Southern France Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 29, 1945, Nice, Alpes Cote D'Azur                                The stars and stripes Magazine july a tradition steeped passion beset by plague and awaits a reopening aloes Lang his role As Christ and at his by de Wilcox stars and stripes staff writer More than three centuries ago a Ter Rible plague swept through wiping out entire to isolate them the people of Oberzar Amerau posted guards in the Mountain who turned away strangers who might bring the dread disease into the for three years the Vigil was kept and the Village remained free of the in the summer of the Story an obscure labourer named Karl Schisler managed to pass the guards and got into the he brought his family the the legend has it that the elders or the Village met and swore an oath to per form a passion tragedy every ten years if the Community were prom that moment on deaths from the plague ceased and the following saw the first performance of the great passion play which has made  famous throughout the Ever the Citi Zens of this Village have kept their despite upsets in the schedule caused by three major the Tempo of life in Oberammergau has changed Little in three centuries everyone is Catholic and the vast majority of the male members of the Community earn their living carving Beautiful Little by or As play brought Fame to so it brought foreign a flourishing Trade has sprouted in the mountains and the woodcarvers Are assured of a Market for their most villagers prefer to live and die in Oberammergau and the names of the first citizens of town like Bierling and the same names that were there 300 years the 700 who Are the Angels and apostles in the world famous now gloomily contemplate their casualty list for world War paced with the Prospect of Rushing a performance of the spectacle for next at the re quest of military the citizens glanced Over the list of players in the 1934 Tri Centenary Jubilee and found that five years of War had Cost them nearly 100 actors and John the Baptist Willy Bierling had been taken prisoner with Rommel afrika the younger Jacob Hans Lang flew with the is now in Ari Allied pm Phillip Benedikt Kluvo Ker and Andrew Alois Schmid Are George who was the producer and is held by american facing charges of being a Kingpin in the Goebbels propaganda other leading players managed to re main in the Village despite the demands of total Jesus Christ Aloys Lang is 55 and was too old for service in the he remained Home and attended to is woodcarving Thadeus Leonhard a August Thomas Joseph Andrew mat thew an Pilate Melchior Breit Samter will be available for the next Judas Hans Zwink also will be assured of a he spent the War years painting the older Jacob ton Bier Ling and the Village Peter Hubert were Oberammergau air raid Ward ens and took no part in the War aside from serving As fire watchers in the lonely Alpine Simon Otto Rutz was a Soldier for six then got a Odd and returned to Many of the players Are too old now to take then there is the problem of checking Over the elaborate wardrobe costumes imported from the Middle East and replacing garments which cant be used Blond Anny who portrayed the Virgin Mary in 1930 and again in the Jubilee performance in probably will play the Virgin again in the next though Anny is still unmarried and according to qualifies for her Anny divides her time be tween the Novelty shop she operates with her sister and the where she serves As an interpreter for military gov a few blocks from the Rutz cottage is a Large hotel which enjoyed a brisk peace time tourist business and now serves As Headquarters for a battalion of the 10th armoured the Aloys who played lives in a Small log Cabin next door to his note Lang Hopes to play Christ again in the and is letting his hair grow Long for his but the villagers elect the players for the various and Many consider Lang too they doubt that he could stand the gruelling ordeal of thirty minutes on the Cross in one Hollywood has tried to lure the Pas Sion players for offering fabulous sums for filming rights on the great each time an offer was made the people of Oberammergau were asked to vote on each time they rejected the in the same they turned Down offers to become a Road company and tour Europe with the if we took the passion play from Lang it would lose its character and it can be played Well Only in none of the players will talk at length of the financial aspects of the but a rough estimate of the size of the take can be had by multiplying the seats in the theater by 75 performances and then multiplying that by ten dollars to american the net would please Billy Rose or Mike Todd and would certainly buy a raft of and coca Lang laughs about an incident which happened he was walking from his Home to the Rathaus when he passed a couple of they did a double appraising his bearing and his Beard one of them exclaimed Jesus Christ turned without a moments hesitation and said my the members of the military government detachment in Oberammergau have a Dif Ferent attitude toward the passion players the men of the 10th armoured or realizing that they were a town full of temperament and artistic the am boys made up their minds that this want going to continued on next Page eco com photos by Martin Anny Rutz As she appears As the Virgin Mary in the and in real