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Jud Süß

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Jud Süß
File:Jud Süß.jpeg
Jud Süß Poster
Directed byVeit Harlan
Written byVeit Harlan
Eberhard Wolfgang Möller
Produced byOtto Lehmann
StarringFerdinand Marian
Werner Krauss
Heinrich George
Kristina Söderbaum
Music byWolfgang Zeller
Release date
1940
Running time
98 minutes
Country Nazi Germany
LanguageGerman

Jud Süß (Jew Süss) is a 1940 film produced by Terra Filmkunst on behalf of the Nazi regime and conceived as an antisemitic propaganda film. The movie was directed by Veit Harlan, who wrote the screenplay with Wolfgang Eberhard Möller and Ludwig Metzger, and starred Ferdinand Marian and Harlan's wife Kristina Söderbaum. It is partially based on the 1925 historical novel Jud Süß by Lion Feuchtwanger as well as the 1827 novella by Wilhelm Hauff. The film, the novel, and the novella do not correspond to the historic sources regarding Joseph Süß Oppenheimer as still accessible at the Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg.

The movie played on basic Nazi stereotypes of Jews having hooked noses and being materialistic, immoral, cunning, untrustworthy and physically unattractive. The main character, a Jew, unsuccessfully pursues and then rapes a non-Jewish woman, who then commits suicide. He is executed, and all Jews are expelled from the state.

Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, who had commissioned the film, was very pleased with it, and appeared sitting next to the director Harlan at the premiere in the UFA Palast in Berlin. Heinrich Himmler ordered the members of the SS and police to watch the movie. It became a great success in Germany, with some 20 million viewers.[1]

Jewish extras were "recruited" (coerced into performing) in Prague (the capital of the German occupied Bohemia-Moravia) and the scenes showing the entry of the Jews into Württemberg and worshipping in a synagogue were filmed there.[2]

Plot

The Nazi version of the story begins with the coronation of Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg (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 Thalers. 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 (German) man 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 man who attacked his carriage hanged after arguing that an attack on his coach is indirectly an attack on the Duke, and therefore an act of treason and 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.

Analysis

A German audience in 1940 would have recognized several basic Nazi stereotypes in the portrayal of Jews and Jewish culture: There is the 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.

Contemporary viewers will notice the broad cartoonish stereotypes of the Jewish characters and the preternaturally noble characters of their German counterparts. They will also notice that several of the German characters, Faber in particular, are unfailingly rude to Oppenheimer from the moment he arrives in Wurttemberg simply because he is Jewish—and before he gives them any reason to do so. They will probably also note that it is the Duke's vanity, greed, and weak moral character that makes it possible for Oppenheimer to do everything that he is seen doing in the movie. The Duke would seem to be as much to blame as Oppenheimer—at least in translation.

Contemporary viewers will also notice several odd things about this antisemitic propaganda film. In one scene, Levy expresses concern about Oppenheimer's plans and warns that it could backfire, apparently suggesting that Oppenheimer should stick to selling jewelry and loaning money. In another scene, Rabbi Loew criticizes Oppenheimer for his excessively opulent lifestyle as the Duke's finance minister and warns that it could be his downfall. In a third scene Rabbi Loew seems surprised that Oppenheimer wants him to lie to the Duke. It is also odd that the film shows Oppenheimer, the Jewish villain in an antisemitic Nazi propaganda film, keeping his word and releasing Faber after Dorthea submits to his sexual demands.

Reception and screenings

The 1940 film achieved Nazi objectives and was a great success in Germany and abroad. Within the Third Reich, it was the number one film of the 1939-1940 season, seen by over twenty million people.[3] It was 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.[4] Anti-Jewish violence was reported after its projection in Marseille, for example. The impact of this movie was such that its director, Veit Harlan, received the 1943 Universum Film Archiv award (the UFA was the major commercial German film studio in the early part of the 20th century) at a time when the award was under Goebbels' jurisdiction.

Harlan, who also directed the 1945 propaganda movie Kolberg, was charged during the post-war "de-Nazification" purges with the political crime of having actively supported the Nazis with his work as a director, but he successfully defended himself by arguing that the Nazis controlled his work and that he should not be held personally responsible for its content.[1]

In Sweden, the film was banned in early 1941. The company Nordisk Tonefilm had sought to distribute it in the country. During the war the movie was never screened in public in Sweden, although the German embassy arranged screenings for special invitees.[5]

The copyright of the film is held by the Murnau Foundation which is owned by the German state. The Foundation only allows screenings if accompanied by an introduction explaining the context and intended impact.[1]

The film was shown in Budapest, Hungary, in July 2008, by Sándor and Tibor Gede in public showings[6][7] illegally, without the permission and consent of the copyright owner.[8][9] The exclusive copyright owner is the German Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation. A controversial and apparently fascistic Hungarian web portal is distributing the DVD version (also illegally) in Hungary.

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 Eric Rentschler, the Chair of Harvard's Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures and author of "The Ministry of Illusion". Sale of the DVD is prohibited in Germany, France, Italy, and Austria.[10]

Harlan: In the Shadow of Jud Süß is a 2010 documentary film by German director Felix Moeller exploring Veit Harlan's motivations for making Jud Süß.[11]

  • The story of the film and its creation serves as the focus of a two part story line in the DC/Vertigo comic series The Unwritten (issues 10 & 11). The protagonist is drawn into the heart of the story itself which is in turmoil over the dichotomy between the novel and the twisted distortion of the film.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Willi Winkler (18 September 2009), "Eine Kerze für Veit Harlan", Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German)
  2. ^ Tegel, Susan Nazis and the Cinema, Hambledon Continuum/Continuum Books, London ENGLAND, 2007
  3. ^ The Ministry of Illusion, Eric Rentschler, p. 154, 250
  4. ^ Leiser, Erwin. Nazi Cinema. pp. 84–85. ISBN 0025702300.
  5. ^ Statens Offentliga Utredningar 1946:86. Den tyska propagandan i Sverige under krigsåren 1939-1945. Stockholm: Socialdepartementet, 1946. p. 179
  6. ^ Pro-Nazi film screened in Budapest, CFCA
  7. ^ Népszabadság Online: Ünnep az odúban
  8. ^ ma.hu: Az alapítvány jogi úton vizsgálja a történteket - Nem járult hozzá a Jud Süss budapesti vetítéséhez az illetékes német alapítvány
  9. ^ "Hetzfilm In Budapest – Nazi-Sympathisanten zeigen 'Jud Süß' " Spiegel Online, "Nazi Sympathizers show 'Jud Süß.' " July 21, 2008. Accessed March 3, 2010 Template:Language icon
  10. ^ (See bottom of page for countries with speech codes prohibiting sale.)
  11. ^ "Nazi Film Still Pains Relatives" New York Times, March 1, 2010. Accessed March 3, 2010
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