[Qwinn]

"Passion plays, even without the mesmerizing effect of the big screen and Technicolor special effects available to Gibson, have a long and ignominious history of inciting pogroms."

Erm, it seems to me that this statement is quite misleading. I believe the facts show that there has -never- been a murder of a Jew following a Passion play in the United States, and with a single exception in Germany in the 19th century, there hasn't been one in Europe since the Middle Ages either.

I certainly don't dispute that there were pogroms in the past, but this article attempts to draw a direct historical link between pogroms and passion plays that simply isn't backed up historically.

Qwinn

[BradyLS]

Erm, it seems to me that this statement is quite misleading. I believe the facts show that there has -never- been a murder of a Jew following a Passion play in the United States, and with a single exception in Germany in the 19th century, there hasn't been one in Europe since the Middle Ages either.

The Bavarian German city of Oberammergau stages an amatuer production of The Passion every four years or so. None of the actors are professionals and they spend the interim between seasons building the sets and costumes.

Though the play is the same, it is always a fresh performance with different actors in the roles. It draws crowds whenever it is performed. I used to have a fantastic picture book of performance from the early 80's. Don't know where it went...