The new pandemic came at a time when everything seemed to have settled down to some extent. The preparations for the 2020 play took place in unusual harmony, there were no referendums and no major protests. It was rare to have so little friction. Most of the people in the village have now realised that the changes that Stückl made were important in bringing the play into the new millennium. They have such trust in him for his fourth Passion that they no longer discuss every staging idea in the local council. Success has proven him right.

The Passion Play has received more national and international recognition in the past ten years than ever before. In 2020/21 alone, Stückl was awarded three prizes for his commitment to tolerance and the fight against anti-Semitism. He was awarded the Abraham Geiger Prize, the Tolerance Prize of the Evangelical Academy in Tutzing and, most recently, the Buber Rosenzweig Medal. In 2014 the Passion Play became an example of “Intangible Cultural Heritage”, and in 2020 the New York Times added the Oberammergau play to its list of “52 Places to Go in 2020”. In November 2020 the community finally made the former “Stage Terror”...