Jud Süß (1940 film)
Encyclopedia
Jud Süß is an antisemitic propaganda film
produced in 1940
by Terra Filmkunst at the behest of Joseph Goebbels
. The movie was directed by Veit Harlan
, who wrote the screenplay with Eberhard Wolfgang Möller
and Ludwig Metzger, and starred Ferdinand Marian
and Harlan's wife Kristina Söderbaum
.
The film has been characterized as "one of the most notorious and successful pieces of anti-semitic film propaganda produced in Nazi Germany." It was a great success in Germany, with some 20 million viewers. Although the film's budget of 2 million reichsmarks was considered high for films of that era, the box-office receipts of 6.5 million reichsmarks made it a financial success. Heinrich Himmler
urged members of the SS
and police to watch the movie.
After the war, all the cast members attempted to excuse their participation in the film by claiming that they had only done so under duress. There is significant evidence that the cast was, cajoled, manipulated and even intimidated by Goebbels into taking parts in the film. Nonetheless, Susan Tegel characterizes their postwar attempts to distance themselves from the film as "crass and self-serving". However, she concedes that their motives for accepting the roles seem to have been more driven by opportunistic ambition than by anti-semitism. Veit Harlan was the only major movie director of the Third Reich to stand trial for "crimes against humanity". After three trials, Harlan was given only a light sentence because he was able to convince the courts that the anti-semitic content of the film had been dictated by Goebbels and that Harlan had worked to moderate the anti-semitism to the extent possible. Eventually, Harlan was reinstated as a citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany and went on to make nine more films. He remained a controversial figure and the target of protests that went so far as to set fire to some of the theaters where his movies were being shown.
Although some have dismissed the film as cheap propaganda, others have pointed to Harlan's talent as a director as one of the significant contributing factors to the film's box-office success. Together with Die Rothschilds
and Der ewige Jude, the film remains one of the most frequently discussed examples of Goebbel's use of film to further the Nazi anti-semitic agenda. In 2010, two documentary film
s were released that explore the history and impact of this movie.
was an 18th century Court Jew
in the employ of Duke Karl Alexander
of Württemberg
in Stuttgart. As a financial advisor for Duke Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg
, he also gained a prominent position as a court Jew
and held the reins of the finances in his duchy. He established a duchy monopoly on the trade of salt, leather, tobacco, and liquor and founded a bank and porcelain factory. In the process, he made a number of enemies who claimed, among other things, that he was involved with local gambling houses.
When Karl Alexander died suddenly, Oppenheimer was arrested and accused of various things, including fraud, embezzlement, treason, lecherous relations with the court ladies, accepting bribes, and trying to reestablish Catholicism. The Jewish community tried unsuccessfully to ransom him. After a heavily publicized trial during which no proofs were produced, he was sentenced to death. When his jailers demanded that he convert to Christianity, he refused. Joseph Süß Oppenheimer was led to the gallows on February 4, 1738, and given a final chance to convert to Christianity, which he refused to do.
's 1925 novel
titled Jud Süß based on a play that he had written in 1916 but subsequently withdrew. As a Jew, Feuchtwanger did not intend his portrayal of Süß as an antisemitic slur but as a study of the tragedy caused by the human weaknesses of greed, pride and ambition. Feuchtwanger's focus was the struggle of Jews in the Diaspora
; in particular, he was concerned with the issues of conversion and anti-Semitism. Feuchtwanger was particularly struck by the fact that Süß could have saved himself by converting to Christianity but had steadfastly refused to do so, opting instead to return to formal Jewish observance and piety.
Ashley Dukes
and Paul Kornfeld
also wrote dramatic adaptations of the Feuchtwanger novel. In 1934, Lothar Mendes
directed a film adaptation of the novel.
believed that film was a very potent tool for molding public opinion. The Nazis
first established a film department in 1930 and Goebbels had taken a personal interest in the use of film to promote the Nazi philosophy and agenda. Soon after the Nazi takeover, Goebbels was insisting in speeches that the role of the German cinema was to serve as the "vanguard of the Nazi military" as they set forth to conquer the world.
The Nazis had hoped for a surge in anti-Semitic sentiment after Kristallnacht
but, when it became clear that the majority of Germans did not share the Nazi hatred for Jews, Goebbels launched a campaign to promote the anti-semitic views of the Nazis to the German populace. He ordered each film studio to make an anti-semitic film.
Hitler preferred films like Der ewige Jude which presented the Nazi anti-semitic agenda openly and directly; however Goebbels disliked the crudeness of such straight-forward approaches, preferring the much more subtle approach of couching anti-semitic messages in an engaging story with popular appeal.
Although Goebbels did not generally take an active role in the production of particular films, he elected to do so in the case of major propaganda films such as Jud Süß. Saul Friedländer suggests that Goebbels' intent was to counter three films whose messages attacked the persecution of Jews throughout history by producing violently anti-Semitic versions of those films with identical titles. After viewing Lothar Mendes
' philo-Semitic film Jew Suss
, Goebbels was adamant that "a new film version had to be made."
for many years, the impetus for the movie came from Joseph Goebbels
' desire to make an anti-semitic response to Mendes' philo-semitic film adaptation of Lion Feuchtwanger
's 1925 novel Jud Süß
. Because Mendes' movie was so sympathetic to the subject, the scriptwriters shifted their model to Wilhelm Hauff
's 1827 novella. However, even after Harlan rewrote the original script, the result was not anti-semitic enough to suit Goebbels' propaganda needs so he personally intervened in the editing process to the point of dropping some scenes and rewriting others including making a substantial change to the film's ending to show Süß as humbled rather than defiant. In the end, the film wound up diametrically opposed to the intent of Feuchtwanger's novel. Although inspired by the historical details of Süß's life, the novel, novella and film only loosely correspond to the historical sources available at the Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg.
Susan Tegel ascribes the genesis of the project more to opportunism than to ideological anti-semitism. Tegel's assessment echoes Klaus Kreimeier's assertion that the "recognized stars of the (German) stage and screen" were less aligned with the Nazi philosophy and more motivated by professional ambition and the "illusion that Goebbels would fulfill them."
In January or February of 1939, Metzger, now a scriptwriter for Terra Filmkunst, mentioned his idea to Wolfgang Ebbecke with whom he was working on the script for Central Rio. Ebbecke shot down the idea, raising a number of objections including the fact that Mendes had already done a film on the same topic in England and the concern that German audiences might confuse the proposed film with Feuchtwanger's novel which was not anti-semitic.
Undaunted by Ebbecke's objections, Metzger took his idea to Teich, the story editor at Terra but was once again turned down. Finally, Metzger approached the Propaganda Ministry directly where his proposal was received like a "bomb hitting its target." Teich was informed that Terra should proceed with Metzger's proposal and so he reluctantly presented the idea to the head of the studio. When the studio head refused to approve the project, Goebbels had him fired and replaced by Peter Paul Brauer
, a minor director with no experience in producing films. As head of the studio, Brauer assigned himself the task of directing the film. However, the project stalled out for a number of reasons including challenges in recruiting a suitable cast and difficulties in producing a script acceptable to Goebbels.
At Goebbels' direction, Metzger was given a contract by Terra to write a script for the proposed film. He decided to base his script on the 1827 Hauff novella rather than the more recent and better known 1925 Feuchtwanger novel
.
However, when Goebbels read Metzger's draft of the script, he deemed it to be insufficiently anti-semitic for his propaganda campaign. To remedy the script's deficiencies, Goebbels assigned playwright Eberhard Wolfgang Möller
to assist Metzger even though Möller had no experience as a screenwriter. Möller's role was to ensure that the script met Goebbel's ideological objectives. Möller decided to abandon Hauff's novella as the basis of the script, dismissing Hauff as too sentimental about the "emancipation of Jews and Poles."
In the meantime, Brauer was working on recruiting a cast but with little success. The actors being considered for the lead role of Joseph Süß Oppenheimer included the title role included Gustaf Gründgens
, Rene Deltgen
, Rudolf Fernau
, Richard Häusler, Siegfried Bräuer, Paul Dahlke
and Ferdinand Marian. Gründgens declined, citing his responsibilities as director of the Prussian State Theatre. Marian also declined.
When Nazi Germany conquered Poland in September 1939, it was faced with the disposition of the large Jewish population. In view of the German populace's tepid response to the orchestrated violence of Kristallnacht, the Nazis perceived an urgent need for films that would move German popular sentiment in favor of the Nazi Final Solution
to the Jewish question
. Frustrated with the delays on the Jud Süß project, Goebbels ordered Fritz Hippler
, the head of his film department, to sack Brauer and bring in Veit Harlan to take over as director.
After the war, Harlan claimed that no other director would touch the project and that he himself had tried to decline the role of director. The filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl
, in her 1987 memoir, confirmed that Harlan had told her of Goebbels's insistence that he direct the film and of his ardent desire to get out of the project. Harlan had even written to Goebbels volunteering for military service in order to avoid making the film. Goebbels' responded to this by informing Harlan that, if he enlisted, he would do his military service at the front. According to Harlan, Goebbels screamed at him, "I can crush you like a bug on the wall!" When Harlan asked Riefenstahl to intercede for him with Goebbels, she demurred citing her own conflicts with the propaganda minister. Instead of intervening on his behalf, Riefenstahl advised Harlan to move to Switzerland; however, Harlan expressed fear for his life and the impact it would have on his wife.
Daniel Azuelos ascribes the cast's reluctance to an unwillingness to be typecast as Jews. David Welch identifies Werner Krauss as having asked Goebbels to make a public pronouncement stating that Krauss was not Jewish but merely "playing a part as an actor in the service of the State." In order to address their concerns, Goebbels issued a disclaimer stating that those actors playing the parts of Jews were in fact of pure 'Aryan' blood.
Similarly, Josef Škvorecký also notes that all the major cast members as well as Harlan himself tried in various ways to avoid participation in the project; however Škvorecký ascribes a rather different motivation to the cast than the one that Azuelos propounds. Škvorecký attributes the reluctance of actors to participate in what he characterizes as a "politically-most-correct film" as an indication of "how aware most German artists were of the fact that anti-semitism under Hitler changed from prejudice to murder." While cast members could have declined the roles that were offered to them, Škvorecký asserts that such action would have required "extraordinary courage: the dire consequences of such an act of defiance were only too easy to imagine." According to Škvorecký, "Goebbels either outwitted [the actors he desired for the cast], or knew about compromising circumstances in their lives and used this knowledge for bludgeoning them into acceptance." Elaborating on the "compromising circumstances", Škvorecký writes, "One of the paradoxes of this sinister film is how many participants in the violently racist project had either Jewish spouses or relatives, were disciples of Jewish artists and known friends or Jews, or had been—before the Nazi takeover—left-leaning intellectuals, even communists." For example, Škvorecký points out that Veit Harlan's first wife was Dora Gerson
, a German-Jewish actress and cabaret singer. Harlan himself had flirted with socialism. Although Werner Krauss was openly anti-semitic and an ardent Nazi, his daughter-in-law was Jewish. Ferdinand Marian had a half-Jewish daughter from his first marriage and the former husband of his second wife was a Jew.
Heinrich George had been active in the Communist Party of Germany
before the Nazi takeover. He worked with noted left-wing dramatists Erwin Piscator
and Bertolt Brecht
. He also starred in the lead role of the 1931 film Berlin-Alexanderplatz
. After the Nazi takeover, George was identified as a "non-desirable" actor because of his earlier political affiliations and was barred from working in cinematic productions; however, he was able to reach an accommodation with the Nazi regime and was eventually appointed director of the Schiller Theater in 1938. From that point on, George actively collaborated with the Nazis and agreed to star in Nazi propaganda films such as Jud Süß and Kolberg
as well as appearing in numerous newsreels. George had a stocky build and a Berlin accent which made him readily recognizable to German audiences. His prestige as a leading actor of the day made him an "extraordinarily valuable catch for the Nazis." Cooke and Silberman describe him as "the actor most closely tied with fascist fantasies of the autocratic and the populist leader". George's affiliation with the Nazis would have fatal consequences for him after the war when the Soviets arrested him as a Nazi collaborator. He died in 1946 while interned in NKVD special camp Nr. 7
located in Sachsenhausen
.
According to Harlan, it was Goebbels who insisted that Harlan's wife, Kristina Söderbaum, play the leading female role. According to Antje Ascheid, Soderbaum is frequently identified as "most singularly representative of the Nazi ideal, as the quintessential Nazi star ." As a beautiful Swedish blonde, Söderbaum had the baby-doll looks that epitomized the model Aryan woman. In fact, she had already played the role of the innocent Aryan in a number of feature films and was well-known to German audiences. Her youth and beauty made her a symbol health and purity and thus an exemplary specimen of the Nazi ideal of womanhood. In a number of her films, she had been imperiled by the threat of "rassenschande
" ("racial pollution"). Because two of her films ended with her committing suicide by drowning, she was given the mock honorary title Reichswasserleiche ('Drowned Corpse of the Reich').
Harlan argued to Goebbels that Söderbaum, having just given birth, was too weak to take on the role. Goebbels countered that a special room could be set up as a nursery and that a wet-nurse could be hired to care for the infant. He further offered to halt shooting if Söderbaum became ill. Harlan later reported that Söderbaum was so upset by the entire affair that she considered fleeing back to her native Sweden to avoid having to play the part of Dorothea. In the end, however, she decided to stay and take on the role.
The story was different in the case of Ferdinand Marian who is often characterized as having established a reputation as a "matinee idol". Initially, Marian was repulsed by the proposal that he play the title role of Jud Süß and demurred for almost a year. As a result, he was not confirmed in the role until about a week before shooting was scheduled to begin.
According to Kristina Söderbaum, Marian was afraid that playing such an unappealing character would damage his image with film audiences. She recalled that Marian had told Goebbels that his stage persona was one of a bon-vivant and a lover and that Süß, in contrast, was a "truly unpleasant character". Goebbels rebutted Marian's argument by pointing out that he had just seen Marian's portrayal of Iago, asking "Was he a nice bon-vivant?" When Marian responded "But that was Shakespeare, Herr Minister!", Goebbels screamed into his face saying, "And I am Joseph Goebbels!"
Marian finally agreed to play the part of Süß for fear of reprisal against members of his family. Marian had a daughter from his first marriage to the Jewish pianist, Irene Saager. The former husband of his second wife was also Jewish, making her son (and Marian's stepson) half-Jewish.
Goebbels, however, used not only intimidation but also cajoling and generosity to achieve his goals. Ferdinand Marian requested compensation of 50,000 marks for taking on the role of Süß, an amount double anything he had received for previous roles. When asked to approve this amount, Goebbels did so citing the importance of the film and the need for a high-caliber cast to ensure its success.
According to his biographer, Friedrich Knilli, Marian never forgave himself for having accepted the role of Süß. Knilli ascribes Marian's alcoholism and alleged suicide after the war to his feelings of guilt.
Of all the cast members, Werner Krauss was the one most clearly identified as an anti-Semite. His consummate skills in characterization had earned him the title of "the man with a thousand faces". There is some difference of opinion regarding the number of roles that Krauss played in the film. While it is generally recognized that, with the exception of Marian's title role, the other five speaking parts that depicted Jews were all played by Krauss, Gottfried Reinhardt asserts that Krauss played "no less than thirteen Jews" in the movie. The roles that Krauss played in the film are often characterized as portraying antisemitic stereotypes. In an interview, Harlan explained that the decision to have Krauss play all the roles was "meant to show how all these different temperaments and characters - the pious patriarch, the wily swindler, the penny-pinching merchant, and so on - were all ultimately derived from the same (Jewish) root". Katrin Sieg describes Krauss' face as eerily appearing in different guises whenever the camera pans across a crowd of Jews, creating what Sieg calls a "paranoid effect of déjà vu".
", referring to a Nazi weekly propaganda publication. He argued that such a piece of poor writing would lead not to the portrayal of a "despicable Jew" but rather to just a "despicable film."
Goebbels wanted Harlan to include sequences depicting Jewish ritual slaughter but Harlan demurred, arguing that portraying such cruelty would "make audiences sick to their stomachs."
Harlan complained to Goebbels that all the characters were negative; to this, Goebbels retorted that Harlan would not turn down the role of Richard III
just because he was a negative character. However, Goebbels acceded to Harlan's insistence on rewriting the script and Harlan spent from November 1939 to March 1940 revising the script although he kept much of what Metzger/Möller they had written.
After the war, Harlan claimed that his script was less anti-semitic than the Metzger/Möller script. However, in rebuttal, Haggith and Newman point out that Harlan added an important sequence in which Süß is responsible for the execution of a blacksmith, a sequence which served to increase the audience's hatred for Süß.
The total cost of production was approximately two million reichsmarks, a rather high figure for German feature films of that era. However, between 1940 and 1943, it grossed over 6.2 million reichsmarks thus making it a blockbuster in contrast to the commercial failure of Der Ewige Jude.
David Culbert attributes the film's box-office success in large part to "its lavish sets, its effective crowd scenes, its skillful script, and the splendid acting by most of the principals."
Harlan testified that Goebbels removed him from the editing process and insisted on many changes, mostly with the intent of making Süß more unambiguously evil. The film was extensively re-edited to remove ambiguities that portrayed Süß in too sympathetic a light to suit Goebbels' anti-semitic agenda. For example, Goebbels insisted on dropping a scene in which Dorothea responds to Süß's wooing with a smile. Scenes in which Süß was depicted as "too pleasant" were simply dropped. In some scenes, new lines were scripted for Marian to read in order to make his character less sympathetic. Other scenes were added including a new ending to replace the original one written by Harlan. Harlan claimed that he had wanted to make the hanging of Süß appear to have been a "great injustice." For the final execution scene, Harlan had written a defiant speech in which Süß condemned the German authorities. When Goebbels was shown a rough-cut copy, he was infuriated, insisting that Süß must not be portrayed in any way as a martyr. Demanding that Süß must be humbled and humiliated at the end, he had Harlan's speech replaced with one in which Süß cravenly begged for his life.
While Harlan's account of Goebbels' involvement in the film has been treated by a number of sources as factual, Haggith and Newman assert that "it is difficult to find any evidence of significant interference (by Goebbels) aside from casting and the appointment of Harlan." They point out that it was in Harlan's interest to blame Goebbels after the war.
in September 1940 and received rave reviews, earning the "Golden Lion
" award. Unlike most of the other major anti-Semitic films produced during the Third Reich, it was a great box-office success in Germany and abroad. It ranked sixth out of the thirty most popular German films of the war years.
Within the Third Reich, it was the number one film of the 1939-1940 season, viewed by audiences totaling over twenty million at a time when the population of Germany was some seventy million.
Heinrich Himmler
ordered that the film be shown to SS units about to be sent against Jews, to non-Jewish populations of areas where Jews were about to be deported, and to concentration camp guards.
Children under the age of fourteen were prohibited from seeing the film. There were reports of anti-Jewish violence after audiences viewed the film; in particular, teenagers seemed particularly prone to be instigated to violence by the film.
In early 1941, the company Nordisk Tonefilm
sought permission to distribute the film in Sweden but it was banned by the Censor. . During the war the movie was never screened in public in Sweden, although the German embassy arranged screenings for special invitees.
Feuchtwanger was horrified and incensed at the way in which his work had been manipulated and distorted, calling Harlan's film a Schandwerk ("a shameful work"). In 1941, he wrote an open letter to seven actors. Based on the sentiments expressed in the letter, it appears that Feuchtwanger was shocked that these men, whom he considered colleagues and who he knew were familiar with his work, would agree to participate in Goebbels' anti-semitic propaganda film.
In 1945, the film was banned by decree of the Allied Military Occupation. Harlan, who also directed the 1945 propaganda movie Kolberg
, was the only film director of the Third Reich to be charged with crimes against humanity. Harlan defended himself asserting that he had been neither Nazi nor anti-Semitic. He claimed that Goebbels had controlled his work and that he should not be held personally responsible for its content. He recounted the ways in which he had been forced to endure Goebbels' constant haranguing and meddling in the production of the film. In the end, the court condemned the film but exonerated the director. While Harlan had not acted nobly, the court recognized that he had operated under duress and should not be held responsible for the content of the film.
After the war, all the cast members also disclaimed responsibility, pleading that they had been coerced into participating in the film. According to his biographer Friedrich Knilli, Marian never came to terms with his having accepted the role of Süß and became an alcoholic, dying shortly after the war in a 1946 car accident. Some have attributed the accident to suicide.
Both Heinrich George and Werner Krauss were placed under arrest because of their past affiliation with the Nazi party. Although Heinrich George had been a member of the German Communist Party before the Nazi takeover, he was nonetheless interned as a Nazi collaborator at the Soviet special camp in Sachsenhausen
where he died in 1946.
Werner Krauss was banned from performing on stage and in films in Germany. He was required to undergo a de-Nazification process from 1947 to 1948. Ultimately, he was rehabilitated to the extent of being invited to German film festivals. In 1954, he was awarded the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany; in 1955, he received the High Decoration of the Republic of Austria.
In the first few years after the war, Kristina Söderbaum was often heckled off the stage and even suffered the indignity of having rotten vegetables thrown at her.
In subsequent years, she frequently expressed regret for her roles in anti-semitic films. Although Söderbaum continued to play roles in film, she was never offered a leading role after the war. Eventually, she became a photographer of celebrities.
directed a film titled Jew Suss: Rise and Fall
(German: Jud Süss: Film ohne Gewissen Jud Süss - film without conscience that premiered at the 2010 Berlinale.
which is owned by the German government. The Foundation only permits screenings of the film when accompanied by an introduction explaining the historical context and the intended impact.
In July 2008, the film was shown in Budapest
by Sándor and Tibor Gede in public showings without the permission and consent of the Murnau Foundation.
The film has been available for sale on VHS in the United States at least since 1983 (the copyright date on a commercially marketed video cassette). In 2008, a digitally restored subtitled DVD became generally available online with commentary by film historian Eric Rentschler.
Distribution, sale and screening of the film are forbidden in Germany and Austria. Sale of the DVD is also prohibited in France and Italy.
(Heinrich George
), a man much beloved by his people, who swears an oath to obey the laws of the dukedom. Unfortunately, the duke does not have sufficient funds to buy coronation gifts for the duchess (Hilde von Stolz
), and so he sends a loyal retainer to Frankfurt to borrow money from Oppenheimer, the "Jud Süß" from the film's title (Ferdinand Marian
). Oppenheimer shows the go-between a cabinet full of jewels and jewelry—items that are obviously beyond the Duke's means—and then says that it would be his honor to provide the Duke with jewelry at a substantial discount. However, to do so he must be allowed to bring the items to Wurttemberg. The law prohibits Jews from entering Wurttemberg, but the Duke provides Oppenheimer with a pass that grants him entry. Oppenheimer cuts his hair and shaves his beard, and in "Christian" clothes goes to Wurttemberg. The Duke is delighted with the jewelry, and Oppenheimer defers payment, saying that it is his honor to help the Duke. When Oppenheimer learns that the Duke wants to have a court orchestra and a court ballet troupe, and that the Wurttemberg council refuses to pay for them, he provides the financing for them as well.
The Duke eventually discovers that he owes Oppenheimer 350,000 Thaler
s. Oppenheimer then skilfully plays on the Duke's honor and greed by saying that if the Duke is going to honor this debt to a Jew all he wants in "payment" is the authority to maintain the roads and bridges of the dukedom for 10 years—and the right to levy tolls for their use and upkeep. A percentage of the proceeds will go directly to the Duke's privy purse and thereby free the Duke from the financial limits imposed by the council.
The Duke agrees to this. The resulting tolls cause the price of food and other essentials to rise, and so the (German) people of Wurttemberg suffer, but the result is also great wealth for Oppenheimer and a steady stream of income for the Duke. Oppenheimer is also given the authority to levy taxes on salt, beer, wine and wheat—with the same result. Oppenheimer also assists the Duke in procuring women when the duchess is not around. He eventually persuades the Duke to repeal the law prohibiting Jews from living in Wurttemberg, and many Jews then move into the city.
After an angry blacksmith attacks Oppenheimer's coach with a hammer, Oppenheimer persuades the Duke to give him the authority to do anything he deems necessary in the Duke's name, and to do so with the Duke's full protection. Oppenheimer then has the blacksmith carriage hanged on the grounds that an attack on the Duke's coach is tantamount to an attack on the Duke himself, and therefore treasonous act punishable by death.
When the council objects to Oppenheimer's policies he suggests to the Duke that this challenge to the Duke's authority be handled by dismissing the council and restructuring the government so that the Duke can reign as an absolute monarch. Oppenheimer tells the Duke that he can do this by hiring additional soldiers from another dukedom, and that as a sign of their gratitude the Jews of Wurttemberg will provide all the money that will be needed to hire them— costing the Duke nothing.
Meanwhile, Oppenheimer is relentlessly pursuing a German woman, Dorothea Sturm (Kristina Söderbaum
), who is the daughter of the council chairman (Eugen Klopfer). Oppenheimer's plans to marry Dorothea, an act that would be illegal in Nazi Germany in 1940, and, apparently illegal in 18th century Wurttemberg as well, are thwarted when Dorothea and her fiance, Faber (Malte Jaeger), marry secretly, but Oppenheimer then has Dorothea's father imprisoned—in theory because he objected to the execution of the man who attacked Oppenheimer's carriage.
When Faber attempts to leave the city to get help he is taken prisoner. Dorothea goes to Oppenheimer to beg for Faber's release and can hear his screams as he is being tortured. Oppenheimer makes it clear to Dorothea that the only way he will release her husband is if she has sex with him. Dorothea complies, and then drowns herself afterwards. Oppenheimer keeps his promise and frees Faber. He then suggests to the Duke that he leave Wurttemberg for a couple of days and then come back after the "coup" as an absolute monarch. Oppenheimer leaves Wurttemberg as well.
However, the people of Wurttemberg rise up before the foreign soldiers arrive, the Wurttemberg soldiers refuse to fire on their fellow citizens, and several of the townspeople go to the neighboring principality to confront the Duke and Oppenheimer. The Duke has a heart attack and dies. Oppenheimer is captured, brought to trial, and tried on a list of charges that include treason and financial improprieties. However he is executed only because he had sex with a German woman—and it appears from the dialogue that he would have been executed even if the act had been fully consensual. Oppenheimer is executed, saying to the last that he was nothing more than a "faithful servant" of the late Duke. All the other Jews are then given three days to leave Wurttemberg. As the film draws to a close, a citizen of Wurttemberg, observing the Jews leave, comments, "May the citizens of other states never forget this lesson."
is more or less historically accurate. When the duke died suddenly, Süß was, in fact, executed in an iron cage more or less as depicted in the film. However, the grounds for the execution of the historical Süß were abuse of office, not sexual relations with a Christian as depicted in Harlan's film. Haggith and Newman assert that much of the rest of the film is "pure invention." For example, while the historical Süß was accused, among other things, of lecherous relations with the court ladies, he was never accused of rape.
In contrast to these philosophical themes, Haines and Parker point out that, Harlan's focus is on the Jew as a "recklessly underestimated threat." In Feuchtwanger's novel, it is not Süß who commits rape but rather the duke who rapes and accidentally kills Süß's daughter. The dramatic thrust of the novel focuses on Süß's desire for revenge and the tragedy resulting from his pursuit for vengeance.
Feuchtwanger himself referred to Harlan's film as a "Schandwerk" ("a shameful work") and wrote an open letter to seven Berlin actors, two of them having played lead roles in the film. He asserted that Harlan's film had distorted his novel so much that it was a perversion of it. He further called into question their motives for making the film in light of their familiarity with him and his novel.
. At one extreme, Jews are portrayed as cut-throat capitalists; at the other, they are depicted as poor, filthy immigrants. Mike Davis writes that, "A thousand years of European anti-semitism were condensed into the cowering rapist, Süss, with his dirty beard, hook nose and whining voice." The movie played on basic Nazi stereotypes of Jews being materialistic, immoral, cunning, untrustworthy and physically unattractive. According to David Welch, the Nazis issued a guide to the press explaining how to interpret the film. The guide emphasized that a key point of the film was that once Jews like Süß got into positions of responsibility and power, "they exploited power, not for the good of the community, but for their own racial ends."
As a counterpoint to the negative qualities of Süß, the film presents Faber as an "Aryan" hero who embodies the Nazi ideals of youth, stridency and incorruptibility.
. In an interview with Der Film given before the release of the film, Harlan pointed out that Süß was ultimately sentenced to death not for his financial machinations which were technically legal but for violating an ancient law which prohibited Jews from having sexual relations with Christian women. He then cites this as being "an interesting parallel to the Nuremberg Laws.
There is an early scene in which Oppenheimer is shown to possess a fortune in jewels and jewelry. In another, he tells an innocent German girl that his home is "the world" (reflecting the Nazi stereotype of Jews as rootless wanderers in contrast to the Germans' love of their German homeland). Several conversations between Jewish characters perpetuate the Nazi line that Jews are inherently hostile to non-Jews. There is also Oppenheimer's role as a purveyor of women for the Duke, and his relentless pursuit of an "Aryan" woman for sexual purposes, even after she rebuffs his first attempt to seduce her. From the Nazi perspective, this was Rassenschande
, a racial pollution, a crime against the German blood. The heroine's suicide is a proper response of a German to such a tragedy.
Richard Levy attributes the effectiveness of a film in part to an "arguably engaging story" and the casting of some of the leading German stars of that period including Ferdinand Marian, Heinrich George, Kristina Söderbaum and Werner Krauss. He characterizes the film's antisemitic message as being "integrated into the film's story and strategy rather than overwhelming it or seeming to stand apart from it." Edgar Feuchtwanger attributes the success of the film to it being "a combination of virulent anti-Semitism with a compelling love story, full of sex and violence."
However, Stephen Brockman cautions against making "all-too-sweeping assumptions" about how effective Jud Süß was as a propaganda tool. To support his argument, he points to anecdotal evidence that, rather than being perceived as a despicable Jew, Marian's portrayal of Süß was considered to be quite sympathetic; so much so that he received fan mail from women who had become infatuated with his character.
David Culbert notes that "(t)hose who have condemned Jew Süss as a lifeless production are presuming - understandably - that a morally abhorrent film cannot possibly have redeeming artistic merit." However, Culbert argues that, while one can understand such reasoning, it is actually a fallacy. He argues that those who dismiss Harlan as a "loud-mouthed opportunist who could direct crowd scenes" have failed to understand the structure of the script whose brilliance is due to Harlan rather than to his predecessors. Culbert attributes much of the film's success to Marian's performance. He describes Marian as making use of "techniques and gestures perfected in his stage portrayal of Iago
(in Shakespeare's Othello)". According to Culbert, "the construction of (Harlan's) plot owes much to Shakespeare."
Propaganda film
The term propaganda can be defined as the ability to produce and spread fertile messages that, once sown, will germinate in large human cultures.” However, in the 20th century, a “new” propaganda emerged, which revolved around political organizations and their need to communicate messages that...
produced in 1940
1940 in film
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
by Terra Filmkunst at the behest of Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
. The movie was directed by Veit Harlan
Veit Harlan
Veit Harlan was a German film director and actor.-Life and career:Harlan was born in Berlin. After studying under Max Reinhardt, he first appeared on the stage in 1915 and, after World War I, worked in the Berlin stage. In 1922 he married Jewish actress and cabaret singer Dora Gerson; the couple...
, who wrote the screenplay with Eberhard Wolfgang Möller
Eberhard Wolfgang Möller
-Biography:Möller was born on January 6, 1906 in Berlin. His first two published works appeared in 1929, the First World War drama Douaumont, and Kalifornische Tragödie...
and Ludwig Metzger, and starred Ferdinand Marian
Ferdinand Marian
Ferdinand Marian was an Austrian theatre and film actor, best known for playing the leading character of Joseph Süß Oppenheimer in the Nazi propaganda film Jud Süß.-Life and career:...
and Harlan's wife Kristina Söderbaum
Kristina Söderbaum
Kristina Söderbaum was a Swedish-born German film actress, producer and photographer.Her father, Professor Henrik Gustaf Söderbaum , was the permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences....
.
The film has been characterized as "one of the most notorious and successful pieces of anti-semitic film propaganda produced in Nazi Germany." It was a great success in Germany, with some 20 million viewers. Although the film's budget of 2 million reichsmarks was considered high for films of that era, the box-office receipts of 6.5 million reichsmarks made it a financial success. Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
urged members of the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
and police to watch the movie.
After the war, all the cast members attempted to excuse their participation in the film by claiming that they had only done so under duress. There is significant evidence that the cast was, cajoled, manipulated and even intimidated by Goebbels into taking parts in the film. Nonetheless, Susan Tegel characterizes their postwar attempts to distance themselves from the film as "crass and self-serving". However, she concedes that their motives for accepting the roles seem to have been more driven by opportunistic ambition than by anti-semitism. Veit Harlan was the only major movie director of the Third Reich to stand trial for "crimes against humanity". After three trials, Harlan was given only a light sentence because he was able to convince the courts that the anti-semitic content of the film had been dictated by Goebbels and that Harlan had worked to moderate the anti-semitism to the extent possible. Eventually, Harlan was reinstated as a citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany and went on to make nine more films. He remained a controversial figure and the target of protests that went so far as to set fire to some of the theaters where his movies were being shown.
Although some have dismissed the film as cheap propaganda, others have pointed to Harlan's talent as a director as one of the significant contributing factors to the film's box-office success. Together with Die Rothschilds
The Rothschilds (film)
The Rothschilds is a 1940 German film directed by Erich Waschneck.The film is also known as The Rothschilds' Shares in Waterloo .-Background:...
and Der ewige Jude, the film remains one of the most frequently discussed examples of Goebbel's use of film to further the Nazi anti-semitic agenda. In 2010, two documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s were released that explore the history and impact of this movie.
Joseph Süß Oppenheimer
Joseph Süß OppenheimerJoseph Süß Oppenheimer
Joseph Süß Oppenheimer was a Jewish banker and financial planner for Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg in Stuttgart...
was an 18th century Court Jew
Court Jew
Court Jew is a term, typically applied to the Early Modern period, for historical Jewish bankers who handled the finances of, or lent money to, European royalty and nobility....
in the employ of Duke Karl Alexander
Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg
Charles Alexander of Württemberg was a Württemberg noble from 1698 who governed the Kingdom of Serbia as regent from 1720 until 1733, when he assumed the position of Duke of Württemberg, which he had held until his death....
of Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
in Stuttgart. As a financial advisor for Duke Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg
Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg
Charles Alexander of Württemberg was a Württemberg noble from 1698 who governed the Kingdom of Serbia as regent from 1720 until 1733, when he assumed the position of Duke of Württemberg, which he had held until his death....
, he also gained a prominent position as a court Jew
Court Jew
Court Jew is a term, typically applied to the Early Modern period, for historical Jewish bankers who handled the finances of, or lent money to, European royalty and nobility....
and held the reins of the finances in his duchy. He established a duchy monopoly on the trade of salt, leather, tobacco, and liquor and founded a bank and porcelain factory. In the process, he made a number of enemies who claimed, among other things, that he was involved with local gambling houses.
When Karl Alexander died suddenly, Oppenheimer was arrested and accused of various things, including fraud, embezzlement, treason, lecherous relations with the court ladies, accepting bribes, and trying to reestablish Catholicism. The Jewish community tried unsuccessfully to ransom him. After a heavily publicized trial during which no proofs were produced, he was sentenced to death. When his jailers demanded that he convert to Christianity, he refused. Joseph Süß Oppenheimer was led to the gallows on February 4, 1738, and given a final chance to convert to Christianity, which he refused to do.
Feuchtwanger's novel
Although the story of Duke Karl Alexander and Joseph Süß Oppenheimer constituted a relatively obscure episode in German history, it became the subject of a number of literary and dramatic treatments over the course of more than a century; the earliest of these having been Wilhelm Hauff's 1827 novella. The most successful literary adaptation was Lion FeuchtwangerLion Feuchtwanger
Lion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht....
's 1925 novel
Jud Süß (Feuchtwanger novel)
Jud Süß is a 1925 historical novel by Lion Feuchtwanger based on the life of Joseph Süß Oppenheimer.-Historical background:Joseph Süß Oppenheimer was an 18th century Court Jew in the employ of Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg in Stuttgart...
titled Jud Süß based on a play that he had written in 1916 but subsequently withdrew. As a Jew, Feuchtwanger did not intend his portrayal of Süß as an antisemitic slur but as a study of the tragedy caused by the human weaknesses of greed, pride and ambition. Feuchtwanger's focus was the struggle of Jews in the Diaspora
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....
; in particular, he was concerned with the issues of conversion and anti-Semitism. Feuchtwanger was particularly struck by the fact that Süß could have saved himself by converting to Christianity but had steadfastly refused to do so, opting instead to return to formal Jewish observance and piety.
Ashley Dukes
Ashley Dukes
Ashley Dukes was an English playwright, critic, and theatre manager.In 1933, he founded the Mercury Theatre of London and wrote plays that appeared in the London West End and on Broadway...
and Paul Kornfeld
Paul Kornfeld
Paul Kornfeld may refer to:*Paul Kornfeld , Prague-born German-language dramatist and author*Paul Kornfeld , American college swimmer...
also wrote dramatic adaptations of the Feuchtwanger novel. In 1934, Lothar Mendes
Lothar Mendes
Lothar Mendes was a German screenwriter and film director. His most important work was Jew Suss- Personal life:...
directed a film adaptation of the novel.
Goebbels' propaganda campaign
Adolf Hitler and his Propaganda minister Joseph GoebbelsJoseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
believed that film was a very potent tool for molding public opinion. The Nazis
National Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party , commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party , existed from 1919 to 1920...
first established a film department in 1930 and Goebbels had taken a personal interest in the use of film to promote the Nazi philosophy and agenda. Soon after the Nazi takeover, Goebbels was insisting in speeches that the role of the German cinema was to serve as the "vanguard of the Nazi military" as they set forth to conquer the world.
The Nazis had hoped for a surge in anti-Semitic sentiment after Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
but, when it became clear that the majority of Germans did not share the Nazi hatred for Jews, Goebbels launched a campaign to promote the anti-semitic views of the Nazis to the German populace. He ordered each film studio to make an anti-semitic film.
Hitler preferred films like Der ewige Jude which presented the Nazi anti-semitic agenda openly and directly; however Goebbels disliked the crudeness of such straight-forward approaches, preferring the much more subtle approach of couching anti-semitic messages in an engaging story with popular appeal.
Although Goebbels did not generally take an active role in the production of particular films, he elected to do so in the case of major propaganda films such as Jud Süß. Saul Friedländer suggests that Goebbels' intent was to counter three films whose messages attacked the persecution of Jews throughout history by producing violently anti-Semitic versions of those films with identical titles. After viewing Lothar Mendes
Lothar Mendes
Lothar Mendes was a German screenwriter and film director. His most important work was Jew Suss- Personal life:...
' philo-Semitic film Jew Suss
Jew Suss (1934 film)
Jud Süß is a 1934 British historical romantic drama film. Directed by Lothar Mendes, the film stars German actor Conrad Veidt in the role of Joseph Süss Oppenheimer. British censors did not allow a film to openly criticize the persecution of Jews, since it would have appeared as an attack on German...
, Goebbels was adamant that "a new film version had to be made."
Pre-production
Although Metzger had been trying to pitch a movie based on the life of Joseph Süß OppenheimerJoseph Süß Oppenheimer
Joseph Süß Oppenheimer was a Jewish banker and financial planner for Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg in Stuttgart...
for many years, the impetus for the movie came from Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
' desire to make an anti-semitic response to Mendes' philo-semitic film adaptation of Lion Feuchtwanger
Lion Feuchtwanger
Lion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht....
's 1925 novel Jud Süß
Jud Süß (Feuchtwanger novel)
Jud Süß is a 1925 historical novel by Lion Feuchtwanger based on the life of Joseph Süß Oppenheimer.-Historical background:Joseph Süß Oppenheimer was an 18th century Court Jew in the employ of Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg in Stuttgart...
. Because Mendes' movie was so sympathetic to the subject, the scriptwriters shifted their model to Wilhelm Hauff
Wilhelm Hauff
Wilhelm Hauff was a German poet and novelist.-Early life:Hauff was born in Stuttgart, the son of August Friedrich Hauff, a secretary in the ministry of foreign affairs, and Hedwig Wilhelmine Elsaesser Hauff...
's 1827 novella. However, even after Harlan rewrote the original script, the result was not anti-semitic enough to suit Goebbels' propaganda needs so he personally intervened in the editing process to the point of dropping some scenes and rewriting others including making a substantial change to the film's ending to show Süß as humbled rather than defiant. In the end, the film wound up diametrically opposed to the intent of Feuchtwanger's novel. Although inspired by the historical details of Süß's life, the novel, novella and film only loosely correspond to the historical sources available at the Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg.
Susan Tegel ascribes the genesis of the project more to opportunism than to ideological anti-semitism. Tegel's assessment echoes Klaus Kreimeier's assertion that the "recognized stars of the (German) stage and screen" were less aligned with the Nazi philosophy and more motivated by professional ambition and the "illusion that Goebbels would fulfill them."
Metzger and Möller script
Ludwig Metzger had been trying to promote his proposal for a film on the life of Joseph Süß Oppenheimer since as early as 1921 but without any success. The publication of Feuchtwanger's book and Mendes' film adaptation of it irritated Metzger because he himself had been incubating the idea for many years.In January or February of 1939, Metzger, now a scriptwriter for Terra Filmkunst, mentioned his idea to Wolfgang Ebbecke with whom he was working on the script for Central Rio. Ebbecke shot down the idea, raising a number of objections including the fact that Mendes had already done a film on the same topic in England and the concern that German audiences might confuse the proposed film with Feuchtwanger's novel which was not anti-semitic.
Undaunted by Ebbecke's objections, Metzger took his idea to Teich, the story editor at Terra but was once again turned down. Finally, Metzger approached the Propaganda Ministry directly where his proposal was received like a "bomb hitting its target." Teich was informed that Terra should proceed with Metzger's proposal and so he reluctantly presented the idea to the head of the studio. When the studio head refused to approve the project, Goebbels had him fired and replaced by Peter Paul Brauer
Peter Paul Brauer
Peter Paul Brauer was a German film producer and film director.In 1928, he became involved in film production in the Netherlands. That same year he returned to Germany and, over several years, produced several short films. After the takeover of the Nazis in March 1933, Brauer was production...
, a minor director with no experience in producing films. As head of the studio, Brauer assigned himself the task of directing the film. However, the project stalled out for a number of reasons including challenges in recruiting a suitable cast and difficulties in producing a script acceptable to Goebbels.
At Goebbels' direction, Metzger was given a contract by Terra to write a script for the proposed film. He decided to base his script on the 1827 Hauff novella rather than the more recent and better known 1925 Feuchtwanger novel
Jud Süß (Feuchtwanger novel)
Jud Süß is a 1925 historical novel by Lion Feuchtwanger based on the life of Joseph Süß Oppenheimer.-Historical background:Joseph Süß Oppenheimer was an 18th century Court Jew in the employ of Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg in Stuttgart...
.
However, when Goebbels read Metzger's draft of the script, he deemed it to be insufficiently anti-semitic for his propaganda campaign. To remedy the script's deficiencies, Goebbels assigned playwright Eberhard Wolfgang Möller
Eberhard Wolfgang Möller
-Biography:Möller was born on January 6, 1906 in Berlin. His first two published works appeared in 1929, the First World War drama Douaumont, and Kalifornische Tragödie...
to assist Metzger even though Möller had no experience as a screenwriter. Möller's role was to ensure that the script met Goebbel's ideological objectives. Möller decided to abandon Hauff's novella as the basis of the script, dismissing Hauff as too sentimental about the "emancipation of Jews and Poles."
In the meantime, Brauer was working on recruiting a cast but with little success. The actors being considered for the lead role of Joseph Süß Oppenheimer included the title role included Gustaf Gründgens
Gustaf Gründgens
Gustaf Gründgens , born Gustav Heinrich Arnold Gründgens, was one of Germany's most famous and influential actors of the 20th century, intendant and artistic director of theatres in Berlin, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg...
, Rene Deltgen
René Deltgen
Renatus Heinrich Deltgen born 30 April 1909 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg; died 29 January 1979 in Cologne, Germany) was a Luxemburgian stage and film actor, who spent most of his career in Germany.-Selected filmography:* Das Grosse Spiel...
, Rudolf Fernau
Rudolf Fernau
Rudolf Fernau was a German film actor. He appeared in 53 films between 1936 and 1982. He was born and died in Munich, Germany.-Selected filmography:* Ludwig II: Glanz und Ende eines Königs...
, Richard Häusler, Siegfried Bräuer, Paul Dahlke
Paul Dahlke
Paul Victor Ernst Dahlke was a German stage and film actor.- Career :Dahlke was born in Gross Streitz near Köslin in Farther Pomerania. He visited school in Köslin, Stargard and passed his Abitur in Dortmund in 1922...
and Ferdinand Marian. Gründgens declined, citing his responsibilities as director of the Prussian State Theatre. Marian also declined.
Veit Harlan
Final Solution
The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
to the Jewish question
Jewish Question
The Jewish question encompasses the issues and resolutions surrounding the historically unequal civil, legal and national statuses between minority Ashkenazi Jews and non-Jews, particularly in Europe. The first issues discussed and debated by societies, politicians and writers in western and...
. Frustrated with the delays on the Jud Süß project, Goebbels ordered Fritz Hippler
Fritz Hippler
Fritz Hippler was a German filmmaker who ran the film department in the Propaganda Ministry of the Third Reich, under Joseph Goebbels. He is most famous as director of the propaganda film Der ewige Jude ....
, the head of his film department, to sack Brauer and bring in Veit Harlan to take over as director.
After the war, Harlan claimed that no other director would touch the project and that he himself had tried to decline the role of director. The filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
, in her 1987 memoir, confirmed that Harlan had told her of Goebbels's insistence that he direct the film and of his ardent desire to get out of the project. Harlan had even written to Goebbels volunteering for military service in order to avoid making the film. Goebbels' responded to this by informing Harlan that, if he enlisted, he would do his military service at the front. According to Harlan, Goebbels screamed at him, "I can crush you like a bug on the wall!" When Harlan asked Riefenstahl to intercede for him with Goebbels, she demurred citing her own conflicts with the propaganda minister. Instead of intervening on his behalf, Riefenstahl advised Harlan to move to Switzerland; however, Harlan expressed fear for his life and the impact it would have on his wife.
Casting
Feeling that a project of this significance required top-caliber actors and frustrated at the delay in casting the film, Goebbels personally participated in the recruitment of the lead actors. For example, he insisted that Ferdinand Marian and Werner Krauss take on key roles in the film. However, Goebbels had to employ a combination of accommodation, generous compensation, pressure, intimidation and even threats of reprisal in order to fill the lead roles in the film with the top German cinema stars of the day. Harlan claimed that "virtually every actor was performing under duress."Daniel Azuelos ascribes the cast's reluctance to an unwillingness to be typecast as Jews. David Welch identifies Werner Krauss as having asked Goebbels to make a public pronouncement stating that Krauss was not Jewish but merely "playing a part as an actor in the service of the State." In order to address their concerns, Goebbels issued a disclaimer stating that those actors playing the parts of Jews were in fact of pure 'Aryan' blood.
Similarly, Josef Škvorecký also notes that all the major cast members as well as Harlan himself tried in various ways to avoid participation in the project; however Škvorecký ascribes a rather different motivation to the cast than the one that Azuelos propounds. Škvorecký attributes the reluctance of actors to participate in what he characterizes as a "politically-most-correct film" as an indication of "how aware most German artists were of the fact that anti-semitism under Hitler changed from prejudice to murder." While cast members could have declined the roles that were offered to them, Škvorecký asserts that such action would have required "extraordinary courage: the dire consequences of such an act of defiance were only too easy to imagine." According to Škvorecký, "Goebbels either outwitted [the actors he desired for the cast], or knew about compromising circumstances in their lives and used this knowledge for bludgeoning them into acceptance." Elaborating on the "compromising circumstances", Škvorecký writes, "One of the paradoxes of this sinister film is how many participants in the violently racist project had either Jewish spouses or relatives, were disciples of Jewish artists and known friends or Jews, or had been—before the Nazi takeover—left-leaning intellectuals, even communists." For example, Škvorecký points out that Veit Harlan's first wife was Dora Gerson
Dora Gerson
Dora Gerson was a Jewish German cabaret singer and motion picture actress of the silent film era who was murdered with her family at Auschwitz concentration camp.- Life and work :...
, a German-Jewish actress and cabaret singer. Harlan himself had flirted with socialism. Although Werner Krauss was openly anti-semitic and an ardent Nazi, his daughter-in-law was Jewish. Ferdinand Marian had a half-Jewish daughter from his first marriage and the former husband of his second wife was a Jew.
Heinrich George had been active in the Communist Party of Germany
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
before the Nazi takeover. He worked with noted left-wing dramatists Erwin Piscator
Erwin Piscator
Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator was a German theatre director and producer and, with Bertolt Brecht, the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio-political content of drama, rather than its emotional manipulation of the audience or on the production's formal...
and Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
. He also starred in the lead role of the 1931 film Berlin-Alexanderplatz
Berlin-Alexanderplatz (1931 film)
Berlin Alexanderplatz is a 1931 German language film adapted from the novel by Alfred Döblin, who also co-wrote the screenplay, and directed by Phil Jutzi...
. After the Nazi takeover, George was identified as a "non-desirable" actor because of his earlier political affiliations and was barred from working in cinematic productions; however, he was able to reach an accommodation with the Nazi regime and was eventually appointed director of the Schiller Theater in 1938. From that point on, George actively collaborated with the Nazis and agreed to star in Nazi propaganda films such as Jud Süß and Kolberg
Kolberg (film)
Kolberg is a 1945 German propaganda film directed by Veit Harlan and Wolfgang Liebeneiner. It opened on January 30, 1945 simultaneously in Berlin and to the crew of the naval base at La Rochelle. It was also screened in the Reich chancellery after the broadcast of Hitler's last radio address on...
as well as appearing in numerous newsreels. George had a stocky build and a Berlin accent which made him readily recognizable to German audiences. His prestige as a leading actor of the day made him an "extraordinarily valuable catch for the Nazis." Cooke and Silberman describe him as "the actor most closely tied with fascist fantasies of the autocratic and the populist leader". George's affiliation with the Nazis would have fatal consequences for him after the war when the Soviets arrested him as a Nazi collaborator. He died in 1946 while interned in NKVD special camp Nr. 7
NKVD special camp Nr. 7
NKVD special camp Nr. 7 was a NKVD special camp that operated in Weesow until August 1945 and in Sachsenhausen from August 1945 until the spring of 1950. It was used by the Stalinist Soviet occupying forces to detain political prisoners....
located in Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen may refer to:* Sachsenhausen , a quarter of Oranienburg, Germany* Sachsenhausen concentration camp, a detention and extermination facility established there in 1936...
.
According to Harlan, it was Goebbels who insisted that Harlan's wife, Kristina Söderbaum, play the leading female role. According to Antje Ascheid, Soderbaum is frequently identified as "most singularly representative of the Nazi ideal, as the quintessential Nazi star ." As a beautiful Swedish blonde, Söderbaum had the baby-doll looks that epitomized the model Aryan woman. In fact, she had already played the role of the innocent Aryan in a number of feature films and was well-known to German audiences. Her youth and beauty made her a symbol health and purity and thus an exemplary specimen of the Nazi ideal of womanhood. In a number of her films, she had been imperiled by the threat of "rassenschande
Rassenschande
Rassenschande or Blutschande was the Nazi term for sexual relations between Aryans and non-Aryans, which was punishable by law...
" ("racial pollution"). Because two of her films ended with her committing suicide by drowning, she was given the mock honorary title Reichswasserleiche ('Drowned Corpse of the Reich').
Harlan argued to Goebbels that Söderbaum, having just given birth, was too weak to take on the role. Goebbels countered that a special room could be set up as a nursery and that a wet-nurse could be hired to care for the infant. He further offered to halt shooting if Söderbaum became ill. Harlan later reported that Söderbaum was so upset by the entire affair that she considered fleeing back to her native Sweden to avoid having to play the part of Dorothea. In the end, however, she decided to stay and take on the role.
The story was different in the case of Ferdinand Marian who is often characterized as having established a reputation as a "matinee idol". Initially, Marian was repulsed by the proposal that he play the title role of Jud Süß and demurred for almost a year. As a result, he was not confirmed in the role until about a week before shooting was scheduled to begin.
According to Kristina Söderbaum, Marian was afraid that playing such an unappealing character would damage his image with film audiences. She recalled that Marian had told Goebbels that his stage persona was one of a bon-vivant and a lover and that Süß, in contrast, was a "truly unpleasant character". Goebbels rebutted Marian's argument by pointing out that he had just seen Marian's portrayal of Iago, asking "Was he a nice bon-vivant?" When Marian responded "But that was Shakespeare, Herr Minister!", Goebbels screamed into his face saying, "And I am Joseph Goebbels!"
Marian finally agreed to play the part of Süß for fear of reprisal against members of his family. Marian had a daughter from his first marriage to the Jewish pianist, Irene Saager. The former husband of his second wife was also Jewish, making her son (and Marian's stepson) half-Jewish.
Goebbels, however, used not only intimidation but also cajoling and generosity to achieve his goals. Ferdinand Marian requested compensation of 50,000 marks for taking on the role of Süß, an amount double anything he had received for previous roles. When asked to approve this amount, Goebbels did so citing the importance of the film and the need for a high-caliber cast to ensure its success.
According to his biographer, Friedrich Knilli, Marian never forgave himself for having accepted the role of Süß. Knilli ascribes Marian's alcoholism and alleged suicide after the war to his feelings of guilt.
Of all the cast members, Werner Krauss was the one most clearly identified as an anti-Semite. His consummate skills in characterization had earned him the title of "the man with a thousand faces". There is some difference of opinion regarding the number of roles that Krauss played in the film. While it is generally recognized that, with the exception of Marian's title role, the other five speaking parts that depicted Jews were all played by Krauss, Gottfried Reinhardt asserts that Krauss played "no less than thirteen Jews" in the movie. The roles that Krauss played in the film are often characterized as portraying antisemitic stereotypes. In an interview, Harlan explained that the decision to have Krauss play all the roles was "meant to show how all these different temperaments and characters - the pious patriarch, the wily swindler, the penny-pinching merchant, and so on - were all ultimately derived from the same (Jewish) root". Katrin Sieg describes Krauss' face as eerily appearing in different guises whenever the camera pans across a crowd of Jews, creating what Sieg calls a "paranoid effect of déjà vu".
Script rewrite
According to Harlan's postwar testimony, he told Goebbels that the Metzger/Möller script was nothing more than "dramatized StürmerDer Stürmer
Der Stürmer was a weekly tabloid-format Nazi newspaper published by Julius Streicher from 1923 to the end of World War II in 1945, with brief suspensions in publication due to legal difficulties. It was a significant part of the Nazi propaganda machinery and was vehemently anti-Semitic...
", referring to a Nazi weekly propaganda publication. He argued that such a piece of poor writing would lead not to the portrayal of a "despicable Jew" but rather to just a "despicable film."
Goebbels wanted Harlan to include sequences depicting Jewish ritual slaughter but Harlan demurred, arguing that portraying such cruelty would "make audiences sick to their stomachs."
Harlan complained to Goebbels that all the characters were negative; to this, Goebbels retorted that Harlan would not turn down the role of Richard III
Richard III
-People:*Richard III, Duke of Normandy *Richard III of Capua *Richard III of Gaeta *Richard III of England -Biography:*Richard III , a 1955 biography of the English king by Paul Murray Kendall...
just because he was a negative character. However, Goebbels acceded to Harlan's insistence on rewriting the script and Harlan spent from November 1939 to March 1940 revising the script although he kept much of what Metzger/Möller they had written.
After the war, Harlan claimed that his script was less anti-semitic than the Metzger/Möller script. However, in rebuttal, Haggith and Newman point out that Harlan added an important sequence in which Süß is responsible for the execution of a blacksmith, a sequence which served to increase the audience's hatred for Süß.
Production
Shooting began in March 1940 and took place at the UFA studios Berlin Babelsberg and on location in Prague. Jewish extras were "recruited" (coerced into performing) in Prague. The scenes showing the entry of the Jews into Württemberg and worshipping in a synagogue were filmed there.The total cost of production was approximately two million reichsmarks, a rather high figure for German feature films of that era. However, between 1940 and 1943, it grossed over 6.2 million reichsmarks thus making it a blockbuster in contrast to the commercial failure of Der Ewige Jude.
David Culbert attributes the film's box-office success in large part to "its lavish sets, its effective crowd scenes, its skillful script, and the splendid acting by most of the principals."
Editing
According to Harlan's postwar testimony, Goebbels was infuriated when he saw Harlan's first version of the film because it was not anti-semitic enough for his purposes. Harlan reported that Goebbels accused him of being "incapable of thinking in political terms". Goebbels told him that he "should produce political films and not [the kind of] films that he would make in peacetime." Goebbels' dissatisfaction was centered on the relationship between Dorothea, the leading female character and Süß. He complained that Harlan had "transformed Süß, a monster, into a Romeo."Harlan testified that Goebbels removed him from the editing process and insisted on many changes, mostly with the intent of making Süß more unambiguously evil. The film was extensively re-edited to remove ambiguities that portrayed Süß in too sympathetic a light to suit Goebbels' anti-semitic agenda. For example, Goebbels insisted on dropping a scene in which Dorothea responds to Süß's wooing with a smile. Scenes in which Süß was depicted as "too pleasant" were simply dropped. In some scenes, new lines were scripted for Marian to read in order to make his character less sympathetic. Other scenes were added including a new ending to replace the original one written by Harlan. Harlan claimed that he had wanted to make the hanging of Süß appear to have been a "great injustice." For the final execution scene, Harlan had written a defiant speech in which Süß condemned the German authorities. When Goebbels was shown a rough-cut copy, he was infuriated, insisting that Süß must not be portrayed in any way as a martyr. Demanding that Süß must be humbled and humiliated at the end, he had Harlan's speech replaced with one in which Süß cravenly begged for his life.
While Harlan's account of Goebbels' involvement in the film has been treated by a number of sources as factual, Haggith and Newman assert that "it is difficult to find any evidence of significant interference (by Goebbels) aside from casting and the appointment of Harlan." They point out that it was in Harlan's interest to blame Goebbels after the war.
Release and reception
The film premiered at the Venice Film FestivalVenice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
in September 1940 and received rave reviews, earning the "Golden Lion
Golden Lion
Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...
" award. Unlike most of the other major anti-Semitic films produced during the Third Reich, it was a great box-office success in Germany and abroad. It ranked sixth out of the thirty most popular German films of the war years.
Within the Third Reich, it was the number one film of the 1939-1940 season, viewed by audiences totaling over twenty million at a time when the population of Germany was some seventy million.
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
ordered that the film be shown to SS units about to be sent against Jews, to non-Jewish populations of areas where Jews were about to be deported, and to concentration camp guards.
Children under the age of fourteen were prohibited from seeing the film. There were reports of anti-Jewish violence after audiences viewed the film; in particular, teenagers seemed particularly prone to be instigated to violence by the film.
In early 1941, the company Nordisk Tonefilm
Nordisk Tonefilm
Nordisk Tone Film was a Swedish film production company founded in 1930 as a subsidiary of the Danish film production company Nordisk Film Kompagni...
sought permission to distribute the film in Sweden but it was banned by the Censor. . During the war the movie was never screened in public in Sweden, although the German embassy arranged screenings for special invitees.
Feuchtwanger was horrified and incensed at the way in which his work had been manipulated and distorted, calling Harlan's film a Schandwerk ("a shameful work"). In 1941, he wrote an open letter to seven actors. Based on the sentiments expressed in the letter, it appears that Feuchtwanger was shocked that these men, whom he considered colleagues and who he knew were familiar with his work, would agree to participate in Goebbels' anti-semitic propaganda film.
Postwar legacy
Kolberg (film)
Kolberg is a 1945 German propaganda film directed by Veit Harlan and Wolfgang Liebeneiner. It opened on January 30, 1945 simultaneously in Berlin and to the crew of the naval base at La Rochelle. It was also screened in the Reich chancellery after the broadcast of Hitler's last radio address on...
, was the only film director of the Third Reich to be charged with crimes against humanity. Harlan defended himself asserting that he had been neither Nazi nor anti-Semitic. He claimed that Goebbels had controlled his work and that he should not be held personally responsible for its content. He recounted the ways in which he had been forced to endure Goebbels' constant haranguing and meddling in the production of the film. In the end, the court condemned the film but exonerated the director. While Harlan had not acted nobly, the court recognized that he had operated under duress and should not be held responsible for the content of the film.
After the war, all the cast members also disclaimed responsibility, pleading that they had been coerced into participating in the film. According to his biographer Friedrich Knilli, Marian never came to terms with his having accepted the role of Süß and became an alcoholic, dying shortly after the war in a 1946 car accident. Some have attributed the accident to suicide.
Both Heinrich George and Werner Krauss were placed under arrest because of their past affiliation with the Nazi party. Although Heinrich George had been a member of the German Communist Party before the Nazi takeover, he was nonetheless interned as a Nazi collaborator at the Soviet special camp in Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen may refer to:* Sachsenhausen , a quarter of Oranienburg, Germany* Sachsenhausen concentration camp, a detention and extermination facility established there in 1936...
where he died in 1946.
Werner Krauss was banned from performing on stage and in films in Germany. He was required to undergo a de-Nazification process from 1947 to 1948. Ultimately, he was rehabilitated to the extent of being invited to German film festivals. In 1954, he was awarded the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany; in 1955, he received the High Decoration of the Republic of Austria.
In the first few years after the war, Kristina Söderbaum was often heckled off the stage and even suffered the indignity of having rotten vegetables thrown at her.
In subsequent years, she frequently expressed regret for her roles in anti-semitic films. Although Söderbaum continued to play roles in film, she was never offered a leading role after the war. Eventually, she became a photographer of celebrities.
Recent documentary films
In recent years, the film has become the subject of a number of documentary films. In 2001, Horst Konigstein made a film titled Jud Süss - Ein Film als Verbrechen? (Jud Suss - A Film As a Crime?). The 2008 documentary Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Süss by Felix Moeller explores Harlan's motivations and the post-war reaction of his large family to his notoriety. In 2010, Oskar RoehlerOskar Roehler
Oskar Roehler is a German film director, screen writer and journalist. He was born in Starnberg as the son of writer Gisela Elsner and the writer Klaus Roehler. Since the mid-1980s he has been working as a screenwriter, for, among others, Niklaus Schilling, Christoph Schlingensief and Mark...
directed a film titled Jew Suss: Rise and Fall
Jew Suss: Rise and Fall
Jew Suss: Rise and Fall is a 2010 German drama film directed by Oskar Roehler, picturizing the creation process of the 1940 antisemitic Nazi propaganda movie Jud Süß. It was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival....
(German: Jud Süss: Film ohne Gewissen Jud Süss - film without conscience that premiered at the 2010 Berlinale.
Availability
The copyright of the film is held by the F.W. Murnau FoundationFriedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation
The Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation is based in Wiesbaden and chartered to preserve and curate a collection of the works of Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau as well as a collection of other German films produced between 1900 and 1960. The foundation is owned by the Federal Republic of Germany....
which is owned by the German government. The Foundation only permits screenings of the film when accompanied by an introduction explaining the historical context and the intended impact.
In July 2008, the film was shown in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
by Sándor and Tibor Gede in public showings without the permission and consent of the Murnau Foundation.
The film has been available for sale on VHS in the United States at least since 1983 (the copyright date on a commercially marketed video cassette). In 2008, a digitally restored subtitled DVD became generally available online with commentary by film historian Eric Rentschler.
Distribution, sale and screening of the film are forbidden in Germany and Austria. Sale of the DVD is also prohibited in France and Italy.
Plot
The film begins with the coronation of Karl Alexander, Duke of WürttembergKarl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg
Charles Alexander of Württemberg was a Württemberg noble from 1698 who governed the Kingdom of Serbia as regent from 1720 until 1733, when he assumed the position of Duke of Württemberg, which he had held until his death....
(Heinrich George
Heinrich George
Heinrich George , born Georg August Friedrich Hermann Schulz, was a German stage and film actor.He had one of his first roles in the Fritz Lang directed film Metropolis and the first film version of Berlin Alexanderplatz...
), a man much beloved by his people, who swears an oath to obey the laws of the dukedom. Unfortunately, the duke does not have sufficient funds to buy coronation gifts for the duchess (Hilde von Stolz
Hilde von Stolz
Hilde von Stolz was an Austrian-German actress.von Stolz attended the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna and made her debut at the local Chamber of games...
), and so he sends a loyal retainer to Frankfurt to borrow money from Oppenheimer, the "Jud Süß" from the film's title (Ferdinand Marian
Ferdinand Marian
Ferdinand Marian was an Austrian theatre and film actor, best known for playing the leading character of Joseph Süß Oppenheimer in the Nazi propaganda film Jud Süß.-Life and career:...
). Oppenheimer shows the go-between a cabinet full of jewels and jewelry—items that are obviously beyond the Duke's means—and then says that it would be his honor to provide the Duke with jewelry at a substantial discount. However, to do so he must be allowed to bring the items to Wurttemberg. The law prohibits Jews from entering Wurttemberg, but the Duke provides Oppenheimer with a pass that grants him entry. Oppenheimer cuts his hair and shaves his beard, and in "Christian" clothes goes to Wurttemberg. The Duke is delighted with the jewelry, and Oppenheimer defers payment, saying that it is his honor to help the Duke. When Oppenheimer learns that the Duke wants to have a court orchestra and a court ballet troupe, and that the Wurttemberg council refuses to pay for them, he provides the financing for them as well.
The Duke eventually discovers that he owes Oppenheimer 350,000 Thaler
Thaler
The Thaler was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in various currencies as the dollar or tolar. Etymologically, "Thaler" is an abbreviation of "Joachimsthaler", a coin type from the city of Joachimsthal in Bohemia, where some of the first such...
s. Oppenheimer then skilfully plays on the Duke's honor and greed by saying that if the Duke is going to honor this debt to a Jew all he wants in "payment" is the authority to maintain the roads and bridges of the dukedom for 10 years—and the right to levy tolls for their use and upkeep. A percentage of the proceeds will go directly to the Duke's privy purse and thereby free the Duke from the financial limits imposed by the council.
The Duke agrees to this. The resulting tolls cause the price of food and other essentials to rise, and so the (German) people of Wurttemberg suffer, but the result is also great wealth for Oppenheimer and a steady stream of income for the Duke. Oppenheimer is also given the authority to levy taxes on salt, beer, wine and wheat—with the same result. Oppenheimer also assists the Duke in procuring women when the duchess is not around. He eventually persuades the Duke to repeal the law prohibiting Jews from living in Wurttemberg, and many Jews then move into the city.
After an angry blacksmith attacks Oppenheimer's coach with a hammer, Oppenheimer persuades the Duke to give him the authority to do anything he deems necessary in the Duke's name, and to do so with the Duke's full protection. Oppenheimer then has the blacksmith carriage hanged on the grounds that an attack on the Duke's coach is tantamount to an attack on the Duke himself, and therefore treasonous act punishable by death.
When the council objects to Oppenheimer's policies he suggests to the Duke that this challenge to the Duke's authority be handled by dismissing the council and restructuring the government so that the Duke can reign as an absolute monarch. Oppenheimer tells the Duke that he can do this by hiring additional soldiers from another dukedom, and that as a sign of their gratitude the Jews of Wurttemberg will provide all the money that will be needed to hire them— costing the Duke nothing.
Meanwhile, Oppenheimer is relentlessly pursuing a German woman, Dorothea Sturm (Kristina Söderbaum
Kristina Söderbaum
Kristina Söderbaum was a Swedish-born German film actress, producer and photographer.Her father, Professor Henrik Gustaf Söderbaum , was the permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences....
), who is the daughter of the council chairman (Eugen Klopfer). Oppenheimer's plans to marry Dorothea, an act that would be illegal in Nazi Germany in 1940, and, apparently illegal in 18th century Wurttemberg as well, are thwarted when Dorothea and her fiance, Faber (Malte Jaeger), marry secretly, but Oppenheimer then has Dorothea's father imprisoned—in theory because he objected to the execution of the man who attacked Oppenheimer's carriage.
When Faber attempts to leave the city to get help he is taken prisoner. Dorothea goes to Oppenheimer to beg for Faber's release and can hear his screams as he is being tortured. Oppenheimer makes it clear to Dorothea that the only way he will release her husband is if she has sex with him. Dorothea complies, and then drowns herself afterwards. Oppenheimer keeps his promise and frees Faber. He then suggests to the Duke that he leave Wurttemberg for a couple of days and then come back after the "coup" as an absolute monarch. Oppenheimer leaves Wurttemberg as well.
However, the people of Wurttemberg rise up before the foreign soldiers arrive, the Wurttemberg soldiers refuse to fire on their fellow citizens, and several of the townspeople go to the neighboring principality to confront the Duke and Oppenheimer. The Duke has a heart attack and dies. Oppenheimer is captured, brought to trial, and tried on a list of charges that include treason and financial improprieties. However he is executed only because he had sex with a German woman—and it appears from the dialogue that he would have been executed even if the act had been fully consensual. Oppenheimer is executed, saying to the last that he was nothing more than a "faithful servant" of the late Duke. All the other Jews are then given three days to leave Wurttemberg. As the film draws to a close, a citizen of Wurttemberg, observing the Jews leave, comments, "May the citizens of other states never forget this lesson."
Historical accuracy
The characterization of Joseph Süß Oppenheimer's service to Duke Karl Alexander as a Court JewCourt Jew
Court Jew is a term, typically applied to the Early Modern period, for historical Jewish bankers who handled the finances of, or lent money to, European royalty and nobility....
is more or less historically accurate. When the duke died suddenly, Süß was, in fact, executed in an iron cage more or less as depicted in the film. However, the grounds for the execution of the historical Süß were abuse of office, not sexual relations with a Christian as depicted in Harlan's film. Haggith and Newman assert that much of the rest of the film is "pure invention." For example, while the historical Süß was accused, among other things, of lecherous relations with the court ladies, he was never accused of rape.
Relationship to previous works
Mendes' film is generally recognized as a faithful adaptation of Feuchtwanger's novel. Although Harlan's film is also often described as an adaptation of Feuchtwanger's novel, Wallace points out that this is a controversial characterization because scholars generally recognize that the two narratives are only loosely related by being rooted in the same "chapter of Wurttemberg history". Haines and Parker characterize Feuchtwanger's works and the Mendes film adaptation as "diametrically opposed to Nazi anti-Semitism." A Jew himself, Feuchtwanger did not intend his portrayal of Süß as an antisemitic slur but as a study of the tragedy caused by the human weaknesses of greed, pride and ambition. Karl Leydecker writes:
For Feuchtwanger, Jud Süss was primarily a novel of ideas, dealing with a number of philosophical oppositions such as vita activa versus vita contemplativa, outer versus inner life, appearance versus essence, power versus wisdom, the pursuit of one's desires vs. the denial of desires, Nietzsche vs. Buddha.
In contrast to these philosophical themes, Haines and Parker point out that, Harlan's focus is on the Jew as a "recklessly underestimated threat." In Feuchtwanger's novel, it is not Süß who commits rape but rather the duke who rapes and accidentally kills Süß's daughter. The dramatic thrust of the novel focuses on Süß's desire for revenge and the tragedy resulting from his pursuit for vengeance.
Feuchtwanger himself referred to Harlan's film as a "Schandwerk" ("a shameful work") and wrote an open letter to seven Berlin actors, two of them having played lead roles in the film. He asserted that Harlan's film had distorted his novel so much that it was a perversion of it. He further called into question their motives for making the film in light of their familiarity with him and his novel.
Stereotypes of Jews
The film employs a number of negative stereotypes of JewsStereotypes of Jews
Stereotypes of Jews are generalizations or stereotypes about Jews. Jewish people have been stereotyped for over two millennia throughout Europe and the Western hemisphere as scapegoats for a multitude of societal problems. Antisemitism continued throughout the centuries and reached a climax in the...
. At one extreme, Jews are portrayed as cut-throat capitalists; at the other, they are depicted as poor, filthy immigrants. Mike Davis writes that, "A thousand years of European anti-semitism were condensed into the cowering rapist, Süss, with his dirty beard, hook nose and whining voice." The movie played on basic Nazi stereotypes of Jews being materialistic, immoral, cunning, untrustworthy and physically unattractive. According to David Welch, the Nazis issued a guide to the press explaining how to interpret the film. The guide emphasized that a key point of the film was that once Jews like Süß got into positions of responsibility and power, "they exploited power, not for the good of the community, but for their own racial ends."
As a counterpoint to the negative qualities of Süß, the film presents Faber as an "Aryan" hero who embodies the Nazi ideals of youth, stridency and incorruptibility.
Racial pollution
Michael Töteberg writes: "(Jud Süß) openly mobilized fears and sexual aggression and exploited them for anti-Semitic incitement." According to Michael Kater, the film was shown to "a large number of (German) girls" in order to warn them of the "sexual devastation that Jews had wrought in the past" and to remind them of the Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were antisemitic laws in Nazi Germany introduced at the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. After the takeover of power in 1933 by Hitler, Nazism became an official ideology incorporating scientific racism and antisemitism...
. In an interview with Der Film given before the release of the film, Harlan pointed out that Süß was ultimately sentenced to death not for his financial machinations which were technically legal but for violating an ancient law which prohibited Jews from having sexual relations with Christian women. He then cites this as being "an interesting parallel to the Nuremberg Laws.
There is an early scene in which Oppenheimer is shown to possess a fortune in jewels and jewelry. In another, he tells an innocent German girl that his home is "the world" (reflecting the Nazi stereotype of Jews as rootless wanderers in contrast to the Germans' love of their German homeland). Several conversations between Jewish characters perpetuate the Nazi line that Jews are inherently hostile to non-Jews. There is also Oppenheimer's role as a purveyor of women for the Duke, and his relentless pursuit of an "Aryan" woman for sexual purposes, even after she rebuffs his first attempt to seduce her. From the Nazi perspective, this was Rassenschande
Rassenschande
Rassenschande or Blutschande was the Nazi term for sexual relations between Aryans and non-Aryans, which was punishable by law...
, a racial pollution, a crime against the German blood. The heroine's suicide is a proper response of a German to such a tragedy.
"Jew in disguise"
One anti-semitic theme that is introduced at the beginning of the film is the portrayal of Süß as the typical "Jew in disguise", a concept which Welch describes as "the inherent rootlessness of the Jew and his ability to assimilate himself into whichever society he chooses." In an interview with a German film magazine, Harlan explained:
Around the middle of the film we show the Purim festival, a victory festival which the Jews celebrate as a festival of revenge on the Goyim, the Christians. Here I am depicting authentic Jewry as it was then and as it now continues unchecked in Poland. In contrast to this original Jewry, we are presented with Süss, the elegant financial adviser to the Court, the clever politician in short, the Jew in disguise.
Effectiveness of the film
Stephen Lee writes that Hitler's vision of the kind of film that was likely to engage the German public proved to be less effective than the more subtle approach advocated by Goebbels. For example, the documentary film Der Ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew) that Hitler commissioned was so crude and strident that many audiences were repelled by the grotesque imagery and the film was a box-office flop. The failure of Der Ewige Jude convinced Goebbels that the most effective approach for disseminating propaganda was subtle and indirect. Lee writes that Goebbels had learned to "introduce propaganda as a subliminal message within the context of a story with which the audience could identify." The Nazi anti-semitic message was more subtly and artfully presented in the feature film format that Goebbels preferred.Richard Levy attributes the effectiveness of a film in part to an "arguably engaging story" and the casting of some of the leading German stars of that period including Ferdinand Marian, Heinrich George, Kristina Söderbaum and Werner Krauss. He characterizes the film's antisemitic message as being "integrated into the film's story and strategy rather than overwhelming it or seeming to stand apart from it." Edgar Feuchtwanger attributes the success of the film to it being "a combination of virulent anti-Semitism with a compelling love story, full of sex and violence."
However, Stephen Brockman cautions against making "all-too-sweeping assumptions" about how effective Jud Süß was as a propaganda tool. To support his argument, he points to anecdotal evidence that, rather than being perceived as a despicable Jew, Marian's portrayal of Süß was considered to be quite sympathetic; so much so that he received fan mail from women who had become infatuated with his character.
David Culbert notes that "(t)hose who have condemned Jew Süss as a lifeless production are presuming - understandably - that a morally abhorrent film cannot possibly have redeeming artistic merit." However, Culbert argues that, while one can understand such reasoning, it is actually a fallacy. He argues that those who dismiss Harlan as a "loud-mouthed opportunist who could direct crowd scenes" have failed to understand the structure of the script whose brilliance is due to Harlan rather than to his predecessors. Culbert attributes much of the film's success to Marian's performance. He describes Marian as making use of "techniques and gestures perfected in his stage portrayal of Iago
Iago
Iago is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello . The character's source is traced to Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio's tale "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi . There, the character is simply "the ensign". Iago is a soldier and Othello's ancient . He is the husband of Emilia,...
(in Shakespeare's Othello)". According to Culbert, "the construction of (Harlan's) plot owes much to Shakespeare."
Cast
| Role | Played by |
|---|---|
| Joseph Süß Oppenheimer Joseph Süß Oppenheimer Joseph Süß Oppenheimer was a Jewish banker and financial planner for Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg in Stuttgart... |
Ferdinand Marian Ferdinand Marian Ferdinand Marian was an Austrian theatre and film actor, best known for playing the leading character of Joseph Süß Oppenheimer in the Nazi propaganda film Jud Süß.-Life and career:... |
| Levy, Secretary to Süß | Werner Krauss Werner Krauss Werner Johannes Krauss was a German stage and film actor.-Early life:Krauss was born at the parsonage of Gestungshausen in Upper Franconia, where his grandfather was Protestant pastor. He spent his childhood in Breslau and from 1901 attended the teacher's college at Kreuzburg... |
| Rabbi Löw | Werner Krauss Werner Krauss Werner Johannes Krauss was a German stage and film actor.-Early life:Krauss was born at the parsonage of Gestungshausen in Upper Franconia, where his grandfather was Protestant pastor. He spent his childhood in Breslau and from 1901 attended the teacher's college at Kreuzburg... |
| Dorothea | Kristina Söderbaum Kristina Söderbaum Kristina Söderbaum was a Swedish-born German film actress, producer and photographer.Her father, Professor Henrik Gustaf Söderbaum , was the permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.... |
| Duke Karl Alexander | Heinrich George Heinrich George Heinrich George , born Georg August Friedrich Hermann Schulz, was a German stage and film actor.He had one of his first roles in the Fritz Lang directed film Metropolis and the first film version of Berlin Alexanderplatz... |
| Duke Alexander's wife | Hilde von Stolz Hilde von Stolz Hilde von Stolz was an Austrian-German actress.von Stolz attended the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna and made her debut at the local Chamber of games... |
| Hans Bogner, a blacksmith | Emil Heß |
See also
- Der Ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew) on another example of a historical documentary and anti-Semitic Nazi film propaganda
- List of German films 1933-1945
- Nazism and cinema
Sources
- Fox, Jo (2000). Filming women in the Third Reich. Berg. ISBN 978-1-85973-396-7.
- Haggith, Toby; Newman, Joanna (2005). Holocaust and the moving image: representations in film and television since 1933. Wallflower Press. ISBN 978-1-904764-51-9.
- Hull, David Stewart, Film in the Third Reich , New York, 1973.
- Nelson, Anne (2009). Red Orchestra: the story of the Berlin underground and the circle of friends who resisted Hitler. Random House Digital, Inc.. p. 234. ISBN 978-1-4000-6000-9. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
- Rentschler, Eric (1996). The ministry of illusion: Nazi cinema and its afterlife. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-57640-7.
- Welch, David, Propaganda and the German Cinema , Oxford 1987.
- Winkler, Willi (18 September 2009), "Eine Kerze für Veit Harlan" (in German), Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Further reading
- Eisner, Lotte H., The Haunted Screen , Berkeley, 1973.
- Feuchtwanger, Lion, Jud Süss , Munich, 1928.
- Friedman, Régine Mihal, L'Image et son juif: le juif dans le cinéma nazi , Paris, 1983.
- Fröhlich, Gustav, Waren das Zeiten: Mein Film-Heldenleben , Munich, 1983.
- Gethmann, Daniel, Das Narvik-Projekt: Film und Krieg , Bonn, 1998.
- Harlan, Veit, Im Schatten Meiner Filme , Gütersloh, 1966.
- Tegel, Susan, "Viet Harlan and the Origins of Jud Suess 1938–1939: Opportunism in the Creation of Nazi Anti-Semitic Film Propoganda," in Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (Basingstoke), vol. 16, no. 4, 1996.
- Wulf, Joseph, Theater und Film im Dritten Reich , Gütersloh, 1964.
- Zielinski, Siegfried, Veit Harlan: Analysen und Materialien zur Auseinandersetzung mit einem Film-Regisseur des deutschen Faschismus , Frankfurt/Main, 1981.
External links
- Shay Hazkani, "Forbidden Films-An Analysis of the Nazi Propaganda Films The Eternal Jew and Jew Suess and Their Influence on the German Public" Moreshet 5
- Two Films About Jud Süss essay by Edgar Feuchtwanger, nephew of Lion Feuchtwanger
- German Propaganda Archive: Jud Süss eight page pullout from contemporary Illustrierter Film-Kurier magazine
- "Der Spielfilm „Jud Süß“ - Goebbels Meisterstück?" Das Bundesarchiv (in German)