#Jud süss

[star-reyes]

Tom(my) Taylor heals Jud Süss

The Unwritten #10-11

Writing: Mike Carey

Art: Peter Gross

Colors: Chris Chuckry

Letters: Todd Klein

[ein-der-traum]

Jud Süss - Film ohne Gewissen, 2010

dir. Oskar Roehler

[gedeonburkhard]

FROM GEDEON

Award-winning actor Gedeon Burkhard stars opposite Brad Pitt in the much anticipated Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds. Burkhard plays American Jew Sgt. Wilhelm Wicki who serves as a translator for Pitt’s character. Some of his other film credits include: The Last Train (directed by Joseph Vilsmaier), Melodies of Spring (directed by Martin Walz), Golden Times (directed by Peter Thorwart) and Making Up (directed by Katja V. Garnier).

Burkhard is the recipient of the Best Actor Bavarian Award for his work in Acting It Out and also received a Romy for Best Actor for the acclaimed his television series Detective Rex, which went on to sell to over 140 foreign territories. In addition, he also helmed a successful television series Alarm for Cobra 11 that aired in 120 countries.

Burkhard’s success in film and television has catapulted him onto the main stage in one of the most highly anticipated movie releases of 2009, Inglourious Basterds. IFQ caught up with Burkhard on the eve of the film’s premiere at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

IFQ: You play opposite Brad Pitt in the much anticipated Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds. Without revealing too much about the film, can you tell me about your character Sgt. Wilhelm Wicki?

Gedeon Burkhard: He’s a Basterd! One of 8 Jewish American, Nazi killing predator’s, in a world gone awry. Especially for Jews! As far as his history goes, he was born in Austria, immigrated to America in the early 1920’s, became American and was one of the first in line to go fight when the US entered the war. Aside from killing and mutilating, he also translates for Brad Pitt’s character, Lt. Aldo Raine.

IFQ: You are an award-winning star of consecutive top-rated television dramas in Germany and over 120 territories worldwide, as well as starring in many films in German-speaking territories. How did you cross over and score a supporting role in Tarantino’s film?

GB: Ten years ago in Vienna, I come home from a night shoot and find one of the greatest Directors of our time, fast asleep, on my couch. As it turns out, my girlfriend at the time, Emma Hickox, and Q are old friends. Actually, one of the characters in Inglourious Basterds is named after her late father and director Douglas Hickox. One year later in L.A., Quentin tells me about this character he has me in mind for and then, very generously, gives me eight years to prepare for the audition.

IFQ: How did you prepare for this role? Were you previously familiar with the old school WWII epic films?

GB: When I was 11, working on a miniseries dealing with the rise and downfall of the Third Reich, I was confronted with the subject matter for the first time. Since then I have played a Jewish prisoner picked from a concentration camp to act in Jud Süss (Anti-Semitic propaganda film) and a Jewish boxer fighting for his family’s survival on the way to Auschwitz. So since a lot of research was already in place, I mainly concentrated on playing around with knives, handling guns, slitting throats, scalping and so forth. As far as WW II epics go, any existing gaps where closed by Q’s weekly screenings during preparation.

IFQ: What was your initial reaction when you first read the script? While shooting, did Tarantino make everyone stick to the script or was there any room to improvise?

GB: My initial reaction was, God I can’t wait to see this! And, who do I have to kill to be in it?! I’m not quite sure about the order. Who, in his right mind, would want to change a Quentin Tarantino script? You’re just happy to be one of the lucky f***’s chewing his dialogue. But Quentin is the easiest going Genius I ever met and he is always open for someone bringing something to the table.

IFQ: How was the experience working with Tarantino himself? What’s his working process like on set?

GB: A film set is always the realm of organized chaos and to me, Quentin is King Arthur and Merlin wrapped into one! So being one of his chosen Knights, I naturally look to him for direction and guidance, which he readily gives. But Quentin also likes to let you run free in his magic castle; his only demands are devotion to the cause, passion and concentration.

IFQ: What was it like working alongside such a diverse cast: Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Samuel Jackson, Maggie Cheung, Julie Dreyfus and Diane Kruger? What was your rapport like with them on the set?

GB: I never had the pleasure of meeting Maggie or Samuel. Quoting Quentin, Brad’s not a star; he’s a planet! And still he manages to be nothing but inspirational and a pleasure to be around. He is a wonderful colleague whose huge talent just drags you along, making you be the best you can be. Eli is a great buddy, but on set he was also our boss, Sgt. Donnie Donowitz! So if you mishandled your weapon, on or off camera, he chewed your ass out! Julie and Diane are both gorgeous, inside and out! I didn't have the honor to work with Julie but Diane, who I worked next to for weeks, was an endless fountain of entertainment and laughs.

IFQ: How do you think the German population in general will react to the film? Will they be able to separate history’s past and appreciate it as an entertaining film on its own merit?

GB: Quentin has managed to deal with this difficult subject matter in a way that gives everybody in his right mind the possibility to access and partake in the story and the ones that don’t, can as far as I’m concerned go F*** themselves!

IFQ: You have worked on both German-speaking and American films. Can you compare and contrast working on German-speaking films/TV and the USA/Germany co-production film Inglourious Basterds?

GB: Crew size and Production value. Aside from that, everybody is trying to do the same thing: make a good movie!

IFQ: Can you tell me how your educational background has allowed you to play both American and German speaking characters?

GB: Being an impossible child and always getting kicked out of schools was, not at the time but in retrospect, a good thing. It led to me being educated, first in England and then in America, giving me the gift of two languages and two cultures.

IFQ: Since Inglourious Basterds will premiere at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, will we see you there?

GB: Since I have never been to the Cannes Film Festival, you can bet your ass you’re going to see me there this year!

IFQ: Any upcoming projects?

GB: I just finished shooting a film called Mazel. It‘s a Jewish take on My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

[rwpohl]

[media-analysis-blog]

Jew Suss: Germany’s Answer to the Birth of a Nation

When it comes to propaganda films, the most well known of them is the Birth of a Nation realized by D.W. Griffith. The film is an adaptation of a novel known as the Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan.

Although the film is credited with introducing many film techniques, it was INFAMOUS, even during the time of its release, considered very controversial, many pointing out its shameless praising of the Ku Klux Klan and its racist depictions of African Americans.

However, the Birth of a Nation isn’t the only film that was made with very racists messages. There is a German answer to that film, a Nazi German answer. This film is called Jew Suss (or Jud Süss in the original German) and it known to be the most controversial German film ever made.

Just to note, there are actually two films with that exact name. There is the 1934 British film and there is the 1940 German one which is the main subject. It should be known that the British Film condemned antisemitism and the film played the man Joseph Süss Openheimer as a more tragic figure who although a fierce supporter of his Jewish people, got caught up in human vices.

However, in the Nazi Version, this obviously changed. Instead of a complicated Anti-Hero of sorts, Süss is made out to be a sneaky, deceitful, darkly charming yet opportunistic, materialistic, and corrupting. In other words, Süss was made to be every negative stereotype the Nazis had of the Jewish People.

And it was not just Süss either, the Jews, including Süss at one point, in the film in this film are all portrayed as filthy and possibly carriers of diseases. Though this was sort of true for some Jews in the time period this film was set in (around the 18th Century), it is NOT for the reasons the film offers, the film makes it out to be like the Jewish People’s natural state rather than result of the Jewish people having no choice but live to in the unfortunate living conditions in some unsanitary places like ghettos and the like. Because to display that being the reason for unhygienic states would actually humanize the Jews and therefore propaganda would not work.

Speaking of which, Joseph Goebbels, a well-known right-hand man of Hitler and the Nazi Party, made sure that neither Süss or the Jews could be played sympathetically. Goebbels knew that if they were, the people would feel for Süss and the Jewish people and not try and stand up and fight against them just like the Nazis wanted them to. So this led the film, by Joseph Goebbels’ decree, to be pared down to be the most effective propaganda.

Speaking of Goebbels, Goebbels was heavily involved with the film’s production, even scouting the most fitting actors for this Nazi Propaganda Dream Project of sorts.

This also included the recruitment of the well-known actress in Nazi Cinema Kristina Söderbaum to play Dorothea Sturm. Like Dorothea, Söderbaum possessed the traits that admired in their women: she was blond, she was beautiful, she had a youthful glow, and doe-eyes that suggests a certain naiveté that calls for a certain amount of protection that is needed for her man.

Goebbels also called for the hiring of Ferdinand Marian, an Austrian actor, to have a contrasting look. Marian was dark-haired, dark-eyed, ethnic-looking enough to pass as a Jewish man without actually being one, and very handsome. He had the look of the sensual and seductive Jew that would charm the naive Aryan woman away and have her commit Rassenschande, which is essentially any sort of sexual contact between Jews and Aryans according to Nazi Law.

And in the film, both Süss and Dorothea play out the Nazi’s greatest fear: A charming, seductive, worldly, yet very malicious Jewish man preying upon a sweet, innocent, yet naive Aryan woman.

This exact fear is played out in (trigger warning: rape/sexual assault) a rape scene between Süss and Dorothea (which Süss doesn’t do in the the 1934 film). And in typical racial propaganda fashion, this rape wasn’t unfortunate for Dorothea because she was raped in general, it was unfortunate because she had any sexual contact with a Jewish man, therefore making her “impure”. To cleanse herself, Dorothea goes to drown herself, which kicks off the boiling point of the film when the crowd uses her death to “fight against the Jew”. Süss is at the end punished for this, once again, not for violating Dorothea in general, but for having “relations with a Christian woman”.

And there are plenty of other fears in the film that Nazis spread about the Jews present in this film. So many of them that they would not fit in this one blog post without making it as long as novella. But these fears are played out in an effective way.

The 1940 Jew Süss has a reputation for not only being blatant Nazi Propaganda, but actually well-acted and executed in delivering this antisemitic message. The film’s execution of that message was so effective that not did it become a popular film in Germany and abroad at the time but also mobilized some Citizens to go against the Jewish population. This film has been credited as the film that truly kicked off the Holocaust.

After World War II, this film has naturally been seized and restricted by the Non-Nazi Government. Almost everyone involved with this film, especially the director Veit Harlan, on trial. Harlan himself has been charged (and was acquitted of) for his role in producing a film that has brought a negative impact on the Jewish people at the time and his acquittal is controversial. Ferdinand Marian himself, who’s involvement is mostly accepted as him being strong-armed by Goebbels to protect the Jewish side of his family, later got into a car accident that many have called a suicide.

Many other people who worked on the film have no fared much better, Söderbaum’s (Dorothea) career took a hit and she was almost always associated with this film and Heinrich George got arrested by the Soviets and was sent to a prison camp to die and other film crew were barred from working in film again for years.

And where does the film stand now? The film is now restricted in Germany and Austria as nobody can screen, sell, or distribute this film. However, if one wishes to see what Nazi propaganda looks like, the film can be found in America on DVD with a forward explaining how the film was used in Nazi Propaganda for film historians who want to research that topic.

This is a similar fate that the Birth of a Nation has, which is fitting seeing how it’s firmly established that the Nazi-Made version of Jew Süss is Germany’s equivalent to it.

[gauntletqueen]

May you tag that Amon Gus video with antisemitism please?

The last movie in it "Jud Süss" is a Nazi propaganda film with an antisemitic depiction of a Jew on the poster.

Oh! I did not know. Sure I'll tag it

[tomistryinghisbest]

SIDETRACKED with TGT

Welcome to Sidetracked, the periodical internet show where instead of doing important things, I get sucked down an internet rabbit hole for heavens knows how long. Might as well document my findings/incomitance to focus on tasks.

In this episode: an odd phonetic connection between the popular internet game Among Us and a filmmaker of an anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda film from Nazi Germany, the bizarre articles that came from trying to cover the topic— and the journey to accidentally debunking the source of the connection.

First, please watch this. It’s the thing that started this whole escapade.

Apparently, Amon Gus was the pseudonym* (put a pin in that) of the German filmmaker Wolfgang Staudte, who wrote and directed the 1946 film The Murderers Are Among Us (that was obviously anti-Nazi, by the way) and was involved in the filming of the aforementioned propaganda film, Jud Süß, which is stylized in the theater poster as "Jud Süss."

The Murderers Are Among Us was a romance-thriller about a Nazi concentration camp survivor and an ex-soldier struggling with the traumas of WWII. Jud Süß, by contrast, is considered "one of the most notorious and successful pieces of anti-Semitic film propaganda produced in Nazi Germany." One could easily gather (as the Wikipedia article does) that Staudte was perhaps trying to right his wrongs by making a film that was against the ideology he felt guilty for perpetuating. Or perhaps that was a cover-up and he still was a Nazi. It's impossible to truly know.

As of yet, I have not found any conclusive that Staudte actually used Amon Gus as a pseudonym or if that was just fabricated for the joke. Any sources I find gloss over the connection between the two names.

This leads us to the articles that appear to be trying to document this connection, except they're doing it in a way that feels like they're aliens that are trying to disguise as journalists but have absolutely no idea what humans actually care about or even what facts are. One such article from the website ridzeal.com is titled Amon Gus Person Who is Amon Gus Person? Here is an excerpt from the article:

“As of now, the author retains all of his information confidential. We can Not offer much info about his era. He might be 50-60years old as of today. He is not there on any societal media website. No information about his family, wife, kids, parents could be viewed anywhere.”

For context, Wolfgang Staudte died in 1984 at the age of 77.

While reading this, the writing really reminded me of the famous Does Bruno Mars is Gay article, which was evidently written by artificial intelligence. Considering this, it is very likely that ridzeal.com is a site written exclusively by artificial intelligence. Looking at their main page shows many headlines with English ranging from slightly-off to broken, such as “How to Wear a Leather Kilt?“ and “Bestiken Com Reviews Is Bestiken com Legit or Scam?“ All of these are being put out at a fairly rapid pace (multiple a day it seems) and in multiple languages (with no sorting by language, mind you).

There’s nothing on ridzeal.com that shows it’s managed by AI. They have a submission section, so I decided to ask them “Are your articles made by artificial intelligence? Because they really seem like it.” I guess we’ll see if they respond.

Upon further inspection, there were even more articles similar to this, two that even seem to copy each other. Here’s the website that appears to be the original source and a celebrity birthday/height/weight website that copied that (incorrect) information. 

Here’s that picture they used:

Isn’t he handsome?

Yeah, that’s not Amon Gus. A quick reverse-image search shows that’s the German author Karl May, who died in March 1912 at 70, five and a half years after Wolfgang Staudte was born.

Here he is on the cover of his book Leben, Werk, Wirkung (which according to Google Translate means “Like, Work, Effect”):

So handsome...

So, is Amon Gus a real person? Maybe, but it’s unlikely. It could be a goof by an AI trying to find new material. Or a fabrication to make a meme. Who knows? I certainly don’t.

Murderer Is Amogus and Jew Sus is still funny though.

And thus concludes my endurance to go further down the rabbit hole as well as tonight’s episode of Sidetracked. I’ve been your host TGT, and remember kids: Check your sources.

[go-redgirl]

Republicans Look to Drop Rep. Ilhan Omar from Committee Assignments: ‘Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories’

Several House Republicans want to remove far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from her committee assignments based on her history of advancing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

The lawmakers are seeking her removal by way of an amendment to counter a measure from Democrats to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from her committee assignments because of her promotion of conspiracy theories and her alleged association with the far-right QAnon movement.

“The House is set to consider a measure this week that calls for Taylor Greene, a controversial first-term lawmaker known for support of the QAnon conspiracy theory, from her assignment on the Education and Labor Committee,” Fox News reported. “A proposed GOP-backed amendment to that measure calls for Omar, frequently identified as a member of the ‘Squad’ of progressive Democrats, to be removed from her committee assignments.”

Fox News reporter Chad Pergram tweeted those lawmakers sponsoring the legislation include Reps. Brian Babin (R-TX), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Jody Hice (R-GA), Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Ronny Jackson (R-TX).

The Daily Wire reported on the development:

Omar has an extensive history in trafficking in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and tropes, including her claim that “Israel has hypnotized the world.”

Then-New York Times Columnist Bari Weiss noted that Omar’s anti-Semitic remark was similar to what was promoted in Nazi Germany.

“The Jewish power to hypnotize the world, as Ms. Omar put it, is the plot of Jud Süss — the most successful Nazi film ever made,” Weiss wrote. “In the film, produced by Joseph Goebbels himself, Josef Süss Oppenheimer, an 18th-century religious Jew, emerges from the ghetto, makes himself over as an assimilated man, and rises to become the treasurer to the Duke of Württemberg. Silly duke: Allowing a single Jew into his city leads to death and destruction.”

Immediately after winning her race in 2018, Omar changed her views on the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement from saying it was “counteractive” during her campaign to saying that she “believes in and supports the BDS movement, and has fought to make sure people’s right to support it isn’t criminalized.”

The federal government announced last year the “Global BDS Campaign” was anti-Semitic.

“Many of the founding goals of the BDS movement, including denying the Jewish people the universal right of self-determination – along with many of the strategies employed in BDS campaigns are anti-Semitic,” the left-wing ADL said in a statement. “Many individuals involved in BDS campaigns are driven by opposition to Israel’s very existence as a Jewish state.  

Often time, BDS campaigns give rise to tensions in communities – particularly on college campuses – that can result in harassment or intimidation of Jews and Israel supporters, including overt antisemitic expression and acts.

”“Omar has spoken out against sanctions being used against nations like socialist Venezuela and the Islamic Republic of Iran, but reportedly has different views when it comes to sanctioning Israel,” the Daily Wire reported. “Omar is not the only Democrat that Republicans could seek to get kicked off of committee assignments as far-left Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) has her own history of making anti-Semitic remarks.”

30,152 views•Jan 18, 2021

READ MORE STORIES ABOUT

Israel / Middle EastPolitics anti-Israel BDS movement anti-SemiticIlhan Omar Marjorie Taylor Greene Q-Anon

________________________________

OPINION:  Well, thats great news to read about!  

[suspected-spinozist]

making a movie called The House of Rothschild in order to fight anti-Semitism in 1934 is objectively odd, but since I have long-standing plans to write a miniseries about the same material I really can’t complain. What’s really inexplicable is that a different studio, also in 1934, tried the same thing with Jew Süss, which sounds like a Nazi propaganda film but is actually an adaptation of the Feuchtwanger novel, Jud Süß, not to be confused with the 1940 Nazi propaganda film Jud Süß. 

personally i’m a huge fan of stories about clever, ambitious people fighting for dignity in an oppressive system and in the process getting sort of morally deformed, and I find the Hofjüden endlessly fascinating. but.  There are many figures from Jewish history almost all of which you’d think would be more sympathetic to deep depression-era audiences than unbelievably wealthy and corrupt financiers/shadowy power-brokers, speaking of which. So many decisions were made! By two different sets of studio-heads! The mind absolutely boggles. 

[alvadee]

Gonna watch “Jud Süss” (1940) at the cinema the day after tomorrow. It’s a Nazi propaganda film which is considered one of the most antisemitic films of all time. It only gets publicly shown in Germany a handful of times each year and you need to apply for it and a representative is also always there who provides an introduction explaining the historical context and conducts a discussion afterwards. I’m pretty excited, I’ve already read a bit about it. I guess after that I can finally watch “Jud Süss, Rise and Fall” (2010) about the making of the movie. Because I remember seeing the posters for it back then but I had no clue what it was about but the fact that “jew” was part of the title stuck with me.

[unfilteredpatriot]

New Post has been published on Unfiltered Patriot

New Post has been published on http://unfilteredpatriot.com/turnabout-republicans-want-ilhan-omar-removed-from-house-committees/

Turnabout: Republicans Want Ilhan Omar Removed From House Committees

Under pressure from Democrats calling on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to take punitive action against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), several House Republicans turned the tables this week, calling on Democrats to clean up their own caucus before pointing fingers across the aisle. To make the point crystal clear, these Republicans singled out Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for her conspiratorial, anti-semitic views, which are at least as dangerous as anything that Greene has ever espoused.

“The House is set to consider a measure this week that calls for Taylor Greene, a controversial first-term lawmaker known for his support of the QAnon conspiracy theory, from her assignment on the Education and Labor Committee,” reports Fox News. “A proposed GOP-backed amendment to that measure calls for Omar, frequently identified as a member of the ‘Squad’ of progressive Democrats, to be removed from her committee assignments.”

In other words: How serious ARE you about cleaning up these House committees?

Reps. Brian Babin, Jeff Duncan, Ronny Jackson, Jody Hice, and Andy Biggs have sponsored the amendment.

Not long ago, after Omar made a reprehensible remark about Israel having “hypnotized the world,” New York Times columnist Bari Weiss said the comment had echoes dating back to the Nazis.

“The Jewish power to hypnotize the world, as Ms. Omar put it, is the plot of Jud Süss — the most successful Nazi film ever made,” Weiss wrote. “In the film, produced by Joseph Goebbels himself, Josef Süss Oppenheimer, an 18th-century religious Jew, emerges from the ghetto, makes himself over as an assimilated man, and rises to become the treasurer to the Duke of Württemberg. Silly duke: Allowing a single Jew into his city leads to death and destruction.”

As for Greene, Politico reports that she had a two-hour meeting with McCarthy on Tuesday, in which the House Minority Leader laid out her choices:

McCarthy tried to give Greene options, according to a person familiar with their talk: She could denounce QAnon and apologize publicly for espousing hurtful conspiracy theories and endorsing violence on Democrats. She could remove herself from the panel to spare her colleagues a vote on the matter. Or, she could face removal from her own GOP peers.

Whatever comes of this, it doesn’t feel like an apology from Greene is on the table.

“No matter what @GOPLeader does it would never be enough for the hate America Democrats,” she tweeted on Wednesday. “As much as he genuinely tries to work with @SpeakerPelosi for the good of this country, she refuses to see the hypocrisy of her own conference.”

[zidworld]

via Twitter https://twitter.com/MajalahZamane

[broken-hearts-shg-blog]

In German : Jud Süss. We shall overcome.

[universallycrownpirate]

Joseph Süß Oppenheimer

Opfer eines Justizmordes aufgrund judenfeindlicher Anschuldigungen

Verunglimpfende Darstellung des Joseph Süß Oppenheimer mit Galgen als Emblem in der unteren Bildmitte, über folgenden höhnischen Zeilen: „Wer grosser Herren Gunst misbraucht mit bösen Rath / Wie dieser freche Jud Süss Oppenheimer that, / Wen Geitz und Übermuth, auch Wollust eingenommen, / Der mus wie Hamandort zu letzt an Galgen kommen.“ (Kupferstich von 1738)

1738 – Joseph Süß Oppenheimer, bis zu dessen Tod Hof­faktor des Herzogs Karl Alexander von Würt­temberg, wird ohne Benennung von Straf­taten oder einer Be­gründung zum Tode verur­teilt.

Joseph Süß Oppenheimer, auch diffamierend Jud Süß; geboren vermutlich Februar oder März 1698 in Heidelberg, Kurpfalz; gestorben am 4. Februar 1738 in Stuttgart, Herzogtum Württemberg) war Hoffaktor des Herzogs Karl Alexander von Württemberg. Nach dem Tod des Herzogs wurde Oppenheimer als Opfer eines Justizmordes aufgrund judenfeindlicher Anschuldigungen hingerichtet und sein Leichnam sechs Jahre lang in einem Käfig zur Schau gestellt.

Joseph Süß Oppenheimer diente u. a. als historische Vorlage für Wilhelm Hauffs Novelle Jud Süß von 1827 und Lion Feuchtwangers Roman Jud Süß von 1925; die Nationalsozialisten nutzten die Geschichte 1940 propagandistisch für den antisemitischen Film Jud Süß.

Joseph Süß Oppenheimer wuchs in Heidelberg in bürgerlichen Verhältnissen in einer angesehenen jüdischenKaufmannsfamilie auf. 1713 bis 1717 unternahm er Reisen nach Amsterdam, Wien und Prag. Die Berufe, die Juden zur damaligen Zeit ergreifen durften, beschränkten sich weitgehend auf Handels- und Finanztätigkeiten. Der Landbesitz oder die Mitgliedschaft in Zünften war ihnen in der Regel verboten. So begann Oppenheimer erfolgreich, sich seinen Lebensunterhalt in der Pfalz als Privatfinanzier zu verdienen; auch das Eintreiben von Schulden gehörte zu seinen ersten Tätigkeiten. Mit der Vergabe von Krediten an verschuldete Adlige stieg er gesellschaftlich auf; er sprang immer dann ein, wenn Banken sich weigerten, den aufwändigen Lebenswandel der Geldsuchenden zu finanzieren. Seine Kredite waren teuer, jedoch ohne zu wuchern.

Als Finanzmakler und Bankier brachte er es schnell zu Wohlstand und Ansehen. Er arbeitete unter anderem für den pfälzischen und den kölnischen Kurfürsten. Bei einer Heiratsvermittlung im Auftrag des Herzogs Eberhard Ludwig von Württemberg lernte er 1732 in Wildbad dessen Neffen Karl Alexander kennen, der unter chronischem Geldmangel litt. Noch im selben Jahr ernannte dieser Oppenheimer zu seinem Hof- und Kriegsfaktor.

Ein Hoffaktor war ein an einem höfischen Herrschaftszentrum bzw. Hof beschäftigter Kaufmann, der (Luxus)waren, Heereslieferungen oder Kapital für den Herrscher beschaffte. Viele Hoffaktoren waren Juden, für die der zeitgenössische Quellenbegriff Hofjude verwendet wurde.

Mit Isaak aus Aachen, der für Karl den Großen diplomatische Missionen übernahm, wirkte bereits Ende des 8. Jahrhunderts ein Großkaufmann im Dienste eines Fürsten. Hoffaktoren arbeiteten jedoch vor allem im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert für die Fürstenhöfe des Alten Reiches. Sie versorgten die Herrscher mit Kapital und Waren, beschafften Luxusgüter, belieferten die Heere mit Proviant, Waffen und Pferden und waren mit der Herstellung von Münzen beauftragt. Aufgrund ihrer jahrhundertelangen Tätigkeit als Kaufleute und Geldhändler, ihrer teilweise auch internationalen Vernetzung und ihrer höheren Risikobereitschaft waren Juden für diese Aufgaben an den Höfen gern gesehen. Zur Erleichterung ihrer Tätigkeit wurden Hoffaktoren in der Regel Privilegien, Vorrechte und Titel verliehen, womit die mittelalterliche Tradition des Judenregals fortgesetzt wurde. Häufig brachte Justizwillkür sie um Besitz und Stellung. 

An fast allen Höfen des Reiches wurden zwischen dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg und dem Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts Hoffaktoren in Dienst gestellt. In den Reichsstädten waren sie nicht, wie die anderen Bürger, von der Ratsversammlung abhängig, sondern direkt von Kaiser und Reich. Im 19. Jahrhundert ging man dann zur Bezeichnung Hofbankier über.

Zwischen den jüdischen Hoffaktoren und den Herrschaftsträgern sowie deren Beamten entstand eine neue kommunikative Nähe, die den Hoffaktoren neue ökonomische, politische und kulturelle Handlungsspielräume für sich, ihre Familien und ihre Gemeinden eröffneten. Im 18. Jahrhundert und mit deren Zustimmung war die Praxis der Fürsten, Hofjuden auch mit der Regierung über ihre Heimatgemeinden zu betrauen, weit verbreitet. Sie regierten sie von ferne nach Art absolutistischer Herrscher, bildeten damit jedoch noch keine eigene Kaste oder Klasse, sondern waren nur einzelne Individuen einer sehr kleinen privilegierten Gruppe von Juden. Die Kastenbildung innerhalb des jüdischen Volkes begann erst mit den Heiraten zwischen führenden Hofjudenfamilien, die den internationalen Heiraten der Aristokratie glichen.

Politischer Antisemitismus und NS-Propaganda

Die antisemitische Propaganda des Nationalsozialismus nutzte die Rolle der jüdischen Hoffaktoren, um die angebliche Schädlichkeit der Juden unter Beweis zu stellen. Bekanntestes Beispiel dafür ist der Film Jud Süß von Veit Harlan. Gleichzeitig sollte die NS-Geschichtsforschung mit dem Buch Hofjuden von Peter Deeg diesen Thesen einen wissenschaftlichen Anstrich geben. Auch die Forschungen von Heinrich Schnee sind in diesem Kontext begonnen worden. Schnee hat sich auch später nie ganz davon frei machen können. Sein Werk bietet jedoch einen Überblick über viele Quellen.

Als bekanntester Hoffaktor, nicht nur in Stuttgart, gilt Joseph Süß Oppenheimer, der am Hofe des württembergischen Herzogs Karl Alexander wirkte und einem Justizmord zum Opfer fiel.

Ebenfalls zur Zeit Oppenheimers wirkte in Stuttgart der Hoffaktor Marx Nathan, auch Mardochai Schloß genannt, der als Vorsteher der israelitischen Gemeinde in Stuttgart Süß Oppenheimer vor seiner Hinrichtung noch seelischen Beistand leistete.

Später – unter König Friedrich I. – arbeitete hier sehr erfolgreich auch Karoline Kaulla als Hoffaktorin, eine für diese Zeit ganz außergewöhnlich erfolgreiche Unternehmerin.

Mardochai Schloß, wie Marx Nathan von den Juden nach dem Stammhaus seiner Familie im Frankfurter Juden-Getto genannt wurde, kam 1706 von Frankfurt am Main nach Stuttgart, wo er sich als Hoffaktor und Händler, u. a. auch für Wachslichter und Weinstein, niederließ. Dort dürfte er auch bald geheiratet haben.

Er hielt als orthodoxer Jude bewusst gesellschaftlichen Abstand zum mächtigen Geheimen Finanzrat Joseph Süß Oppenheimer, übernahm am Ende aber doch 1738 in seiner Funktion als Vorsteher der kleinen israelitischen Gemeinde in Stuttgart die Aufgabe, den Todeskandidaten auf dessen Wunsch hin auf die Hinrichtung vorzubereiten.

Zwei Monate nach der Verhaftung des Joseph Süß und dem Beginn des politischen Umsturzes am 12. März 1737, der von völlig unkontrollierten Judenverfolgungen begleitet wurde, bat Marx Nathan im Mai 1737 die Stuttgarter Regierung schriftlich um Schutz für die jüdische Gemeinde und seine eigene Familie: „Nachdem aber die allhiesige Handwerksbursch und Buben nicht nachlassen, uns, wann wir auf der Gassen gehen, allerhand Schimpfreden nachzurufen, zu klopfen, zu schmähen, ja gar mit Steinen zu werfen, so daß wir vor selbigen des Lebens nicht mehr sicher sein, wie dann vor etlich Tagen nach meinem hinkünftigen Tochtermann Seligmann mit einem Stein von einem Haus herab geworfen worden, welcher, wann er ihn getroffen, sein Tod hätte sein können.“ Am 16. September 1737 wurde auch er als Zeuge im Süß-Prozess offiziell vereidigt.

Nur wenige Tage vor der Hinrichtung verlangte Süß den Judenvorsteher zu sprechen, worauf Marx Nathan ihn am Sabbat, dem jüdischen Feiertag am 1. Februar 1737, nur drei Tage vor dessen Hinrichtung, in seiner Zelle aufsuchte, von diesem euphorisch begrüßt wurde und mit ihm das Sündenbekenntnis und Gebete sprach.

Zuletzt besuchte er Süß auf dessen wiederholten Wunsch noch einmal am 3. Februar 1738, am letzten Nachmittag vor der Hinrichtung, wurde von diesem in der Zelle wieder stürmisch umarmt. Süß sprach erneut das Sündenbekenntnis.

In seinem Testament bat Süß den „geehrten Rabbi Mardochai Schloß“, alle jüdischen Gemeinden wissen zu lassen, dass er, Süß, „über der Heiligung des Namens des hochgelobten Gottes gestorben ist“ – also in jüdischem Glauben.

Schließlich besorgte Marx Nathan ihm eine Abschrift der Zehn Gebote auf Hebräisch, die dieser sogar bei seiner Hinrichtung, mit einem schwarzen Tuch um die Stirn gebunden, trug.

Bereits Ende April 1738 finanzierte Marx Nathan den Druck eines Flugblattes über die letzten Lebensstunden des Joseph Süß Oppenheimer, das von Salomon Schächter, der mit Marx Nathan gemeinsam Süß in dessen Zelle besucht hatte, geschrieben wurde.

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250 Films Meme | 221 | Jud Süß (1940)

↳ Foreign 43/50

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