Joseph Süß Oppenheimer

Who was Joseph Süß Oppenheimer?

Joseph Süß Oppenheimer was an German Jewish banker and Court Jew for Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg in Stuttgart. He was a nephew and stepson of the banker Samuel Oppenheimer, diplomat and Shtadlan to Kaiser Leopold of Austria.

Throughout his career, Oppenheimer made scores of powerful enemies, some of whom conspired to bring about his arrest and execution after Karl Alexander's death. In the centuries since his execution, Oppenheimer's rise and fall have been treated in two notable literary works, and his ordeal inspired two films, including the antisemitic production, Jud Süß, released in Nazi Germany in 1940.