Jew Suss and The Eternal Jew

Jew Suss and The Eternal Jew both claim to be historically accurate, are anti-Semitic, were made around the same time, and yet the former was a great success and the latter a giant flop.  I think this tells us a great deal about German perspectives.  Jew Suss is the truth, and it looks like the truth the German people knew, especially Berliners who more than likely interacted with Jewish people.  The Jewish people existed around them, but were “lower” creatures with a different value set, and would ultimately bring down the German people.  The “good” Aryan people, such as the Colonel and Froder, could recognize this, and argued to both the fellow villagers and the audience why the Jews were bad.   The tactics was subtle, and did not shove the anti-Semitic sentiments down the audience’s throat.

The Eternal Jew took a different approach.  Here, in a “documentary” format, the anti-Semitic message was blatant.  Audience-goers later said that it was taxing on their nerves.  And no wonder, as The Eternal Jew throws “factual” information about Jewish people, including blatantly comparing them to parasites and rats.  Goebbels saw an opportunity after the success of Jew Suss, and tried to capitalize on it.  The German population, however, wasn’t ready for the blatant, in-your-face nature of the film .  The Nazi’s wanted them to be, however, so they released the film.