Bach's St. John Passion with texts of the Nazi resistance

Passion story takes on a touching topicality

"It is a risk to combine Bach's masterful St. John Passion with staged readings that focus on one of the darkest episodes in German history. But in combination with original texts from the trial of the resistance fighters before the People's Court in 1945, the 2000-year-old Passion story and Bach's setting of it take on a frightening and at the same time touching topicality," it said.

Performance shows parallels between the two events

Till Krabbe, actor and former professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main, had compiled the original documents from the People's Court together with Jesuit priest Klaus Mertes for this project and incorporated them into Bach's Passion setting. Many parallels emerged during the concert - for example between the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and Nazi criminal judge Roland Freisler. Or when Jesus' farewell words on the cross are juxtaposed with Delp's farewell letter to his mother, according to the announcement.