Jud Süss

The most successful anti-Semitic film the Nazi's ever made.

On the even of war in 1939, while Hitler was working through the details of Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, leading the way for invasion of Poland. Nazi Propaganda minister Goebbel's attention was strongly focused on three anti-Semitic film projects:

    ˚ Der Ewige Jude

    ˚ Die Rothschilds

    ˚ Jud Süss

With Jud Süss being the most commercially successful of the three.

Long recognized as history’s most incendiary film, Jud Süss was the cultural centerpiece in Joseph Goebbels’ campaign against the Jews. Released in 1940, it was a box office sensation across Germany and Europe; alongside the movie’s theatrical distribution, it became a staple of Nazi propaganda evenings organized by the Hitler Youth, SS and others.
 

The film as based on a historical novel, "Jud Süss "written in 1925 by best selling author Lion Feuchtwanger, a Munich born playright, novelist and also a Jew. Feuchtwanger's Jud Süss was an international bestseller and was translated into over twenty languages.

The book was also adapted for the stage by Ashley Dukes in the UK in 1929 and later inspired a film version by English director Lothar Mendes in 1934. But it wasn't until Goebbels saw the British film-adaptation did he realized the anti-Semitic potential the material had, if interpreted not as a human tragedy, but as a tale of Jewish arrogance and infiltration.

Goebbels foray into the film for propaganda was not new, it had been part of the strategy designed by the National Socialist German Workers Party as early as 1930, when the party first established a film department. In order to maximize the effect for propaganda potential, Goebbels took control of the entire German film industry and even nationalized film production and distribution.

Read the full story here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/holoprelude/judsuss.html

The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org

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