THE REAL JEW SUSS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 334, 20 April 1928, Page 14

THE REAL JEW SUSS

WHAT HISTORY SAYS FEUCHTWANGER’S ACCURACY (Written for THE SUN) COjMEONK who is quite unsophisticated in literature asked, after reading “Jew Suss,” “Is this really a tale?” The sublime confidence of Feuchtwanger’s narrative, the wealth of detail, the meticulous parade of proper nouns, all force one to accept the book as brilliant history rather than historical romance. Nevertheless, few of us were so well versed in the history of 18th century Germany as to have had an acquaintance with the amazing Jew’, Joseph Suss Oppenheimer, before the novel came here, and so the figure of the man has seemed brilliant in the colours of a novelist's imagination. It is pleasant and reassuring to find that the sober light of history shows the man and his actions in essentially the same forms as the novel. “The Jewish Encyclopaedia” contains an account of the life and death of Oppenheimer and also two illustrations of his execution. One of them, a contemporary engraving, shows the immense scaffold and cage surrounded by horsemen to keep back the pressing crowd. The magnificent riot of Suss's life was held in 40 years. He was born

at Heidelberg in 1698 and executed at Stuttgart on February 4, 1733. According to the book, “he was the son of R. Issachar Susskind Oppenkeimer, a singer and. leader of a wandering troupe of singers and players.” . . . Joseph's father died prematurely, leaving the lad to the care of an uncle. The boy had little inclination to study but showed “a marked leaning toward business and obtained employment in large Jewish commercial houses. “At an early age,” continues the encyclopaedia, “he openly scandalised his coreligionists by his violations of Jewish religious laws.” The book traces his momentous meeting with Prince Carl Alexander and his rise to power. In 1737, the people exasperated with oppression, complained to the Duke that Suss was the cause of all wrongs. Although the duke upheld him, the Jew balanced his accounts and prepared to leave the country. On March 11, 1737, the duke called him to Ludwigsburg to spend his last evening with him. At 9.30 the duke died suddenly. That same night all the Jews in Stuttgart, including Oppenheimer, were made prisoners. For nine months the trial evidently dragged on, and the sentence of death was confirmed on January 25, 1738. When his sentence was read and he was admonished to repent, Suss said: "I will die as a Jew; I am suffering violence and injustice.” Here is the brief account of the execution: “On February 3 he prepared for death in the presence of the lector (Continued in next column.)

the novel impel one to go right through to the end. It is a fine study of Jewish and Christian psychology, and the author delights in description of the little externals that so deeply affect the mind. Lucas Myer was a Jew, who had a pretty Cockney mistress. Myer had the misfortune to love her with ail the intensity of his race. His sensibilities upset by an enforced stay in hospital, Myer grew emotionally unsound. Quarrel followed quarrel with tile girl, who despised him as a Jew; hate struggled with love; and one gradually sees the precise commercial. yet fleshly mind of Myer become unhinged. In one quarrel the girl laid his face open with a handbag. Another quarrel, and then—exactly what one expected. The ending is obvious, but so well-constructed is the book that the climax is as powerful as any portion of it. “Prelude to a Rope for Myer.” M. Stent. Jonathan Cape, Ltd. Our copy from the publishers, A Sheaf of Verses New Zealand has produced, in proportion to its population, a prodigious number of poets. The Sun itself, were it to publish an anthology, would have no difiiculty in selecting from much of the splendid verse which has been printed a volume that could hold its owfi in any country. Some day we may do it. Among The Sun’s contributors is Mr. lan Donnelly, who has just published his second pamphlet of verse. The first. “The Dawny Man,” was issued for private circulation; the second, “The Crazed Philosopher,” is to take its chance on the open market. Mr. Donnelly is a keen student of poetry