Jud Suss

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the Nazi antisemitic movie called "Jud Suss" which was aired in the 1940's in Germany. The question is asked whether the director Veit Harlan should have been held responsible for subsequent antisemitic actions which took place after people saw the movie. An analysis of the strength of propaganda.

From the Paper:

"The real Suss was born in 1692 in Heidelberg, and he came to Wurttemberg, where he gained a large amount of power in the financial sector, lending a large amount of money to the Duke of the town, Duke Karl Alexander. For various reasons he was hanged in February 1738. Based upon these events, a novelist called Feuchtwanger wrote a story, which was far from being anti-Semitic and in fact sympathized with Suss. This story was banned by the Nazis in 1933, along with many of his other books. Then the Nazi version of the tale was decided to be made into film, with Harlan directing it, and it depicted events very different from the original, had extra characters added for effect, and used anti-Semitic stereotypes of Jews with long beards and shabby clothing, so as to win over the audience to the anti-Semitic message. An example of an added character was that of classic Aryan looking Dorthea Sturm, daughter of an important incorruptible townsperson. In the film she was depicted as innocent and one of the many victims of Suss. According to Hull (1969), she was not based either on the real story or that of Feuchtwanger. This conflicts with the Nazi's claim to its audiences that it was historically authentic and real."

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