post, August 5, 2010

• Even in the Shadow of the Shoah, We Can't Hate Indiscriminately
• Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, July 15, 2010

• Passion Play called more balanced
• Associated Press, July 2, 2010

More Oberammergau Media

Resources

• AJC Press Release: AJC, Archbishop Timothy Dolan, to Visit Oberammergau Passion Play
  June 28, 2010
• Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations: Report on the 2010 Oberammergau Passion Play Script
  May 14, 2010
• AJC Press Release: AJC to Bring Young U.S. Jews to Dialogue at Oberammergau Passion Play
  May 3, 2010
• AJC-ADL Press Release: We have not approved 2010 production of Oberammergau Passion Play
  February 18, 2010
• Germany Close Up – American Jews Meet Modern Germany
  2010
• Cunningham, Philip A., ed. Pondering the Passion: What's at Stake for Christians and Jews. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004.
• Shapiro, James. Oberammergau: The Troubling Story of the World's Most Famous Passion Play. New York: Vintage, 2001.
• Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops): "Criteria for Evaluation of Dramatizations of the Passion"
  1988
• Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews: "Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church"
  1985
• Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews: "Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate, No. 4"
  1974
• Nostra Aetate: the Catholic Church's Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions
  1965

Participant Blogs

• ACCESS - AJC's New Generation Program

CONTACT

Rabbi Noam E. Marans
Associate Director, Interreligious and Intergroup Relations
maransn@ajc.org