Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 164, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 July 1918 — ONE RESULT OF THE WAR [ARTICLE]

ONE RESULT OF THE WAR

Little Village of Oberammergau Has Received Spiritual and Physical Blow. Oberammergau, the little village In Bavaria thflt became world-famous as the home of the Passion Play, is virtually a deserted village where sorrow broods. All of its male Inhabitants capable of bearing arms have entered (he ranks of the Bavarian army, and many have fallen In battle. Miss Madeleine Doty, who has visited the village, in recording her experiences relates a conversation that she had with a waitress at the little hoteL “The town Is sad,” we averred. “Why shouldn’t it be?” she retorted. “We have lost so much.” “How many men have gone to war?” we asked. “Every one under 45. Five hundred and fifty out of a population of 1800.” We paused a moment. It seemed brutal to go on now, but we wanted Information. “There were 40 killed and 48 wounded the first year. I don’t know the number now.” “Will there ever be another Passion Play?” She shrugged her shoulders. “How can I tell? Some of the players and musicians have' lost an arm or a leg and others are dead. The town no longer has any money.” We pushed back our chairs and went out into the golden sunshine. No one moved about the streets. It was like a village swept by a plague and deserted. War has been a special disaster to Oberammergau. It has dealt a blow at its spiritual as well as its physical welfare. —Atlantic Monthly.