Dachau district – After the tradition was suspended for two years during the Corona pandemic, RIAS again documented “Judas fires” burning in many places in Bavaria this Easter, many also in the Dachau district, where the anti-Jewish custom has always been widespread.
27 “Judas fires” burned in six Swabian and Upper Bavarian districts this year. In at least 18 of them, a life-size human-shaped doll was burned, which represents the apostle Judas Iscariot, who, according to the biblical narrative, is said to have betrayed Jesus Christ and is being punished symbolically and ritually for this. The Christian anti-Judaist tradition identifies Judas with “the Jews” per se.
