History YMMV / JewSuss1940

** Veit Harlan claimed that he actually tried to soften the antisemitism of the film and make Suss into a TragicVillain, but Goebbels bullied him into making Suss as despicable as possible, a claim that is disputed by historians who believe Harlan was trying to absolve himself of responsibility.

* CondemnedByHistory: Upon its release, the movie was a major critical and commercial success, grossing more than three times its budget and earning the top award at the 1940 Venice Film Festival. Opinions of it quickly soured in the aftermath of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust, however, for a simple reason: its rampant anti-Semitic content. Commissioned by UsefulNotes/{{Nazi|Germany}} propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels for the explicit purpose of stoking hatred of Jews, the film's VillainProtagonist Josef Süss Oppenheimer is a purely malevolent GreedyJew stereotype with no redeeming qualities, and every other Jewish character is also depicted in a resoundingly negative light. The film was screened for concentration camp guards and reportedly triggered multiple instances of anti-Semitic violence, which only further soured its postwar reputation. Today, the movie is seen not as a legitimate work of art or entertainment, but as a hateful screed that subjects an entire ethno-religious group to horrific {{demonization}}, and one would be hard-pressed to find anybody talking about it except in the context of bigotry and [[PropagandaPiece propaganda]].

* EvilIsSexy: See the DracoInLeatherPants entry above. If that was the case, then it was also a quite ironic (and hilarious) case of MisaimedFandom.

* CondemnedByHistory: Upon its release, the movie was a major critical and commercial success, grossing more than three times its budget and earning the top award at the 1940 Venice Film Festival. Opinions of it quickly soured in the aftermath of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust, however, for a simple reason: its rampant antisemitic content. Commissioned by UsefulNotes/{{Nazi|Germany}} propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels for the explicit purpose of stoking hatred of Jews, the film's VillainProtagonist Josef Süss Oppenheimer is a purely malevolent GreedyJew stereotype with no redeeming qualities, and every other Jewish character is also depicted in a resoundingly negative light. The film was screened for concentration camp guards and reportedly triggered multiple instances of antisemitic violence, which only further soured its postwar reputation. Today, the movie is seen not as a legitimate work of art or entertainment, but as a hateful screed that subjects an entire ethnoreligious group to horrific {{demonization}}, and one would be hard-pressed to find anybody talking about it except in the context of bigotry and propaganda.

* SpiritualAntithesis: Goebbels intended this movie partly as a response of sorts to [[Film/JewSuss1934 the 1934 British film of the same name]], which [[TruerToTheText adapted the original book more faithfully]] and ''condemned'' antisemitism. Notably, both movies include a rape victim who drowns herself, but while it happens to Sü&szlig's daughter at the hands of the Duke in the earlier film, this movie makes ''Sü&szlig himself'' the rapist who forces himself on an unwilling gentile woman.

** The movie has, as its "happy ending", Suss being lynched and Jews being expelled from Württemberg. The following years would see Jews expelled from their communities, lynched in pogroms, and finally subjected to industrial genocide. Tragically the film was quite effective at indoctrinating people into the Nazi's racist ideology.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The film can also be seen as a [[SettingUpdate German version]] of ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'', which carries similar themes (YMMV on how it does so either with or without much of the sympathetic reading that's possible with Shylock, however).

* ValuesDissonance: This is a film that depicts the Nazi ideology in full force, with the antagonist being a [[GreedyJew dastardly Jew]] who corrupts society. Yeah, this isn't a movie that would carry over well in the present day.

* AlternateAesopInterpretation: While the film's intended message is "Jews are parasites," the film can also be interpreted as a condemnation of unbridled greed and ambition. The Duke's dream to build Wurttemberg is what allows him to be manipulated by Suss. Suss' inability to control his greed and lust for power is what drives many people against him, with his rabbi warning him that his greed and lust for power will be his downfall.

* DracoInLeatherPants: According to Website/{{Wikipedia}}, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jud_S%C3%BC%C3%9F#Effectiveness_of_the_film "Marian's portrayal of Süß was considered to be quite sympathetic; so much so that he received fan mail from women who had become infatuated with his character."]]

* AlternateAesopInterpretation: While the film's intended message is "Jews are parasites," the film's other message seems to be the dangers of unbridled greed and ambition. The Duke's ambition to build Wurttemberg allows him to be manipulated by Suss. Suss is warned by his rabbi that his greed and lust for power will be his downfall.

* AccidentalAesop: While the film's intended message is "Jews are parasites", the film's other message seems to be the dangers of unbridled greed and ambition. The Duke's ambition to build Wurttemberg is what allows him to be manipulated by Suss. Suss himself is warned by his own rabbi that his greed and lust for power will be his downfall.