Product Description

The Bavarian village of Oberammergau has staged the trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ nearly every decade since 1634. Each production of the Passion Play attracts hundreds of thousands, many drawn by the spiritual benefits it promises. Yet Hitler called it a convincing portrayal of the menace of Jewry, and in 1970 a group of international luminaries boycotted the play for its anti-Semitism. As the production for the year 2000 drew near, James Shapiro was there to document the newest wave of obstacles that faced the determined Bavarian villagers. Erudite and judicious, Oberammergau is a fascinating and important look at the unpredictable and sometimes tragic relationship between art and society, belief and tolerance, religion and politics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #645736 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-12
• Released on: 2001-06-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

From Amazon.com
In 1633, the residents of the small Bavarian village of Oberammergau made a vow that, if they were spared from a plague that was sweeping the countryside, they would perform a Passion play in perpetuity. Legend has it that no more villagers died; and the town has famously kept its vow. Every decade for centuries, the people of Oberammergau have presented their play. As described by theatrical historian James Shapiro, Oberammergau is a fascinating cultural, commercial, and religious saga. The book is sharpest in its analysis of the villagers' ambivalent efforts to rid their play of anti-Semitism. (Hitler, who attended the play twice, praised its convincing portrayal of "the menace of Jewry.") Recent revisions in the play's text, as well as casting and costume changes, have restored an historically accurate, Hebrew quality to Jesus and the other major characters in the drama. James Shapiro, who spent a great deal of time in the village gathering material for this book, observes in detail the anxieties and scandals that attended these changes--as well as the empathy and understanding that they occasioned. --Michael Joseph Gross

From Publishers Weekly
About every 10 years since 1634, the residents of Oberammergau, nestled in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps, stage their version of the Passion play, attracting large international audiences. In 2000, the six-hour production will be performed five times a week, from May to November, earning $30 million in ticket sales. During off years, tourists come to Oberammergau to see the theater, buy woodcarvings, meet the actors and enjoy the scenic beauty. Yet controversy has consistently dogged the Passion play: its version of the suffering, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus has entailed blaming the Jews and aroused anti-Semitic fervor. Hitler praised the play for its Jew-hating message, and many Oberammergau villagers became members of the Nazi party. In recent years, as Catholic-Jewish relations have improved (marked by an encyclical absolving the Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus), the play has become an anachronism. Jewish organizations have successfully pressed for changes, and the 2000 version will be largely cleansed of its undesirable features. Moreover, Jesus will be referred to as "Rabbi" and will utter a Hebrew prayer. The fascinating story of Oberammergau, and the myths and the people surrounding it, are told in abundant detail by Shapiro, a professor of English whose interest in art and anti-Semitism led to an earlier book, Shakespeare and the Jews (1995). His two books contribute enormously to our understanding of the power of theater to transcend entertainment and engender alarming beliefs. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The Oberammergau Passion Play is the longest running play ever; performances have been staged in this small Bavarian town approximately every ten years since 1634. The play is art, history, religion, and cultural mirror all at once. And although the world has rather passed it by, the play still generates controversy, especially as the community tries to adapt it to better reflect contemporary mores. This highly readable study begins with the efforts to produce a new, historically accurate, yet tolerant script for the 2000 series. Shapiro describes the origins and development of the tradition as well as the myths around it, including the village's piety, the vow that supposedly started the play's long run, and the local citizens' simplicity. In the central chapter, he focuses on the play's relationship to Nazi Germany: Hitler praised it as anti-Semitic. Shapiro, a historian of theater and comparative literature at Columbia University, is well qualified to study the phenomenon as a mirror of the bumpy road toward Christian and Jewish reconciliation since Vatican II. Recommended for academic and public theater collections.
-Thomas E. Luddy, Salem State Coll., MA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

The passion of the passion play
Although frequently cited in connection with its visitations from and support by Adolph Hitler, the passion play of Oberammergau, Bavaria is less frequently the study of the more serious and long standing issues bound up with a theatrical presentation of the last hours in the life of Jesus. Fortunately, Shapiro's work endeavors toward such an analysis.
Reputedly first presented in 1634, the passion play of Oberammergau is the periodic product of a town that maintains that its prayers were answered when they were spared a plague then ravaging Bavaria. Using local talent the town attempts to -- every ten years -- retell the story of the passion through theatre.
On the historic level, their actions have obviously (and in varying degrees) attracted the support of the church, the state and the faithful. In this regard this book is a great companion work to James Carroll's Constantine's Sword in its attempt to track evolving Christian self identity.
On a more fundamental level, if our great canons are really inspired of the divine should this not reveal itself in our actions toward others. In a post 9/11 world can any berth be given to those who maintain hatred in the name of God or any religious work.
While history informs that Hitler's Oberammergau existed within 75 miles of a Nazi death camp, significantly Shapiro puts his focus on the modern Oberammergau. The story of the 2000 passion play, according to Shapiro was a story characterized by an attempt at Christian/Jewish collaboration.
In other words Shapiro permits the view that the modern passion play can -- as needs it must -- be told with eyes lifted toward heaven. Not of Hitler and hatred, but rather of an attempt at the divine.

What's the problem?
I started this book but found it had nothing serious to say. It's more like a trip through the author's troubled expectations and mind. It was pleasant to read something about the famous Passion Play though, if only a weak hatchet job. Put it back on the store shelf

A Book So Good You Don't Want It to End
Shapiro's a good writer, and he's able to spell out the implications of all the on-stage and backstage action at this weird Bavarian once-every-ten-years affair. From now on I am giving Obergammerau a wide berth in my travels. I'd rate the book even higher if it didn't feel overly rushed to me, written at white heat in the immediate aftermath of the 2000 Passion Play, so it has the slapdash end of one of those tabloid-isnpired true crime books that hit the supermarket racks a day after the crime takes place. Dr. Shapiro, you are brilliant at analysis, so next time out why not give a little more time for your thoughts to gel?