Süsz, de Jood – Süss the Jew by Lion Feuchtwanger , published by N.V. DE ARBEIDERSPERS AMSTERDAM 1939 – Antisemitic publication on the eve of the outbreak of World War II. Dutch edition.
A Dutch translation of the novel Süss the Jew, first published in 1925 by the German Jewish writer Lion Feuchtwanger. The novel deals with the life story of Joseph Siskind Oppenheimer, a Jewish banker who was a financial advisor to Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg and was executed after the death of his patron. Some of the characters in the book are historical figures, some are fictional. The plot uses Oppenheimer’s historical biography quite freely, with modifications in favor of the occurrence.
Although on the novel is free of the crude anti-Semitism typical of such works, Süss’s character is nevertheless presented in it as calculating, opportunistic and power-seeking, so that anyone who approached the book with prejudices against the Jews could find what he wanted in it. The other Jewish characters in the book are mysterious figures whose actions are easy to attribute to negative intentions. The Jews are presented in the book as conducting secret ceremonies that only they know the depth of their true intentions. Süss’s life story inspired two films with opposite messages released before the outbreak of World War II, one a protest film against the Nazis (1934) and the other a Nazi propaganda film (1940), which ironically became most identified with Süss’s story.
568 p. 20 cm. Very Good Condition.