Thoughts on Jew Suss and The Eternal Jew

Compare the drama Jew Suss and the "documentary" Eternal Jew as historical documents (both are products from 1940/41; both make claims about history). How can we use them today to gain insight into Nazi perspectives?

It is hard to imagine that anyone today, minus perhaps extremist/fanatical groups, could watch these films and think them to be historically accurate. However, as we should always be aware, even films made today that portray history are not always based in historical fact. Rather, most good history films, it seems, must skew history in an attempt to get the audience to connect with what is going on. The problem with this, of course, is that one can view the film and think "Wow, this is what really happened!!!" It would seem that, in trying to understand the Nazi perspective, their use of "historical" dramas like Jew Suss were used in just this way. By taking an actual story from history, the Nazis could skew the film and represent the outcome of history however they wished to further their ideological and anti-semitic agenda. This representation of history was enchanced, then, by presenting it with the particular genre of a drama. In this way, watching history becomes more appealing, creating a seductive allure for the audience to connect with. In this way, the "history" that is presented in the film would stick with you longer since you enjoyed watching it.

It certainly is interesting that although Jew Suss was so successful, the Eternal Jew was not. As we discussed in class, the Nazis, and particularly Goebbels, miscalculated when they thought the German audiences were ready for a film like this in the wake of the success of Jew Suss. From our brief viewing of the film, it would seem that one reason that this was so is that the history that is presented in The Eternal Jew is simply not appealing to watch. Certainly the same anti-semitic undertones run through both films, but the presentation in The Eternal Jew lacks the seductive allure that a drama such as Jew Suss has. As I sat in class watching the "documentary" it dawned on me how utterly boring it would have been to actually go to a movie theater and view this film. Although this film, along with Jew Suss, certainly gives much greater insight into the Nazi perspective in the early 1940s, and helps one realize that these films were certainly part of the greater puzzle building up to the Holocaust, they also give insight into the fact that German audiences at the time must have wanted to be entertained by a film and did not wanted to simply be lambasted with overt ideologic messages.