The Many Deaths of Jew Süss: The Notorious Trial and Execution of an Eighteenth-Century Court Jew

New historical insights into one of the most infamous episodes in the history of anti-Semitism

Joseph Süss Oppenheimer—“Jew Süss”—is one of the most iconic figures in the history of anti-Semitism. In 1733, Oppenheimer became the “court Jew” of Carl Alexander, the duke of the small German state of Württemberg. When Carl Alexander died unexpectedly, the Württemberg authorities arrested Oppenheimer, put him on trial, and condemned him to death for unspecified “misdeeds.” On February 4, 1738, Op...