The Oberammergau Passion Play dates back to a vow made in 1633. At that time the plague raged unchecked in the entire region including Oberammergau. Many people died. It was then that the people of Oberammergau vowed to portray the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ once every ten years. And from that moment on no one has succumbed to the Black Death. Since then the people of Oberammergau have been performing a play commemorating the Passion of Jesus. For more than 200 years the peformance took place in the cemetery next to the village church. But during the 19th Century the community found it necessary to stage the performance in a more spacious setting to accomodate the ever increasing crowds of visitors. Here is the play in its entirety in German and in English, based upon the work of Rev. Joseph Daisenberger as edited and revised by Otto Huber and Christian Stuckl.