Adolf Hitler attended the world famous Passion Play in the town of Oberammergau on 13 August 1934. This series of pictures shows the leader of Nazi Germany and his entourage visiting the small Bavarian village and attending the production about the life of Jesus. The grand spectacle, held only once a decade, recounts the story of Jesus Christ’s trial, suffering, and resurrection. This was the 300th anniversary production celebrating the first Oberammergau Passion play held in 1634.

The original tricentennial poster (1634 – 1934) for the Passion Play Oberammergau by Jupp Wiertz. The Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda ordered the official poster for the jubilee season amended to include the message “Deutschland ruft Euch!” or “Germany calls You!”

It was said that Hitler saw enormous propaganda value in the play and attempted to exploit the event, which attracted over 400,000 people, in order to win more popular support for his anti-Semitic views. The tradition of holding Passion plays originated in Europe in the 12th century and already had a long history of virulent anti-Judaism. The Oberammergau Passion Play was particularly excessive in its negative portrayal of Jews and Judaism. The Oberammergau Passion Play was first performed in 1634 to give thanks for the Bavarian town being spared from the Black Death. It has continued to this day to be repeated every 10 years without fail, except for the 1940 production cancelled due to World War Two.

The poster for the Oberammergau Passion Play of 1934 is awarded first prize in a national publicity contest. Directly in front of it, the official prize cup sponsored by King Fuad I of Egypt stands atop a swastika flag. 

In 1933 the local community decided to perform a special Jubilee Passion Play in the following year on the occasion of the production’s 300th anniversary. The rise and influence of the Nazi movement did not spare the Oberammergau Passion Play or the village from getting used as an instrument of the new power. The town’s mayor, Raimund Lang, likened the plague of 1634 to the “plague of Marxism who the Führer Adolf Hitler ended, thus preventing the extermination of Culture and Christianity”. Mayor Lang, an ardent National Socialist, had illegally acquired the post of mayor and then brought the Community Council and the Passion Play Committee into line with Nazi doctrine. Against the wishes of the local clergyman Vicar Bogenrieder, he asked the Bavarian Minister of the Economy and the author of the inflammatory pamphlet “The global Jewish plague”, Hermann Esser, to become a sponsor of the Play.

Hitler also attended the Passion Play held in July 1930, below are 2 photographs showing the enthusiastic welcome that he received on that occasion as well. On this visit Hitler was accompanied by Joseph Goebbels, his sister Angela, and his niece Geli Raubal.

July 21, 1930 – Joseph Goebbels’ Diary

Yesterday at Hitler’s for lunch. It was very pleasant and we laughed a lot. In the afternoon, we drove out to Murnau. A wonderful drive. How beautifully the mountains glow. We stayed overnight in Seehausen. First in a large group, then we were all alone. Boss, Gel, Mrs. Raubal, and I. A walk through the quiet evening. Boss talked about the war. That is his inexhaustible favorite topic. Early to bed. Up at 6 a.m. in the morning. Through the radiant morning, up the winding road to Oberammergau. A delightful little town. The Passion Play begins at 8 a.m. From 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 a.m. to 6 p.m. In front of 5,000 people I am most pleasantly disappointed. A natural stage for style. Colors, power, folklore. One is gripped and sometimes moved to tears. Magnificent Christ and Mary Magdalene. Full of charm, John. Perhaps a touch of kitsch at times, but on the whole full of folk taste. Truly magnificent are Christ’s farewell in Bethania and the Last Supper scene. Everything still smells slightly of earth. The choir full of dignity and serenity. Despite its length, it hardly feels long. I went with great skepticism, yet I am glad I saw it. It is teeming with propaganda. Our movement is spreading everywhere. Journey home. A very heavy thunderstorm in Starnberg. Back in Munich at 10 a.m. I’m dead tired. Straight to bed. Work starts again tomorrow. I will push the election campaign forward with propaganda. It will also be decided tomorrow in Hanover whether I will be arrested. But now I want to sleep. I’m still completely full of impressions from the Passion. And glad that such a thing still exists in Germany. One must lead the people back to the sources of their national identity. Then they will regain security and instinct. The scenes before Pilate were practically textbook lessons about the Jew. That’s how he always did it, and that’s how he still does it today. Only fools change, but not the spirit and the man himself. He remains eternally the same Adam.

Adolf Hitler greets a huge crowd from the balcony of the Hotel Wittelsbach during the intermission break held at noon for lunch. The Führer enjoyed his meal at the Terrace Cafe before heading back to the theater to enjoy the remainder of the 8 hour production. According to a record from 1930, the play had a running time of approximately seven hours. It started at 8:00 am and ended at 5:00 pm, with a two hour meal break in between acts.

At 2 o’clock we took our places again in the great hall and the tragedy slowly moved to its culmination: the betrayal by Judas, the trail of Jesus and the awful scene of the executions on the cross, with law officers climbing short ladders to the crucified individuals and beating them before their deaths. When Jesus was tried before the angry Jewish court, a well-dressed German, looking very solemn, said to me: “Es ist unser Hitler.” Ida Horne, a distant kinswoman of mine, sitting in another part of the hall, told me as we came out together: “A woman near me said, as Judas received his thirty pieces of silver, ‘Es ist Roehm!’” I suspect half the audience, the German part, considers Hitler as Germany’s Messiah.

-William E. Dodd Jr., “Ambassador Dodd’s Diary, 1933-1938”

Adolf Hitler made a promise to return and attend the play again in 1940. The Passion Play ended up being canceled that year because of the outbreak of WWII. When the performance resumed in 1950, it was presented as being a “Play of Peace” as a sign of the reconciliation of the people of the world. 

Heinrich Hoffmann also took a special series of photographs for the 300th anniversary production of the Oberammergau Passion play with scenes from the play and pictures of the actors. Professional portraits were produced of Alois Lang as Jesus Christ, Anny Rutz as Mary, Klara Mayr as Mary Magdalene, Wilhelm Bierling as John, Hubert Mayr as Peter, Johann Zwink as Judas, Hugo Rutz as Caiphas, Anton Lechner as Annas, Melchior I. Breitsamter as Pontius Pilate and Hr. Mayr as Herod.

Two of the Oberammergau passion actors photographed at the Hotel-Pension Alois Lang by Heinrich Hoffmann. Alois Lang was a local hotelkeeper also associated for more than 50 years with the famous Oberammergau Passion Play. Lang first participated in the Passion Play as a 9‐year‐old in 1900 and was elected by fellow villagers to fill the difficult Christus role in 1930 and 1934.