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Nadia Zulfiqar

Reel Europe

Dr. Hales

March 1, 2011

Racism in Jew Suss

Jew Suss (1940) was one of the most racist movies made under the Weimer Rule. This

movie was part of the propaganda to show Jews as an evil race that was eating away the

prosperity of Germany. This movie prepared the German people of the final solution. It tells the

population of Germany that Jews were rats who were only spreading disease and death. This

movie was a big success among the pro Nazis. The films unusual feature reminds the audience

that this film is fiction. This film was one of the best propaganda for the Nazi and one of the

worse for others. At the end of the movie the credits show that the film was based on historical

occurrences. Jew Suss was part of propaganda to establish Nazi rule, the Racist images of the

Jews were very effective in helping the Nazi cause.

Jew Suss made the Jew into nomads. The Nazis showed Jew as double faced traitors and

mass manipulators. Suss is similar to Dracula who infects people with terrible illness. The movie

Nosferatu shows a vampire, who carries with him infectious rates that spreads deadly disease.

The image of the Vampire in the movie was same image that Nazis showed of Jews. According

to the film writer Jew Suss was supposed to show the difference among the Jews and the Arians.

Jews were supposed to be ugly with long faces and long noses and looked liked monsters, while

the Arians were a great race with their perfect bodies, blond hair, and blue eyes. In the movie

Jew was a monster who spreads evil. Suss is shown as double-faced and without any quality. The

Jews were racially opposite as well as the minorities in Nazi Germany.

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Jews were a scapegoat for Germany’s lose and economic hardship. The propaganda was

that the Jews needed to be eliminated in order to get a Utopian State. Suss states that he did

everything for his Sovereign “I was nothing more than the faithful servant of my sovereign” this

was the same excuse that the SS officials used for their crimes against humanity. Suss is a

negative spirit who takes the place of the devil. He grants evil wishes to his masters. He works

outside the norms of the societal rules, to grant the wishes. The upper classes need some to

accuse for the economic hardship and Jews seemed like the best choice. The Bourgeoisie wanted

to feel powerful and strong. They picked the Jews as their target to feed on them for power. The

downfall of the Jews would be the strength of the Bourgeoisie. What Nazi portrayed Jews as they

themselves became the same image? They became double-faced, and they themselves became

the rats who were spreading hatred and death. Hitler became the same image that he was trying

to destroy.

Jew Suss left behind a shadow of Nazi violence and the genocide of Jews, due to the

movies direct relation to the subject of fascism. This movie was widely shown to non Jewish

population to spread hatred and to show the people how evil the Jews were, eliminating was of

best interest for the Weimar state. This movie was shown to SS officials to create loathing within

them, so that they would not hesitate to kill the Jews. The director of the film was arrested for his

part in helping with final solution by creating this movie. His portrayal of Jews in the movie

created uproar within Germany and made people more loyal toward the Nazi cause. His movie

motivated many to keep on killing.

The movie Jew Suss was made to bring together Weimer nation for one cause, to help the

Nazi propaganda of killing millions of Jews. This movie created a horrible image of the Jews. It

made them look like devil and destroyer of Germany. I think the movie was a desperate attempt
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to validate what the Nazi were doing was right. That they were only trying to get rid of the rats

(Jews) that were spreading disease and death within Germany. These excuses only made the

world stronger in stopping the Nazis.