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Hans Sachs (1494 -1576) from Nuremberg is one of the most prolific poets of German literature. In addition to his work as a shoemaker, he wrote almost 6,000 Meisterlieder and poems of spiritual, moral and political content as well as more than 200 dramas. It is noteworthy that Hans Sachs, one of the best-known representatives of bourgeois literature in the 16th century, and also a committed supporter of Martin Luther, wrote a play on Jesus Christ's suffering and death despite the reformer's well-known reservations about the passionate piety of the late medieval papal church, and published it. Hans Sachs completed the Passion Play on 12 April 1558, as is noted at the end of the text. He dedicated the print produced by Wolff Guldenmund in Amberg in 1560 to the council of the town of Amberg, which belonged to the Electoral Palatinate back then. Amberg council purchased 40 of them at six kreuzer each. The Amberg Passion influenced later dramas, for example the 'Admonter Passion Play' (2nd half of the 16th century), several Passion Plays in Tyrol and the 'Kemnath Passion Play' of 1731. Only one other copy can be found of this single print worldwide in the British Library. The Passion Play also survives in the complete edition of the works of Hans Sachs, the so-called "Nürnberger Folioausgabe" (Nuremberg Folio Edition), the first volumes of which were published during his lifetime. // Author: Siglinde Kurz // Date: 2018