Anton Lang
Encyclopedia
Anton Lang was a German studio potter and an actor in the Oberammergau Passion Play
. He played the role of Jesus Christ in 1900, 1910, and 1922. He was the Prologue Speaker in 1930 and again in the Jubilee Production of 1934. Lang died in Munich 30 May 1938 at the age of 63, following an operation for a stomach ailment.
In 1923-24 Lang visited the U.S. and was asked to comment on many of the current events of the day. When reporters told Lang of “religious clashes” in the United States, which then was witnessing fights between evolutionists and religious fundamentalists and the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan and its anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic propaganda, and of “the organized manifestations of bigotry” he “seemed incredulous” and “shook his head deprecatingly.” Lang commented that “At Oberammergau we have all kinds. There is a Catholic church, and a chapel that is used by the Protestants --- Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, and all kinds. But that isn’t what counts. It is how one lives that makes one good or bad; and Jesus, I believe, will take us all to heaven according to our virtues.” “And the Jews?” a reporter asked. Lang smiled again, and replied: ‘Yes, I think the Jews, too, will go to heaven.’”
In 1938 rumors reached England that Lang was in trouble with the Nazi authorities. He was a pacifist and also opposed Nazi attempts to add overtly anti-Semitic language to the Passion Play. Two English newspapers hired Elizabethe Corathiel to visit Lang. “He was exceedingly anxious to impress upon me the necessity of denying the rumours, pointing out that it might be very dangerous for him if they were allowed to persist.” Two weeks later Lang was dead’. Corathiel was “convinced that the political trend at the time hastened his end.” Almost the whole Oberammergau population attended Lang’s funeral. “There were no tributes, however, from Nazi party or State authorities nor was there any Nazi uniform among the 1,200 mourners in the little churchyard.”
Two of Lang’s sons, Karl and Friedl, belonged to a Catholic Youth group that visited Rome in 1934. Friedl recalled: “On our way back to Germany, our buses were stopped at the border. The guards seized our cameras, our shirts and buckles, tents, banners etc, and took our names. After running the guantlet of a bevy of abusing HJ [Hitler Youth] boys, we were allowed to proceed to Munich. There the police were already waiting for us. We were again arrested, and taken to the Police Headquarters where our passports were checked and our names registered. In the morning they let us go.” Two of Anton’s three sons, Anton Jr. and Friedl, escaped Germany to the U.S. before the war. Both became U.S. citizens and were college professors.
Oberammergau Passion Play
Oberammergau Passion Play is a passion play performed since 1634 oberammergau-passion.com. 2009. Retrieved November 19, 2011. as a tradition by the inhabitants of the village of Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany.-Origins:...
. He played the role of Jesus Christ in 1900, 1910, and 1922. He was the Prologue Speaker in 1930 and again in the Jubilee Production of 1934. Lang died in Munich 30 May 1938 at the age of 63, following an operation for a stomach ailment.
In 1923-24 Lang visited the U.S. and was asked to comment on many of the current events of the day. When reporters told Lang of “religious clashes” in the United States, which then was witnessing fights between evolutionists and religious fundamentalists and the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan and its anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic propaganda, and of “the organized manifestations of bigotry” he “seemed incredulous” and “shook his head deprecatingly.” Lang commented that “At Oberammergau we have all kinds. There is a Catholic church, and a chapel that is used by the Protestants --- Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, and all kinds. But that isn’t what counts. It is how one lives that makes one good or bad; and Jesus, I believe, will take us all to heaven according to our virtues.” “And the Jews?” a reporter asked. Lang smiled again, and replied: ‘Yes, I think the Jews, too, will go to heaven.’”
In 1938 rumors reached England that Lang was in trouble with the Nazi authorities. He was a pacifist and also opposed Nazi attempts to add overtly anti-Semitic language to the Passion Play. Two English newspapers hired Elizabethe Corathiel to visit Lang. “He was exceedingly anxious to impress upon me the necessity of denying the rumours, pointing out that it might be very dangerous for him if they were allowed to persist.” Two weeks later Lang was dead’. Corathiel was “convinced that the political trend at the time hastened his end.” Almost the whole Oberammergau population attended Lang’s funeral. “There were no tributes, however, from Nazi party or State authorities nor was there any Nazi uniform among the 1,200 mourners in the little churchyard.”
Two of Lang’s sons, Karl and Friedl, belonged to a Catholic Youth group that visited Rome in 1934. Friedl recalled: “On our way back to Germany, our buses were stopped at the border. The guards seized our cameras, our shirts and buckles, tents, banners etc, and took our names. After running the guantlet of a bevy of abusing HJ [Hitler Youth] boys, we were allowed to proceed to Munich. There the police were already waiting for us. We were again arrested, and taken to the Police Headquarters where our passports were checked and our names registered. In the morning they let us go.” Two of Anton’s three sons, Anton Jr. and Friedl, escaped Germany to the U.S. before the war. Both became U.S. citizens and were college professors.