In her study of Oberammergau, the Bavarian village famous for its decennial passion play, Helena Waddy argues against the traditional image of the village as a Nazi stronghold. She uses Oberammergau's unique history to explain why and how genuinely some villagers chose to become Nazis, while others rejected Party membership and defended their Catholic lifestyle. She explores the reasons for which both local Nazis and their opponents fought to protect the village's cherished identity against the Third Reich's many intrusive demands. She also shows that the play mirrored the Gospel-based anti-Semitism endemic to Western culture.

In her study of Oberammergau, the Bavarian village famous for its decennial passion play, Helena Waddy argues against the traditional image of the village as a Nazi stronghold. She uses Oberammergau's unique history to explain why and how genuinely some villagers chose to become Nazis, while others rejected Party membership and defended their Catholic lifestyle. She explores the reasons for which both local Nazis and their opponents fought to protect the village's cherished identity against the Third Reich's many intrusive demands. She also shows that the play mirrored the Gospel-based anti-Semitism endemic to Western culture.

A Book About The Passion Play: Its History, Its Meaning And Its People.

Eavesdropping in Oberammergau presents the lives of two families--a Jewish-American military family and a German family--plus a character derived from a true story who meet in Oberammergau, Germany, in the years immediately following World War II. The novel knits together the friendship between the families' eleven-year- old daughters, the eavesdropping Alison and Trudy, and Stefan Hirsch, the novel's hero. Oberammergau is no ordinary Bavarian village--it is the home of the world-famous Passion Play, drawing millions of visitors to view the drama of the last days of Jesus. Generations of the townspeople have been transforming themselves into the saints and villains of the Biblical story every ten years for four centuries. Author Hilary Salk has fictionalized her experience of living in Oberammergau, the only child of a Jewish American military officer, to impart the reality of life in this village full of make-believe. Fifty years after she attended The Passion Play in 1950, Salk learned about the efforts by Jewish organizations to counteract the blatant anti-Semitism in The Play, and its links to Nazi hatred. Her research also led her to discover the story of a man that became the inspiration for her novel. Renamed Stefan Hirsch in her book, Salk created a past, present, and future based on these bare truths about his real-life counterpart: He was born a Jew in Munich. He came to Oberammergau as a Catholic convert in the 1930s, and lived there until attacked on Kristallnacht in 1938, when he was taken to Dachau Concentration Camp. He was eventually released from Dachau, and lived in England for the remainder of the war. After the war, he returned to Oberammergau. The question is why. Salk's wonderful book answers that question, and relates how Hirsch's return transformed the lives of Alison and Trudy.

“A vivid & sensitive portrait of a small, tradition-bound community coming to terms with modernity under the most adverse of conditions.” —Observer Review Many scholars have tried to assess Adolf Hitler’s influence on the German people, usually focusing on university towns and industrial communities, most of them predominately Protestant or religiously mixed. This work by Walter Rinderle and Bernard Norling, however, deals with the impact of the Nazis on Oberschopfheim, a small, rural, overwhelmingly Catholic village in Baden-Wuerttemberg in southwestern Germany. This incisively written book raises fundamental questions about the nature of the Third Reich. The authors portray the Nazi regime as considerably less “totalitarian” than is commonly assumed, hardly an exemplar of the efficiency for which Germany is known, and neither revered nor condemned by most of its inhabitants. The authors suggest that Oberschopfheim merely accepted Nazi rule with the same resignation with which so many ordinary people have regarded their governments throughout history. Based on village and county records and on the direct testimony of Oberschopfheimers, this book will interest anyone concerned with contemporary Germany as a growing economic power and will appeal to the descendants of German immigrants to the United States because of its depiction of several generations of life in a German village. “An excellent study. Describes in rich detail the political, economic, and social structures of a village in southwestern Germany from the turn of the century to the present.” —Publishers Weekly “A lively, informative treatise that puts a human face on history.” —South Bend Tribune “This very readable story emphasizes continuities within change in German historical development during the twentieth century.” —American Historical Review

Traces the origin of passion plays, and discounts the legend that the Oberammergau play was first performed in 1634, after the village was saved from a plague. Its true origin is in religious zealotry, antisemitism, and the profit motive. Surveys the various texts and concludes that the play falls far short of aesthetic demands, creates harmful stereotypes of Jews, and perpetuates the charge of deicide. Describes changes in the play during the Nazi era, its revival after World War II for financial profit, and recent unsuccessful efforts to revise the text. Pp. xv-xix contain an essay by Judson Shaver, "New Testament Roots of Christian Anti-Semitism."

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.