Script Trouble at Oberammergau

Weeding out the anti-Semitism

Nine years out of ten, the peasants who live in the mountain-ringed Bavarian village of Oberammergau (pop. 4,800) devote themselves mainly to such tasks as herding cows, carving wooden figurines and drinking beer. Every tenth year, however, Oberammergau is transfigured into the site of the world-renowned Passion Play put on by a cast and crew of 1,400 villagers. So it has been ever since the 17th century, when the pageant was started after an epidemic of bubonic plague. During the last run in 1970, the 93 performances of the daylong Roman Catholic folk drama drew 530,000 visitors and blessed the village with a net profit of $7.8 million.

The only trouble with this happy tradition is that the pageant is tainted with antiSemitism. The florid script that has been in use since 1860 reflects the peasant theater of that time, when plots were full of blood and thunder, and villains were wildly villainous. Thus it not only blames the Jews for Jesus' death but turns them into a snarling mob. Even after World War II, the church approved the continuation of the pageants, but since the Second Vatican Council's condemnation of antiSemitism, the caricatures at Oberammergau have become something of an official embarrassment.

Leading the local campaign to reform the Passion Play is Hans Schwaighofer, 57, who played Judas in 1960 and heads the local woodcarving school. He has long advocated an abridged version of an older text, first performed in 1750, by Father Ferdinand Rosner, a Benedictine poet. Archconservatives on the village council, which oversees the play, rejected that plan at the time of the 1970 pageant. To meet growing international protests, however, the council toned down some of the most offensive lines. No longer did the High Priest Caiaphas say of Jesus, "It would delight mine eyes to see/ his body torn by wild beasts."

Schwaighofer persevered, backed by liberal Catholics in the Bavarian culture ministry. Finally Bavaria's government and the village council voted $387,000 for trial performances of the Rosner text as modified by Schwaighofer and Munich Historian Alois Fink. That revised version was performed in a four-day tryout that ended last week.

The new version absolves the Sanhedrin and the Jewish crowds of their traditional role as villains and assigns it to the loutish Roman soldiers. The main instigator of the Crucifixion, however, turns out to be Lucifer. The Evil One mingles with the Jewish street crowds and accompanies Judas on his mission of betrayal. In one of the few lines with a parallel in both versions, Judas now says, "Oh what cursed gold I received, turning me into a traitor." The 19th century text goes, "Oh cursed money I received from you, the Jewish rot, the scum." Schwaighofer has also added other new elements: a loudspeaker system and stage lights for nighttime performances.

Younger villagers generally like the changes. Says Beatrix Rath, who portrayed Mary last time around: "The old version just doesn't sound credible any more." But some villagers who play in the mob scenes complain that the closely scripted new version denies them the opportunity for ad-lib ravings. More important, 820 citizens have signed a petition against the new text, claiming that any change might lower the gate receipts from which the whole town prospers. The final decision is up to the 17 councilmen of Oberammergau, who will decide in December whether to approve the change.

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